The Meticulous Mom

Milk formula.  For non-breastfeeding mothers, milk formula are supposedly a child’s staple from 0-6 months of life and can even extend to grown-up years.

But what is a mother to do if she found out that the supposed “basic food staple” of her child is tainted with a kidney stone-causing substance that might eventually put her child’s health at risk?

Over the last few days, news reports have been circulating about the outrage in China over the alleged contamination of melamine in the milk formula manufactured by the San Lu Group.  Melamine, a chemical substance used for manufacturing plasticwares , is a toxin linked to development of kidney stones in about 1,200 babies and the death of at least two babies in China. (As of this writing though, China Health Minister Chen Zhut reported that a third baby already died of the same cause.)

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HACCP-certified.  We often see this mark in food labels of processed food.  Me, I spotted the HACCP mark twice in our groceries today– in the plastic package of Gardenia Bread and the vacuum plastic pack of Purefoods TJ Hotdogs for my Little Boy. But what does it mean for us Mommy consumers?

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), according to the Wikipedia, is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and pharmaceutical safety that addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection. HACCP is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions, known as Critical Control Points (CCP’s) can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realized.

Short to say, when we see the HACCP-certified mark, it means the food or pharmaceutical product’s quality and safety is assured.  Read the rest of this entry »

One of the many activities that we do at home to help improve Nico’s fine motor skills is cutting with scissors.  Cutting, as Nico’s occupational therapist had advised, requires a lot of hand and eye coordination and by doing regular scissor-cutting activities, fine motor skills are improved and the small muscles are regularly exercised.

And since Nico is just getting used to manipulating scissors (yes, he’s not used to using scissors. you would not believe this, but in Nico’s former school, scissors are strictly a no-no for preschoolers as the school viewed scissors to be dangerous for kids), we looked for the one without the metal but is sharp enough to cut through paper.

We were able to find one, but Nico got tired using them after a while since it can’t cut through paper easily. Aside from that, he had to pull the scissor back in its V position by using his other hand, making the cutting a bit of a struggle.

Good thing Teacher Julie showed me at one time we were at the Center, a scissor with a pretty little plastic stick in the middle of the handle.  Coming from the Center, we immediately trooped the nearest National Bookstore and for a price of a little over P130, Nico tried and discovered the fun in cutting with a scissor. Read the rest of this entry »