Glass vs. Plastic
Thursday, January 11, 2007
One of the things that totally blows my mind about becoming a parent is the fact that DH have the power to shape this little person's health. I know that there will be times when I let my child indulge in McDonalds and eat Little Debbie snacks (In fact I already have, in a way), but I love that we can give this little boy or girl the advantage of being raised on a diet that consists mainly of healthy, minimally processed foods.I know we can't keep our child in a bubble, separated from this world full of weird chemicals and toxins, but I'd like to do what I can to limit his/her exposure to harmful substances.
Lately, I've been reading about the possible negative effects of plastic baby bottles. Although I will be breastfeeding and won't be relying heavily on bottles, there may be times when the baby is a little older when I may need to pump and have DH or someone else feed the baby. My sister gave me 20 or so Avent Naturally bottles in 2 different sizes, along with a few breast milk storage containers. (Woohoo!) All I need to complete the set (and have already registered for) are the nipples.
Somehow, I stumbled across an article on the Children's Health Environmental Coalition about polycarbonate bottles and how scientists in Japan found that they can "release a hormone-disrupting chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA) into infant formula during sterilizing and heating on the stove-top. The scientists also found that used bottles leached up to nearly double that from new bottles."
Then, I read a little here and there about what the effects of BPA are:
Bisphenol A disrupts young brains, scientists report
Bisphenol-A: Wikipedia
Danger in Plastic Baby Bottles?
Of course, the 20 baby bottles that were given to me are made from polycarbonate, the plastic in question.
So now, I'm wondering if I should get some glass bottles, or bottles made from plastics that have been deemed safer like polyethylene and polypropylene. With glass, there's always the concern with breakage and weight. The "safer" plasic bottles out there are ones like Evenflo's pastel polyethylene plastic bottles and Gerber's polypropylene opaque plastic bottles. (couldn't find them on the internet, for some reason).....but how do I know that studies about those plastics won't come out in a few years declaring them harmful as well?
Sheesh.
I'm leaning toward glass, since the occasions our baby will be taking a bottle will hopefully be few and far between. Whoever is doing the feeding can make sure that they are holding onto the bottle while the baby is eating or atleast that baby is not toddling around the house unattended with the bottle.
At the same time, it seems like a "waste" to already have 20 bottles sitting in a box in the other room and not use them.
Am I bordering on fanatacism here? Should I even be worrying about this? Maybe I should just buy like one or two glass bottles so that when we do need to use a bottle, I'll have one handy and we can see where to go from there.
posted by Unkempt Mommy at 11:13 AM
10 Comments:
I say don't bother with glass... especially if he/she won't be using them that much. Plus they would be a pain to have in the diaper bag for at church or whatever anyway. Those Avent ones are the ones we are getting- I have used them with the kid I used to nanny for and they were great. Also they have a great system to transition to sippy cups- check it out online- the sippy lids fit on top of them, you can use handles with them, etc.
The Gerber bottles that are safe are the cheap-o ones that are sold at grocery and drug stores. I bought a ton of the Avent bottles to use with the twins, and the only bottle they would accept were the cheap-o Gerber bottles!
I am a total fanatic when it comes to my children's health. The internet was probably the worst thing that ever happened to me!
You might not even need bottles. My mom says I never took one.
Instead of buying glass bottles, see if you can snag some from the hospital. Most hospitals get pre-made formula in bottles. Ask for samples "just in case." You may have no intention of actually using it and and you can dump the formula or give it to a friend if you dont want it. Also hosptials with a NICU will pour formula into tiny plastic bottles (or feeding tubes). They may be willing to save the essentually unused glass bottle for you.
My only issue with glass is that I dropped everything, and glass scares the bejeezus out of me. Katie ended up having to be supplemented due to not gaining weight, and after trying 6 (that's right SIX) kinds of bottles and nipples, she finally took Avent with the slow nipple. Topher....the child never ever took a bottle. NEVER!! He finally took a cup at the ripe old age of 4.5 months (we took the valve out and basically poured it into his mouth) but just like 2oz., the bare minumum to survive for like 2 hours until I got home from grocery shopping. Talk about your attachment parenting! lol
When I DID finally get to pump (when he was about a year old) I stored milk in bags in the freezer, we thawed the milk in the bags, and then poured into the cups for him to drink. Thus, the milk was NOT heated in the bottles. Breast milk and formula are SO different and you do not heat them the same way, so you might not have the same issues with the (long word you used in your post inserted here) leeching into the breast milk like you would with formula. KWIM?? Nobody does studies with breast milk!
Where are you? I need some new reading material :) Hope everything is okay with you guys.
Hey Just passing ;) saying hello
Hi ya! Sorry I can't offer any bottle advice. My two would never even look at a bottle. Maybe yours will be equally as picky! then you won't have to worry about it. The only hard part about that was never being away for more than a couple hours for 365 days! Yikees... I think I'm going to do a better job at introducing this next one to expressed milk!!!
Hope you are doing OKAY-- we miss reading all your wonderful pregnancy words.
AND lastly, I thought of you today-- if you have an O'sGosh outlet store near you-- they have the MOST ADORABLE newborn vintage looking circus outfits. Blankets, hats, onsies, you name it... It matches your nursery theme perfectly. And to top it off-- it's all now 70% off!!! Hope you have one nearby. Maybe they have the same sale online?
Come back and write soon!
Katherine
Hope everything is going okay. I've not be posting as often as usual--writer's block + laziness (mostly laziness)
But when some of us don't hear from a pregnant friend* in over a week we are prone to worry about said pregnant friend.
Wendy
*My husband refers to my blog peeps as my "imaginary friends."
Are you back yet, woman?
Yes. I must say that I lurk plenty and am worried that there has not been a new post in over a week!
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