Dollars & Cents -Of Nappy Days

Being a parent also mean having to weigh out one’s options. Having tried many brands of diapers, a few stood out as exemplary wears.

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The first that was tried and tested by Jelly Bean was none other than Huggies where having been given a free sample pack (at birth from the hospital), it fitted snuggly and felt dry to the touch despite being worn for up to 3 hours.

Of course, this was at a time when I had just assumed position as a new parent to a child whom I have yet become accustomed to. To this, changing nappies regularly to prevent diaper rash was one of my top priorities.

No one likes a wet bottom. Do you?

In an absorbency test done with 3 pieces of diapers per brand (samples sourced online- just head over to the ‘contact me’ section of all leading brands and you should be able to request with ease), Pet Pet unfortunately performed the worse. This was after having scoured through supermarkets on which diaper to purchase. Not only was it supposed to be light on the wallet (one of the cheapest), it was strongly recommended by the promoter lady, hence we bought a pack to try. It was definitely a cheap buy, with its price being almost half of that of the most expensive brands, yet, from having nappy leaks (the poo flowing out, backwards) to him having diaper rash- do note I was changing every 3 hourly- we hurriedly embarked on another quest to source for a new brand.

In the end, we settled on buying a combination of Huggies and Drypers.

This was when Jelly Bean turned 1 month old.

Why we chose Drypers & Huggies:

Truth be told, we really liked Mamy Poko, with Huggies ranking second.

Choosing Huggies was more due to a dollar and cents comparison- where on average, with promotions, Huggies was cheaper at 30c per piece. Thus, opting for it as our night-only solution. Drypers, with its discounts only amounted to 18 per piece (check out qoo10 for deals) which is fine as we change Jelly Bean quite frequently.

Our second attempt at Huggies after the first initial pleasant intro saw a back flow when he was lying in his pram. That was when he turned 4 months.

However, we soon realised that it was due to not tightening the diaper fully (the tape had to overlap each other in order for the elastic band to work) and as we were using Small- Jelly Bean weighed just shy of 6kg- it might have resulted in the spillage.

Fast forward 2 weeks and there’s been no other issue with leakages and he literally sleeps through nights from 12mn to 6am occasionally. For us, Drypers which was more economical, when changed regularly, was a good day-time baby bum companion.

Cost and comfort, when these two factors are met; that’s one happy baby.

Oh, the joy!

Of vaccinations & bye-bye bugs

Just had a conversation with one of my colleagues where with the flu bug in the air, it’s little wonder that tiny beings are falling sick all over the place.

Post Jelly Bean’s viral infection and nebuliser episode, what truly alarmed me was how quickly a baby needs to be treated. In a matter of hours, things could be so different.

Of course, being paranoid and panicking isn’t exactly the best solution; yet if the assumption is all is right without proper checks and balances, it might just be too late to react.

Since his recovery, we have had to prep Jelly Bean for his next few jabs. This was dragged on as we wanted to space things out, just in case he had an adverse reaction.

For the lesser informed, or kiasu parent like me; a paediatric doctor was the first choice in administering these jabs. What I didn’t know was that the polyclinic had a much better package and made a good case for the cash-strapped parent.

With his last 2 jabs and the rotavirus medicine, that set us back by over 400 bucks. This was a visitation without any visible ailments. A healthy, bubbly, raspberry blowing kid.

The many faces of Jelly Bean

Had we known earlier, perhaps attending the polyclinic might be a more pocket-friendly solution.

Point to note:

kid rearing needs more than tenacity and patience. A healthy cash pocket is required as well.

Back to work special

As we know, all good things will come to an end. Here’s to 4 months of excellent mother-coddling moments and epic explosive diapers.

Almost 4 months, and the journey of worktime scheduling and pumping has just begun.

If there was a cartoon that I would love to play on replay for the little kiddy, it would be _____ & the _____. Any guesses?