Showing posts with label baby items. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby items. Show all posts

Beaba Bib'expresso review

Thank you to Béaba for providing me with a Bib’expresso to review free of charge. To order your own Bib'expresso or one of many Béaba products, visit www.beabausa.com.

I am a breastfeeding mama who likes to break free from the baby once in a while. This means I have to prepare bottles now and then to allow my husband and, occasionally my mother and father, to watch the babe while I do something without my little guy. You know, like get a hair cut, go for a long run, that sort of thing.

So, when I was invited to review the Beaba Bib'expresso, a feeding bottle warmer, I jumped at the chance.

You see, thawing bottles of frozen breast milk is not always convenient. You can't heat the milk in the microwave and letting it thaw in the refrigerator takes forever. So I usually end up placing the bottle of frozen milk in a bowl of very warm tap water. It works, but it takes a good half hour (at least). All of this means that there is a good bit of forethought that needs to occur to ensure that a bottle is available for my baby when I'm not around.

The Bib'expresso promises to fix that by speeding up the heating process while avoiding the problems with microwave heating (heating milk too much, creating hot spots).


This machine heats the water for bottles of formula, thaws and heats bottles of breast milk, and also sterilizes bottles for your use whenever. I tried it out to heat bottles of breast milk and to sterilize the bottles. It was fairly easy to use for both purposes. To heat or thaw the bottles, you pour water in the top heating chamber and then put the bottle in. Just press the start button and it heats things up automatically. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that it did the job any better than placing the cold bottle of breast milk in a bowl of hot tap water.

What I did like about the machine, however, was the sterilization feature. I often worry about whether or not my bottles are actually clean. The Bib'expresso sterilization chamber -- which you use in your microwave -- made me feel that my bottles were really sterile and ready to be used.

I will continue to use the Bib'expresso for the bottle sterilization but I'm not sure how often I'll use it to heat my bottles. If I were a formula-feeding mom, however, I can see that this product would have a lot of benefit. It heats the water to the right temperature in only 90 seconds and that seems like it would be a real time saver.

The Beaba Bib'Expresso 3 in 1 Baby Bottle & Food Warmeris available at Amazon for $129.00. You can also find a list of retailers on the Beaba web site HERE.

Overall, I think this is an interesting product and I can see the value for moms who bottle feed 100%. If you bottle feed less than that, the product may not be worth the expense. The sterilization feature is nice and useful, however, and that alone may be worth it to some people.

I will put in a plug for checking out the Beaba web site because they have some very stylish products over there!


While Béaba provided me with a Bib'expresso to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Béaba,Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Medela Breastmilk Labeling and Storage System review and giveaway

Not sure if I've written about this before but I am a breastfeeding mom. My little guy is 4 months old, so I'm exclusively breastfeeding right now. I also pump occasionally, although not as much as I'd like to. Pumping more and getting my son more comfortable with taking a bottle would no doubt give me more freedom. But it means I have to remember to pump and I'm bad at that.


Anyway, I was contacted to review the new Medela Breastmilk Labeling and Storage System and decided to give it a go.


I currently use a Medela pump and bottles so it made sense to check out their new offering. The idea is that the storage system helps you to quickly and easily see what milk is freshest -- and what milk is oldest -- to avoid waste. This is very appealing because if you've ever pumped breast milk, you know that having to toss some out is an awful feeling. Not only are you wasting milk but you are wasting milk that you produced. 


Here's some information on the system from the Medela web site:
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
  • Makes it easy to protect, organize and locate breastmilk bottles in fridge or freezer.
  • Holds up to 6 Medela breastmilk bottles.
  • Lids are compatible with all Medela polypropylene breastmilk bottles.
  • Also compatible with Medela Pump & Save breastmilk bags (sold seperately).
WHAT’S INCLUDED
  • 1 tray
  • 2 labeling lids
  • 2 - 5 oz breastmilk bottles
I found that the tray and the bottles were easy to use. But, because I have a side-by-side refrigerator the tray took up a little more room than I would have liked. Also, since I don't pump regularly, I often only have two bottles of milk in my refrigerator at any one time. The tray seemed to almost require at least four bottles in order for it to be useful.


I could see that this tray would be great for someone who pumps a lot, especially someone who pumps bottles for their baby who goes to daycare or some other babysitter situation. For them, the tray would keep their milk obviously separate and it would make it easy for the care takers to know what milk to use first. 


You can buy the Medela Breastmilk Labeling and Storage System at many retail outlets including Babies R Us, which has it listed for $16.99 and Amazon.com, which has the Medela Breastmilk Storage Systemfor sale for $15.99.


The giveaway


You can also win one Medela Breastmilk Labeling and Storage System by entering my giveaway!


To enter


Leave me a comment and tell me whether you would use this for yourself or give it to another nursing mom.

Additional entries:

As always, you can gain a few additional entries (leave one comment per entry for the additional ones to count):

  • Follow this blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
  • Follow my other blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
  • Become a fan of The Happy Runner on Facebook, or let me know that you already are (leave a comment)
  • Link to this giveaway from Facebook or Twitter (do as often as you'd like, just leave a comment  each time)
  • Link to this giveaway from your blog (leave a comment with the url)
This giveaway will run through Thursday, February 24th at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be announced on Friday.

Good luck!



Review/giveaway disclosure: I received one Medela system from Medela/MomSelect. I was not otherwise compensated and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.