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Feeding with the Bottle
Healthy Child Healthy World
Saturday, March 31, 2007
The healthiest and most environmentally safe baby food is breast milk, and the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that mothers breastfeed their babies for one year. But many times mothers are not always able to breastfeed.
You may choose to breastfeed and store milk for Dad or a baby sitter to bottle-feed the baby when you are at work or otherwise away from your baby, or use infant formula.
That means selecting bottles, nipples and containers to store breastmilk or infant formula. Unfortunately, some of these items may contain toxic chemicals that can leak into infant formula when sterilized and heated. Luckily, safe alternatives do exist.
What’s in the Bottle?
Baby bottles are typically made of plastic. Plastic bottles may seem like the safer choice for babies — they are, after all, lighter and less breakable than glass. But plastics contain chemicals, some of which may migrate into infant formula or breastmilk.
A common plastic used in baby bottles is polycarbonate which can release a hormone-disrupting chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA), into infant formula particularly during sterilizing and heating on the stove-top, but also just at room temperature.1 Scratched or damaged bottles can leach up to nearly double that of new bottles.
Animal studies show that BPA can interfere with the development and cause irreversible damage. BPA has interfered with the development of every system in which it has been tested. The earlier the exposure, the greater the damage. Accumulating laboratory evidence suggests that exposure to BPA could be linked to breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, obesity, ADHD, and autism.2
Plastic bottles can also be made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), also known as vinyl, and the most toxic plastic from both an environmental and health standpoint. PVC plastic sometimes contain lead, which can lead to IQ deficiencies, learning disabilities, impaired hearing, and reduced attention spans, as well as other behavior problems. Soft PVC, which had been used in the past in nipples, pacifiers and teethers, contains phthalates, hormone-disrupting chemicals used as plastic softeners.
Other bottles may be made of polyethylene or polypropylene, neither of which contains hormone disrupting chemicals or other known toxic additives. These plastics may bear the recycling numbers 1 or 2 (polyethylene terephthalate and high density polyethylene, respectively) and 5 (polypropylene).
The plastic used in a particular baby bottle, nipple or storage container may be difficult to identify. Often, they have no marking which would indicate the type of plastic used. The most common place to look is on the bottom of the object, but if you can’t find it, call the manufacturer.
Safe Baby Bottle Feeding Alternatives
Here are a few tips for choosing bottles and using them safely:
- Select bottles made of tempered glass or polyethylene or polypropylene (recycling symbols 1, 2 or 5). Medela, Evenflo, and Born Free make bottles and nursers from these safer plastics. Born Free also makes tempered glass bottles.
- Avoid heating breast milk and infant formula over the stove or microwave in plastic; dangerous chemicals are more likely to leach when you heat in plastic.
- To avoid bacteria, look for scratches in plastic bottles.
- Avoid plastic bottles that have decorations printed on the inside. These can come off into formula when it’s been heated.
- To avoid shards of glass ending up inside the bottle, glass bottles with cracks and chips should be discarded immediately.
- Avoid disposable nursers if possible, as the plastic bags that may leak or burst. There have also been incidents of babies choking on the plastic tab inside.
1 Howdeshell KL, Peterman PH, Judy BM et al. 2003. Environmental Health Perspectives 111(9): 1180-87.13.
2 vom Saal F, Hughes C. 2005. “An extensive new literature concerning low-dose effects of bisphenol A shows the need for a new risk assessment.” Environmental Health Perspectives. 113(8): 926- 933.
Posted by Ali McHugh on 07/08 at 08:31 AM
As a first time Mum I found this article on baby feeding very useful. I was bitterly disappointed when, after 8 weeks, I could not continue with breastfeeding and moved to using bottles. Your guide has helped me to protect my child by selecting the safest products and made me aware of the dangers of certain plastics.
The UK is moving at a snail’s pace in terms of highlighting the potential dangers of BPA in our plastic bottles. Thank you so much for your work in promoting a safer way of feeding our children.