Baby Products

Yes, folks! Today is the first time I walk around the baby-care section in the department store. Not that I'm pregnant or whatever, but today I happened to be curious with my colleage's hype mode on baby bottles. What's so complicated about buying a baby bottle that you need to ponder and stressing about? Well, obviously I'm not a mother, yet.
So, there I was loitering around clueless at the baby section and my colleages all complaining why they end up with a son, not a daughter that they can do dress-up play on. Well, I can understand them after seeing how different between a boy and a girl baby clothing section. Baby boy's clothing only occupies about 15% (?) of the baby clothing section. And Goodness, the rest is all cheeky pink. What's up with the blue is for a boy and pink is for a girl? I never understand that until now.
Now, moving on to the baby products aisle. Basically, there are 3 main brands is there, Avent, Madella, and Pigeon. And we reached to the main topic, baby bottle. I was amazed with how many products launched just for baby bottle. It seems like the marketer never run out of ideas on how to market their products. With so many shapes, so many material, so many types, no wonder today's mother are so stressed over baby products. 20 years ago, maybe 1 brand only have 1 product and a mother just happily pick a brand that she likes. But, now? She has to read all the tiny description of the product. Is the plastic material contained particular chemical (I forget what it is)? How long should I use the bottle? Do I need to buy the little bottles too, for traveling? Which teats suitable for the baby? How soon should I change the teats for the sturdier one (FYI, they have different teat for each month, so you can count how much parents have to spend just for one baby, and this is only for the bottle!!!)? As my colleagues started to discuss these questions to no exact answer, I started nauseating. The thoughts are totally out of my league.
Now, they even have baby bottle sterilizer! OMG, apparently just using soap and water is not enough anymore! How clean do you want it to be? Well, again, this is the thought of me who obviously is scared of the thought of having a baby now! It's so intimidating!
Then, moving on to the other aisle, breast pump! For guys, you may be turned off by this. Now they have manual pumps, electric pumps, and even double pumps! Then, another set of totally different discussion begins. Which pump is better? Electric or manual? Which brand? Which is better? Which one is more comfortable for the mom? *FYI, pumping is not an easy job, it's painful and tiring (see, I began to sound like an expert haha)* What happen if I use the pump of a brand that doesn't sell the baby bottles for actual usage? Is transferring the breast milk to another bottle before storage inviting germs? Again my head started to spin. And these pumps are ain't cheap. Goodness, one electric pump costs you 300SGD?
After a long mother-to-mother talk (I was out of the picture already, obviously), my other colleague, who is a mother-to-be in counting now, asked my more experience colleague, who is a mother of a cute 2-year old, about the inflatable tub. As clueless as I get, I was amazed that they have a very cute inflatable tub that can even fit in your bath tub for your baby to play. It's cute, and also costly. The cash register rings at 50SGD for that plastic tub.
So, after 1/2 hour of baby crash course and all those new information (to me, at least), I was totally in awed with the manufacturers. Their marketing strategy is splendid! They know the worries of mothers, especially in this modern era where more information and innovation creates another worries for parents. And they optimize that aspect to the point of exploit it. And, my colleagues keep remind me, 'Wait until you become a mother, then you'll join us in the worries.' I honestly don't know. We'll see what I'll be become, given a chance. What kind of mother I will be. *wink*