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Friday, February 08, 2008

Plastic Baby Bottles - To Leach or Not to Leach


Today as I was innocently traversing the web, I ran across an article telling me plastic baby bottles are good and safe and all is right in the world.

Not 15 minutes later I came across another article. It stated plastic baby bottles are still bad and leachy with Bisphenol-A and can make my child sick.

"Were you confused? Panicky?"

No.

"Why not?"

Because I don't care.

"You don't care? What do you mean you don't care? What's the whole point of The Mommy Spot if you hang up on us now? You don't care - that's rich. I'm picking up my mouse and..."

Wait. Set down your mouse, no clicky-clicky. I don't care about conflicting studies, opinions, rants and general media hoo-ha towards plastic baby bottles because I don't use them. Never have.

You see, the key to not panicking when choosing products for our babies and children is to choose the safest, most natural route. Before my son was born, I sat in front of the computer for hours trying to determine things like whether or not plastic baby bottles were safe. (Hence, The Mommy Spot was born with my son.) I can't make these decisions perfectly because I am not a scientist (although some would call my recipes experiments), and quite frankly I'd never stop obsessing if forced to choose a safe plastic. So I go with glass.

No one ever accused glass of leaching. The bottles are sturdier than you might think; yes, they're much stronger than your grandma's crystal. I've even dropped a full bottle in a parking lot without a break. (Don't try this at home - they're not indestructible, after all.)

I always harp on making more natural choices, and I'll continue to do so for as long as news stories like this and this prevail. Because you don't have to lose sleep, worry about your family's health, or care one little bit when your choices are natural.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't done glass because my grandma always told me that if the baby hit himself in the face with it (as he manages to do with all his bottles when he falls asleep), it's so heavy that it could break his nose. If that's not the case, I'll quickly be investing in glass bottles!

Michelle Constantinescu said...

Hi Jess! I haven't had that one happen so far, but if a glass bottle is whipped out of a crib, you definitely hear it rumble throughout the house! No broken bottles from that either, thank goodness! I love my glass bottles because they're easy to sterilize too.

mother in israel said...

You see, the key to not panicking when choosing products for our babies and children is to choose the safest, most natural route.

Breastfeeding is safe, sterile, natural, and cheap.

Michelle Constantinescu said...

Absolutely, mother in israel! I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, my son weaned himself at 15 months, so I had to have bottles. Also, moms who aren't able to breastfeed at all, for whatever reason, need to have a safe alternative.

(By the way, any to-be moms not sure about whether or not to breastfeed, check my articles in the Breastfeeding category.)

Michelle Constantinescu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mother in israel said...

Diana, I'll look for it. I noticed that some of your links are about breastfeeding.

A 15-month-old baby generally doesn't need bottles. I nursed most of my children longer than 15 months, but started giving them water in a cup at 9 or 10 months.

Michelle Constantinescu said...

That's true! He used a cup at that point as well, but I used bottles as a sort of in between.

Also, it's unfortunate, but many areas of the U.S. are totally backward when it comes to breastfeeding. Some mothers feel uncomfortable nursing in public because strangers who don't understand it actually give them a hard time! In the area I live in, a lot of mothers pump the milk and use bottles in public. There have even been instances of mothers being thrown out of stores or told to cover themselves in planes! So many moms in the U.S. use bottles in public. Hopefully the brave moms out there who do it anyway will get rid of that stigma.

mother in israel said...

And let's not forget the moms who need something for the milk they pump at work.

Oh well, at least they give expressed milk when they are out. Fortunately in Israel nursing in public is not as frowned upon, although we have had a few incidents and it is not protected by law like in the US.

Michelle Constantinescu said...

Isn't that ironic how in Israel it's no big deal to nurse in public and there are no laws protecting you, yet here in America where there are laws, nursing in public is often viewed as dirty or immoral.

Thanks for the interesting dialogue! I should blog about this issue soon, because it is fascinating how different cultures view breastfeeding. It was a pretty hot topic here not too long ago when a woman got thrown out of a ladies' underwear store for breastfeeding in the changing room. ("Yes, you can buy our fancy bras but don't you dare use those breasts for their intended purpose!")