Study shows popular baby bottles may be dangerous

I don't see why linking to this story wouldn't be allowed, so here's the link: http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Affected brands are Avent, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex -- pretty much all the major players.

I was planning on buying Playtex's Ventaire bottles for our twins, but this sounds pretty serious. I had noticed some time ago on Amazon.com's Ventaire product pages that someone had posted a warning about this exact issue.

Any recommendations for a safe bottle?

We use glass bottles for our 6 month old. It's hard finding these. Selected Babies R' Us sell them. I'm not sure what to use once my son will be able to hold his own bottle or sippy cup.

Do any of you freeze homemade baby food in glass baby food jars? Any problems?

Originally Posted by Xax

I don't see why linking to this story wouldn't be allowed, so here's the link: http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Affected brands are Avent, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex -- pretty much all the major players.

I was planning on buying Playtex's Ventaire bottles for our twins, but this sounds pretty serious. I had noticed some time ago on Amazon.com's Ventaire product pages that someone had posted a warning about this exact issue.

Any recommendations for a safe bottle?

Just to let you know BPA is the compound that they found and it is used to make LOTS of plastic. Not all plastics, but who are we to know which has BPA and which doesn't?

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Pla...t-PG5nov03.htm

This not only includes baby bottles, but probably the plastic toys, (if you read the article dental sealants), the plastic bowl your baby is using, the plastic teething rings, plastic this plastic that. Unless you plan to remove plastics entirely or reduce it by a significant portion, you and your baby are going to be bombarded by BPA. Not saying that is a good thing, it is a bad thing, but until the government steps up, some medical study is found or enough people get sick from it, it will still be used.

I'm still waiting for a follow-up to the story, but I found a bit more information here:

http://www.daddytypes.com/2007/02/28...outh_again.php

You could change the bottle to glass, but the nipple/pacifier will still be rubber/plastic. So your only chose is breast feeding?

Originally Posted by Jonavin

You could change the bottle to glass, but the nipple/pacifier will still be rubber/plastic. So your only chose is breast feeding?

From the article, polypropylene-based plastic baby bottles are another option (Medela sells such bottles). Polypropylene nipples are available also.

FYI

The Playtex Drop-In System is used with liners (Playtex Drop-Ins and Playtex rolled
liners) made of plastic materials that do not contain Bisphenol A.

Oh yeah, forgot about the liners. What sucks is that I was really excited (I know, I'm a dork) to get Playtex Ventaire bottles for our twins, largely because they're supposed to help a lot with gas. Anyone know if liners are any better or worse than bottle only?

Originally Posted by Xax

Oh yeah, forgot about the liners. What sucks is that I was really excited (I know, I'm a dork) to get Playtex Ventaire bottles for our twins, largely because they're supposed to help a lot with gas. Anyone know if liners are any better or worse than bottle only?

I always found out that liner bottles were better than regular bottles. If you squeeze the extra air before giving the bottle to the child, you reduce to almost nil the chances of air swallowing. Almost like a syringe, the child (by sucking) creates a negative vacuum.


C.

Glass bottles can break and be a much greater safety hazard.

Toxic baby bottles sound more like an urban legend.

From the book "What to Expect the First Year"

"Plastic containers are better than glass for collecting and storing breast milk, not only because glass is breakable, but also because disease-fighting white blood cells in mother's milk have been shown to cling more to glass than to plastic, making them less available to baby."

Originally Posted by ayeung

From the book "What to Expect the First Year"

"Plastic containers are better than glass for collecting and storing breast milk, not only because glass is breakable, but also because disease-fighting white blood cells in mother's milk have been shown to cling more to glass than to plastic, making them less available to baby."

That's interesting. Do you know where their sources are for this info? I would interested in looking at the data for this research.

Originally Posted by ayeung

From the book "What to Expect the First Year"

"Plastic containers are better than glass for collecting and storing breast milk, not only because glass is breakable, but also because disease-fighting white blood cells in mother's milk have been shown to cling more to glass than to plastic, making them less available to baby."

CHOICE OF A STORAGE CONTAINER

When a baby is only receiving expressed milk occasionally, the type of storage container is not a major consideration; however, if a baby is receiving most of his nourishment from expressed breastmilk, the type of storage container used should be considered carefully. Plastic containers are the best choice for storing breastmilk in the refrigerator as more of human milk's leukocytes or white cells adhere to glass. If the milk is to be frozen, glass is the preferred choice as it is less porous and offers the best protection. Most of the leukocytes in human milk are killed with freezing anyway. For this reason, milk that can be used within 8 days of expression should be refrigerated rather than frozen, because the antimicrobial properties of human milk are better preserved with refrigeration.

http://breastfeeding.hypermart.net/storagehandling.html

(also note that there is a difference between plastics)

I just found a website called the Green Guide -- the whole debate about BPA seems to have been going on for several years.

They have an article about the "baby bottle dangers"

http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports...ct.mhtml?id=55

and they have an article about possible solutions:

http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports...ml?id=55&sec=2

I thought the articles were useful and informative.

I think this is the most I have ever posted in a row... but, I found anotther great article!

http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports...ml?id=44&sec=1

The solutions for this article indicates the "safer" plastics:

http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports...ml?id=44&sec=3