Plastics in pregnancy

[allworknoplay25]

Wanted to know/ask about using plastic bottles and containers while pregnant, I haven’t really thought about it until I had seen an article saying about BPA and so on and it’s freaked me out a bit!
I keep soup and pasta sauces and so on in plastic containers when I don’t use the whole jar the first time and today I went to make some pasta and went to get the container out of the fridge and didn’t think anything of it again but you could see the condensation on the lid, where the plastic must have been sweating. I’ve eaten the pasta now but worried about the BPA from the plastic container that may have gotten into the sauce! And I used plastic containers for everything and eat out of them mostly every day if not every day, have I been stupid for not being too careful?

I was really surprised to see BPA mentioned in what to expect when you’re expecting. I completely avoid plastic bottles and I store most food in the fridge in a China bowl with cling film on it but I do store some food in the fridge/ freezer in plastic Tupperware (if it has the freeze symbol on it). I wouldn’t heat anything up in plastic, though I think some are microwave safe! Although I avoid plastics as much as I can (partly due to plastic waste), I wouldn’t worry at all about drinking from a plastic bottle or storing food in plastic containers. I think most people wouldn’t be aware it was an issue at all x

There are different grades of plastic, you can tell which type it is as there's a little number in a triangle of arrows somewhere on the plastic usually. I think 5 is the most stable food-grade plastic so if you have to have plastic (sometimes unavoidable in modern life) this is what to aim for.

Home bargains do good glass storage containers with plastic clip top, I use those without the top but with foil on top to reheat anything in the oven.

I read a good book called 'your non-toxic pregnancy' by Susannah Marroitt which had lots of info about this sort of thing but the message was it's unrealistic to try to avoid everything that could be harmful so it's about making choices to limit exposure to potentially harmful substances.

For me, glass mam baby bottles were great and although they are horrendously expensive they have the benefit of being used for your later children without degrading like with plastic. I also never serve my children any hot food on plastic plates, even 'bamboo' ones. They'll often say they're bamboo but unless they're plain raw wood they're often a melamine (plastic) and bamboo mix. I serve their food on small ceramic plates.

I also really dislike Teflon/non-stick pans as they can also leach into your food if at all scratched or damaged. Stainless steel is great for most things but is terrible for frying eggs so I begrudgingly use my Teflon frying pan for eggs only.

Also things like toxic flame-retardants that are compulsory by law to be on sofas and some furniture is a concern, especially as I'm due to get a new sofa in the next few weeks, ordered before I fell pregnant but has been very delayed! Haven't figured out what to do about that yet...

Then there's also air pollution in your own home, toxic chemicals from air fresheners/candles, cleaning chemicals, paint/decorating fumes (VOC's) and even things like fibres from polyester clothes and furnishings.

Sorry for the essay, this got a bit longer than I intended. I admit I'm probably an anxious person and maybe a bit of a hippy. It depends on how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go to help you feel better!