The Issue of Plastic Baby Bottle Risks and What Parents Can Do

By: Dr. Maurice Levy

For several years, various countries have faced the issue of plastic bottle use for babies. It has been a popular topic in the news and a concern for various health authorities, particularly questioning the banning of plastic bottles altogether. There have been arguments about its use due to its risk on bottle fed babies.

For decades, plastic bottles have been the bottle of choice for feeding babies due to its light-weight, unbreakable, and transparent qualities.

What is the Issue?

-Bisphenol (BPA) is an industrial chemical most commonly used to make a clear polycarbonate plastic for consumer products. The plastic is clear, incredibly hard and becomes shatter resistant. When heated however, BPA can leach out of the plastic into the food or liquid in the container.

-Adding boiling water to polycarbonate plastic bottles causes a dramatic spike in the amount of BPA that leach into the liquid. The main source of BPA for babies include the following: (a) migration of BPA into liquid infant formula from infant formula cans; (b) from BPA, migrating into hot and boiling water placed into polycarbonate baby bottles, which when cooled, are used to mix with powdered formula or given directly to the infant.

-Although the amount may not seem like much, the effects may be strongly cumulative on the small baby over time.

- BPA has been linked to cancers, impaired immune function, and early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hyper activity.

- Babies are very sensitive with immature immune systems, organs and a developing brain. Studies show that problems associated with BPA exposure during the critical stages of development (the early childhood years) may not surface until years after exposure.

- Various health authorities have established a maximum acceptable/tolerable daily dose of 0.05 milligrams per kilo body weight. Scientists conclude that BPA exposure to newborns and infants may pose risks to babies, however the gap between exposure and effects is not large enough.

How to Recognize Which Baby Bottles are Made from polycarbonate with BPA

-Polycarbonate is a clear hard plastic. It typically has the number seven in the center of the recycling symbol (recycling triangle) on the bottom of the product.

-Although the number seven is a broad category, you can only be sure that it is the number seven if it has PC beside it as well.

-Not all products will have the number, so to be sure read the packaging.

What Parents Can Do For Now

Until further recommendations by various health authorities (different in various countries), parents should do the following should they choose to continue using plastic bottles.

(1) Do not add boiling water to a baby's bottle. Let boiling water cool to a lukewarm temperature in a non-polycarbonate container before transferring it to a baby's bottle.

(2) Use alternatives such as:

-baby bottle (or baby bottle liners flexible plastic liners insert) made of polyethylene (PE) which has a code of (2) or (4) or polypropylene (PP) which has a code of 5.

-plastic baby bottle labeled as Bisphenol free

-glass baby bottle - please look at my book - Baby's and Toddlers : Feeding and Nutritional Health in the 'Equipment Used for Feeding' chapter. Some comments regarding the safety of use of glass baby bottle: - the glass bottle can be broken and cause cuts on the child -the glass can chip or crack during sterilization allowing glass splinters to end up in child beverages. Do not give the glass bottle to the child to hold, or let the child sleep with it.

Inspect glass bottle carefully and regularly and scratch cracked or chipped bottles should be discarded immediately.

(3) At meal time, you can heat the bottle in the pan with a water or bottle warmer rather than a microwave, since microwaves can heat the bottle and formula unevenly causing chemicals to leach out.

(4) When cleaning bottle and sippy cups containing BPA, do not put them in the dishwasher, rather wash it with warm water and mild soap and dry air. If cleaned in the dishwasher, it should be left to cool at room temperature before adding infant formula.

(5) When possible, you may want to consider going from the breast right to the sippy cup (free of BPA), skipping the bottle altogether.

(6) If breastfeeding is not chosen, canned infant formula is still the best choice as the nutritional benefits far outweigh possible risks.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

-BPA is used in various metal cans and the epoxy lining of cans of infant's formula can also contain BPA. Epoxy resin is used as a protective coating in metal based foods and beverage cans (prevent corrosion of the cans and contamination of food and beverage with dissolved metals). Also, preserve the quality and safety of the canned food.

-BPA does not pose any risks to adults, teenage children, and therefore they can continue the use of polycarbonate water bottles, canned foods, and beverages.

-polycarbonate is used in a limited number of household containers besides baby bottles, such as in sippy cups, reusable water bottlers (sports bottles, pitchers, tableware, and food storage containers, etc).

-some plastic food containers like ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressing bottles have the recycling number seven on the bottom, but they do not contain BPA. The soft squeezable bottles are not made from polycarbonate and do not contain BPA. Only hard and clear plastic bottles are made from polycarbonate. As a general rule, if you can easily squeeze the bottle, it is not made from polycarbonate plastics, and does not contain BPA. Only if there is the letter PC in the recycling symbol then it is the only way to be certain if it contains BPA. If not sure, contact the manufacturer.


About the Author: Dr. Maurice Levy, an eminent pediatrician, has 30 years of day-to-day medical experience in hospitals and in his active pediatric primary care and consultation clinic. Former Chief of Pediatrics and currently Head of Pediatric Research at North York General Hospital, Dr. Levy has trained and worked in various hospitals across the globe. Along with his medical degree and specialty in General Pediatrics, Dr. Levy has received various specialized diplomas and received numerous awards and publications. For more information, visit: www.babyandtoddlerhealth.com.