November 25, 2007

Your Baby's Bottle Might be Toxic

I usually agree with the saying, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” but if you’re feeding your baby with a plastic bottle containing toxins, here’s a friendly nibble into awareness.

Environment California reported this year that:

“...five popular brands of baby bottles leach bisphenol A, a developmental, neural, and reproductive toxicant, into liquids coming into contact with them. We found that all five brands leach bisphenol A at dangerous levels found to cause harm in numerous laboratory animal studies.”

The five brands they are speaking of are: Avent, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex. In short, if you’re using these plastic baby bottles, the breast milk or formula you’re filling them with is being contaminated by bisphenol A and being fed to your baby.

When I heard this news during my pregnancy, I immediately exchanged my Avent breast pump and bottles for Medela, whose breast pump and plastic bottles are all bisphenol A free.

Another alternative is to use tempered glass bottles. This option is more suitable for formula fed babies, as I have yet to find a breast pump kit that is compatible with glass bottles, therefore enabling you to pump directly into the glass bottle. Be sure to keep an eye on glass bottles, as wear and tear may cause them to crack or chip.

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