I'm a full-time mummy

Everyday without fail, I will read on mothers (new or going to be) posting questions or problems on which breast pumps to buy, what is wrong with their pumps as they are not able to pump a lot of their breastmilk (aka BM) or not enough volume or having engorgement so on and so forth.

And after reading all these, I will always think and said out loud in my mind "Why can't they consider or learn to express by hand?!"

Yes, I have my fair share of experience using the electric breast pumps back before I quit my job to be a SAHM. I was using the Medela mini electric breast pump which was a hand-me-down from 2 SILs few weeks before my maternity leave ended in preparation to stock up my BM so that Benjamin can have my EBM (aka expressed breastmilk) when I am at work.

When I went back to work, I used the Medela pump for about 1 week. It was noisy and cumbersome - everytime, I need to sterilise the pump all over and ensure that the battery is full and ready to be use at any time.

After a week, I learned to express my BM by hands. It is not easy of course but with practise, it can be done.

You don't need to attend courses to do it, just google "how to express breastmilk by hand" and you will get tons and tons of search results! Can't visualise it? YouTube it!

Back when I learned this, I only searched through websites and practise based on the diagrams on the website (I can't remember why I was not using YouTube!)

With a few practise and trials and errors (need to take note of the let-down!), it just simply eases up a lot of work! You don't need to lug around your breastpump when you express, you don't need to worry about no electric outlet to use, no worries about no batteries and sterilisation? What is there to sterilise except the containers to store your BM maybe?

I have psychoed and nagged a few mummy bloggers about the benefits of learning this and most of them just brushed me off saying they can rely on their electric pumps just fine. Sure, few weeks later, one of them told me they had to travel overseas by plane and her electric pump jammed in the flight due to air pressure and she had to resort to pumping with her own 2 hands. Another mummy had to go on-site and realised there's no electrical outlet and she ran out of batteries on her pump. So, what else? Hand express!

Personally I do feel happy knowing these new mums or mums-to-be plan to breastfeed their child, but before they go on and purchase a breast pump (or more as they realised some pumps are not right for them!), I do wish they could give hand expressing a try!

After all, other than the convenience, it helps a lot to express by hands as with your own fingers, you can actually feel which part of your breasts that are blocked or engorged and massaged it away.

As for efficiency of the output, my personal experience, when I use the Medela pump, I took about 20 minutes to pump 6oz of BM while it is 15 minutes for me to get the same amount using my own 2 hands. Much much more quieter, definitely convenient as no sterilisation, same output, faster, cheap (no need to buy pumps!) and even helps with engorgement and blocked ducts, why not?

So please new mums and/or mums-to-be, I hope you will at least go Google up how to express your BM by hand.

You might end up needing to fall back on your own bare hands one day!

We are big fans of "Little Critter" apps and the last we reviewed is the "Little Critter Collection #1". So the moment I saw the words "Little Critter" in the latest Oceanhouse Media's press release in my email inbox, I immediately request for the promo code to redeem this app. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Just a Mess
* Price: $0.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Jun 13, 2012
* Version: 1.09
* Size: 16.9 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Little Critter's search for his baseball mitt leads him to the doorway of his bedroom which is "just a mess." Little Critter's unique attempts at cleaning, accompanied with humorous illustrations, will leave parents and children laughing and wondering if he will ever find his baseball mitt."

What's good?

* It is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also touch the objects in each page on the screen and the words pop out to tell you what it is!

* I like the storyline where it tells how the Little Critter have to clear up his mess in order to look for his lost baseball mitt.

* I used the opportunity in this book to teach my 3 year old son about the importance of cleaning up his own things (and mess!) and not immediately rely on other people for help. I want him to know that he should at least attempt and give it a try to do things on his own before asking for help from others. You might think 3 year old is a tad to young to be teaching him independence but I beg to differ. I can actually see my boy nodding his head while I explain to him about the importance of cleaning up his things.

* There are some pages which got Ben's attention and reactions such as the page where Little Critter had to look for his baseball mitt in his own bedroom, screenshot shown below:

* I used the opportunity on this page to show to Ben how important it is to be neat and tidy, that unkept things are not just a mess, it will be a trouble when we need to look for our things when the time comes!

Room for Improvement?

* Nothing I can think of!

You can purchase the " Just a Mess " app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"