Plastic Not So Fantastic
There was a large front page article in our local paper about a week ago about the dangers of the hard plastic that's used to make things like Nalgene bottles and the Avent bottles.
Yay. Great. Considering that's what we're using.
So now M. and I are trying to figure out what to do. We have the wide mouth bottles and it's almost impossible to find glass bottles that will fit. Glass is heavy. And it breaks. We're thinking about moving to all Born Free bottles.
Then there's the BAJILLION baby toys that are plastic. Teething rings. Clutch toys. Rattles. He doesn't have teeth yet, but when he does he'll be chewing on everything. What's safe and what's not safe? Should we be moving to all wood and cloth toys? Then you do and you find out they're painted in China.
It makes a person insane. It was so much easier when I only had to worry about polluting my own body.
posted by Sacha @ 9:13 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
If you're using Avent, I read that the Tempo is safe to use. Although I'm not big on tossing plastic bags every time I feed my kid, you can use the same nipples and would only have to buy a few of the bottle shells and the bags. We've been using Avent, so instead of buying another $100 worth of bottles, we may just change to Tempo.
Amen!
We switched to Born Free. AND the Avent nipples fit the Born Free bottles!
Now Phine uses Born Free sippy cups.
Our daughter didn't like the wide-mouth/big nippes on the Born Free. We used Evenflow 4 oz glass bottles (they are like pyrex glass, so unlikely to break on wood or linoleum floors, but I bet they would shatter on tile), and also the Medela 5 oz and Gerber Clearview 9 oz plastic. I loved the glass bottles! But, when we needed to switch to bigger ones, I thought the bigger size would be rough to hold. The Medela and Gerber Clearview are made of polypropylene and not polycarbonate (cloudy, not clear pastic) and so don't have the same concerns about leeching BPA.
Yeah, I'm totally freaked, too, about BPA and lead and everything. Argh.
I just ordered over $100 worth of German-made wooden toys from oopma.com (free shipping over $65!). I plan to toss my 4-month-old's plastic rings, etc. when they arrive. I've been following your story since you gals were pregnant - since we've been on about the same timeline! Our daughter, Caroline, has been just a few weeks behind Finn's developments - it's been fun to read what he's learning, and then see her do the same just a short time later! Love them babies...
Oh, I also ordered baby Sigg bottles from reusablebags.com today. All I think about now is her health and what we're putting in to her body! Someone's up from a nap... thanks for the stories.
We just switched to BornFree. They are pretty good--I like the vent in them because it prevents any leakage when shaking. Sometimes Avent leaks when something isn't fitting right. The Avent nipples do fit on them as lil jimmi said but they aren't as nice of a fit as the BornFree nipples.
We bought ten 9 ounce bottles and will pack away the Avent ones. It might not be a huge risk but we would rather switch now than never. Besides, baby #2 can use these bottles from the start. We bought the plastic ones as the glass ones are impossible to find here in Canada and we didn't want glass shattering on our floor (our main level hardwood floors are very hard because they're over a concrete slab). We did notice a ring forming on our Avent bottles from sterilizing them so we're worried that they were starting to break down a bit. Anyway, we thought the extra money was worth the switch. It sucks though when you've already spent hundreds on bottles. :(
As for toys, I'm not as concerned because they aren't being heated. The heating of plastic tends to cause it to breakdown or leech into things that are consumed. I see that as more of a risk than plastic toys. The paint containing lead is another matter. But what do you do? I'm not a fan of all of the wooden toys, personally. As a child, I never liked them. When the kid is older she will want certain toys and I can bet that they won't be wooden (i.e. Lego, Little People, etc.)
We have some clear plastic and some BornFree. We have a hard time finding BornFree bottles around here... so we have 3 5oz and 2 9oz but we use a LOT of bottles around here. We like the BornFree ones, though.
we use the born free and sigg for Malka - works great.
We use the Medela bottles and they are a "good" kind of plastic, but those won't work with your bottle nipples I don't think. We also have mostly wooden and cloth toys, but as another poster said I don't worry too much b/c it's the heating that is an issue. Also, handwashing rather than dishwashing your bottles could be an option (not such a high temp). I also found these great bibs and spill mats, etc at our coop - the brand is http://www.mimithesardine.com/ b/c a lot of that stuff usually has vinyl in it which is BAD stuff, esp. b/c Edie chews on her bib. I like these alternate ones a lot!
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