We Must Be Rich
Sunday, November 04, 2007

In the spirit of this post, I just ordered a couple of 100% natural rubber pacifiers for Scout. She has never liked pacifiers (despite my best efforts to get her to try them during her fussy first month), but she has recently taken to chewing on them. She loves to bite down hard and scrape her teeth on the pacifier as she yanks it out of her mouth. (Oh Lord, please don't ever let her do such mean things to mommy's nipples!) I think she likes the squeeky noise as her tiny teeth bounce off of the paci with each bite. She also likes to hold the nipple part of the paci and gnaw on the handle. Once in a while she will actually use it for its intended purpose for about 5 seconds.

But, if I'm going to such great pains to replace her cheap plastic play things with more natural alternatives, then it's pretty silly of me to let her chomp on a piece of plastic and silicone/latex all day long.

These Natursutten pacifiers are kind of expensive at $5.99 + shipping. And only after I hit the "confirm and place order" button did I notice that the item descriptions states that these pacifiers should be replaced every 4-5 weeks due to their natural quality.

But the ones I'm ordering will hardly be subjected to any rigorous sucking (if at all), so I'm wondering if I could push the limits on the suggested "expiration" date. I am not familiar with natural rubber, so I don't know what it does if used past 4-5 weeks. Maybe it turns into a pumpkin.

Oh yeah, and (not that she uses them very often anyway, but) I'm trashing all of her polycarbonate bottles (Avent Naturally), which contain the icky plasticizer bisophenol-A and recently replaced them with Gerber Clear View bottles, which are made of a safer material called polyproylene.

Labels: baby gear, health, safety

posted by Unkempt Mommy @ 1:59 AM,

3 Comments:

At Sun Nov 04, 04:32:00 PM CST, twolinesonastick said...: You might want to consider donating the bottles to a womens shelter or something instead of just trashing them. Just an idea :)
At Sun Nov 04, 05:30:00 PM CST, Danielle said...: Glass bottles are good too! And yeah, she is going to tear into your nipples one of these days with her teeth. You can't prepare yourself for it, but when it happens, reaction takes over and you'll be on edge for days or weeks thereafter, every time she nurses. Yikes! Just remembering when Max bit me....I just don't look forward to going through it with Eowyn. But we will...soon enough.
At Mon Nov 05, 11:53:00 AM CST, eipwek said...: I did think about donating the bottles or swapping them on a trade site, but I don't feel good about passing things on to other people that I don't feel are safe for my own child, kwim?

I AM donating some of her nicer plastic toys, since I just received the wooden toys I ordered for her, but I don't necessarily feel that the toys I am getting rid of are a serious health hazard or anything extreme like that. I just prefer the nicer wooden toys. I did throw away any toys that I knew contained PVC and any super cheapy dollar store toys.

The bottles, IMO definitely pose a health risk because of the bisophenol-A, which is known to mess with hormones in a negative way. From what I can tell, the threat of the bisophenol-A leaching and being ingested is much higher if the polycarbonate bottle is heated in the microwave or frozen, which I don't do. BUT I have put them in the dishawasher, so they are being heated to somewhat high temperatures. Plus, the ones I own have been through 2 other babies so far and the older polycarbonate plastic gets, the more toxins it leaches.

Here is a good article on bisophenal-A free alternatives. I like it because it lists bottle brands and what the bottles are actually made of.

"The Z-Report: Bisophenal-A in Polycarbonate Baby Bottles and Safe Alternatives, From MAjor Brands to Startups"