BPA in baby bottles, Independent front page

[styrofoam]

Very detailed piece in today's Indy about BPA in baby bottles and why Britain doesn't seem to be doing much about it.

tinyurl.com/ya4gy7x

And...

tinyurl.com/ye8hr4w

The tinyurl links aren't working for me.
This story, right?

Phew - there's quite a bit to take in with that article.
It is difficult to trust industry funded research which can be biased but equally, small studies with different end points and small study groups can be misleading also.

FWIW I used standard bottles for my two eldest but, with DS who i'm bottle feeding now, I have swapped to BPA free bottles just to be as safe as I can.

In my opinion i've been alerted to a potential safety issue so it would be negligent of me to keep using baby bottles with BPA in them. (don't flame me, that's personal opinion - i'm not judging anyone who does)

Agree that taking them out of everything would be nightmare for the government if the use is so widespread. That will be why they are claiming are safe.

It's not just bottles the stuff is in though, is it?

The original article linked to this one:

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/bad-chemistry-the-poison-in-the-plasti c-that-surrounds-us-1931462.html

It's fairly pointless "protecting" a baby from this by avoiding it in the baby bottles, as the baby grows up it will be exposed from all sorts of other places.

If it's that dangerous they should be taking it out of everything.

I used Tommee Tippee bottles with my first child. Towards the end of his bottle use the BPA info started to emerge. I sent everything back to TT with a letter saying I was uncomfortable with their use of a chemical banned in so many other countries, and asked for a refund. They sent me one immediately, no questions asked, for over £100.

The fact they did this so freely suggested to me that they were concerned and felt BPA was an issue, since when they have obviously changed their manufacturing techniques and now promote their bottles as BPA-free. This changes seems to have come about quite rapidly with many of the manufacturers as knowledge of the potential risks enters the public consciousness. If they can alter the make up of the plastic to avoid BPA, I can't see why they wouldn't.

I do worry that DS was exposed to this for the first year of his life, but there isn't a great deal I can do about it now. I'm expecting DS2 this summer and should I end up formula-feeding I will be doing so with BPA-free bottles.

Things like this really worry me.
I used to foster babies and had no choice other than to bottle feed.
Why are the British government so scared of putting their foot down over things like this?

I was bottle feeding when the whole BPA thing came out. I used these bottles as I had been using them for months, but next time I will be switching to BPA free, just to be on the safe side. I have seen man y bottles that are now advertised as BPA free so it won't had to get hold of them.

Lat sentence is suppose to say "so it won't be hard to get hold of them."

Haven't read article yet, but I'm looking into getting glass bottles as an alternative. It seems to be a far more established thing in the US/ Canada than over here. The bottles are really pricey, though, but if, like me, you're planning to primarily bf, the expense shoudn't be too high. I hope!

I became aware of this around the time DS stopped having bottles.

I think that it is a lesson to learn that it pays to be as natural as possible where in particular babies are concerned.

I am rather more concerned about the level of ignorance surrounding bottle feeding in general.

I can't understand why more people aren't given access to the information within this leaflet.

And more importantly why aren't HCPs and parents aware of or following the guidelines on safe preparation of formula?

Did you know that formula powder itself is not sterile?

The guidelines state (based on research) that it should be made with water which is no less than 70 degrees C.

Which practically means boiling 1 litre of water and leaving it for no more than 30 minutes.

There are alternatives for when this is not practical, and these are using a flask of water or making in advance and cooling rapidly and refridgerating.

Making with cool water is not at all recommended (except in an emergency situation).

One of the main reasons the message is not out there is that the formula manufacturers are not putting the correction information on their packaging.

See this NCT press release from 2 years ago.

I think this is shocking and have been banging on about it discussing it on this thread here.

So is BPA in those little Avent weaning pots as well? What about Tupperware and the like? What about the plastic bowls my kids eat out of and which I sometimes use to heat their food in (should use crockery I know and will be doing that from now on).

I have known about the BPA problem for years and have always breasfted and with DC1 used only glass bottles.

Everything stated in the second link (and more) is true, and an absolute scandal.

The reason Britain has not done anything much about it is because lobbying companies are frequently employed to influence politicians and pressure/petitioning to your MP is sadly one of the only ways to be heard. It is a good time to shout about it because of the election- as far as I am aware the conservatives haven't been paid by anyone and could easily ban BPA here. The consequences to our childrens' health are shocking and I am in a fortunate position having known about this but many many mums will be saddened to know that they have given their much loved babies some very harmful chemicals, when all the time the government has been aware and allowing it to continue.

Sadly BPA could be in anything that is plastic and flexible, so all IV bags for instance, all drinks bottles, all plastic food containers .. we are surrounded by it, but that doesn't mean it's OK. For years people believed smoking was safe and now it has been banned in public places. It's time to make a change for your children and grandchildren and their children as unless people start to wake up nothing will be done and instead everyone could end up very unwell indeed. I think there is a touch of 'they haven't asked...don't tell the people' to all of this, but it needs to stop, fast. The health consequences are dire.

Glass bottles are also pretty hard to get hold of, but we need to be assured that baby cups and bottles really are free from hazardous chemicals. Glass is the safest material and the easiest to recycle, and frankly the cost to the government of implementing a ban on BPA in children's products is far less than the cost of future health care due to the effects of BPA.

neenz it's in everything, I use plastic only if it says BPA free on the pack, and I still don't heat anything in it. Best to heat food etc in a ceramic or glass container.

neenz, in general, heating food in plastic is considered potentially dangerous for all people (as is freezing in plastic containers), because the extreme temperature changes have been shown to transfer artificial 'hormone'-like substances which have been shown to lead to cancers. Researchers have actually witnessed drops of plastic dripping from the lids into the food whilst heated in the microwave.

crumpette, where did you get your glass bottles? Am looking into it right now!

Oh great another thing to worry about.

I hope to bf but I have purchased bottles from MC as I am sure I will need bottles at some point.

How do we know which ones contain BPA, is it all of them?

Ds1 was ff from quite early on so I guess I have already exposed him to these chemicals, I have also used plastic dishes in the microwave etc.

If there is scientific evidence that these things are harmful I would rather they just banned them. Otherwise you end up going around in circles trying to decide what to do for the best.

I'm sure you can get them on the Green Baby site; have seen them there in the past anyway.

I do use glass containers as much as I can but I must admit I have got lazy and use plastic a lot, for freezing too. I will chuck all the plastic out now as I do have lots of glass containers I could use instead.

Sorry, was talking about glass bottles

Dorothea, last time I looked at GreenBaby they had the bottles but no silicone sleeves to wrap around them. I don't feel comfortable about using them without the added protection!

It think it's important to remember that the risk of BPA is small. I believe it is there, and using glass over plastic when possible is best practice, but the risk is small.

It's like using aluminium-free deodorant- it's best to do it the majority of the time, but using Sure once a while is not going to kill you

Speedy, yes I got them from GreenBaby, I'm lucky that I live next to one of the stores but they have a website too. They are very sturdy thick glass. NUK also manufacture glass baby bottles and cups.

When I found out about this issue I switched to BPA free bottles. Most brands now stock them and they are only a few extra quid.

Although both mine were mainly BF. I used ones with BPA with first child before the research was known. Second time around I used BPA free. MAM ones are easily available and weren't much more expensive.

Thought as BPA was quite easy to avoid I should really. Especially as looking into it at the time I found the research to be pretty convincing. And the fact it is banned in other countries.

There is a site somewhere which lists all the BPA bottles and cups.

neenz, where is your evidence to say the risk is small? These are worldwide scientific studies on a massive scale all concluding that the danger of BPA is very high indeed.

The world health organisation has linked aluminium to breast cancer and openly stated that fact years ago, so using a brand of deodorant with unsafe ingredients might kill you.