 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Advice from Ed Begley, Jr.
At some point, whether or not you choose to breast-feed your baby, you’ll need to use a bottle. So the question becomes: What sort of baby bottle should you use? The answer is easy: Always use a glass bottle.
The other choice, of course, is plastic bottles—both the disposable and the reusable kind. Clearly, reusable baby bottles are better. But the plastic bottles are petroleum-based, and many of the hard plastic ones are made from polycarbonate, which contains Bisphenol-A (BPA), which is now being linked to health issues ranging from problems with the reproductive organs to hyperactivity in children and even type 2 diabetes. So I would steer clear of polycarbonate, particularly for baby bottles. You can tell a bottle is polycarbonate by turning it over and looking inside the recycling triangle on the bottom. If you see the numeral 7 in there, the bottle is polycarbonate.
Plastic bottles also have been made from polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which again is one of the most toxic plastics out there. So if you turn the bottle over and you see a numeral 3 in the recycling triangle, stay away from it…
[S]ilicone nipples are generally better than latex or rubber nipples. Silicone nipples are less prone to house bacteria, and you can wash them in the dishwasher. They also last longer than the other options. Latex nipples decompose quickly, and rubber nipples can cause allergic reactions, plus they’ve been found to contain nitrosamines, a type of contaminant that’s been linked to cancer.
I’m delighted to report that it’s easier today to make environmentally friendly choices when you’re readying your home for the arrival of a baby—and for the first few years of your baby’s life—than it was just a few years ago. The best part is that those environmentally friendly choices also happen to be healthy choices.
|
Copyright © 2009 by Ed Begley, Jr. and Brentwood Communications International, Inc. From the book ED BEGLEY, JR.’S GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE LIVING published by Clarkson Potter Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted with permission. |
|
Browse all articles on parenting | Browse all articles from August 2009 |
