Thank you to all who weighed in the the sterilization issue. I have BF group today so I will be finding out more. Erin said you shouldn't use antibacterial soap - I am not sure why so let me know about that one. I did purchase 5 medela bags and will look into this fun microwave sterilizer unit.
On another note, another hot topic at group is the BPA topic. For those who are unaware, There are thousands of products on the market, including baby items such as bottles and pump parts that can be made of a hard, clear, plastic that can contain a chemical called Bisphenol A and this has become controversial because it mimics estrogen and thus could induce hormonal responses. The BPA is leached into food if it is heated (microwaved or cleaned in the dishwasher) or scratched. Plastics with the number 3 or 7 contain BPA if you are wondering how you know your plastic contains it. There is so much info on the internet, if you want to look up the issue, you can google it.
Anyway, my BF group is freaking out about this. Henry has used generic old Gerber bottles that do not contain BPA but I know that currently Advent, Gerber Nuk, Dr. Browns, and some evenflo bottles contain BPA. Many bottle companies are trying to change this but it is a little difficult to find BPA free bottles on the shelf in some stores. The reason I mention all this is because I use the Purely Yours Ameda pump and their parts do contain BPA but they are coming out with a replacement part set for very little money to use BPA fee plastic. Heating the old parts in the microwave or dish washing them will activate the BPA and it takes only 10 washes in the dishwasher for the plastic to leach 100x more BPA than if you never dish wash it.
So, I will be getting the BPA free pump parts and just FYI, Medela already has switched or never had BPA in their pump parts (I am not sure which but on the shelves today their bottles are BPA free). Once I get the new parts, I am sterilizing, especially once I have take my pump to work and Henry is in daycare (germs everywhere)! I just wanted to get used to sterilizing as part of my daily routine prior to my returning to work.
5 comments:
Tyler drank from Avent bottles. What can you do - they say everything is bad, but I'm definitely not giving him glass
Hey Sam,
I read not to use antibacterial soap in several different books. At first I thought no big deal, but then when I was going through the information on the nipple and bottle package (we use Avent) it said to not use antibacterial soap. I guess the reasoning is that the chemicals in antibacterial soap are really rough on bottle parts and can scratch them and tear them up. Method dishwashing soap is easy to find and easy to use and doesn't cost that much more so I just went ahead and made the switch.
yeah Brynn and Baylen drank/drink from Avent bottles too. I figure they can't be protected from every single little thing, but if we try and do some things, like sterilizing and washing our hands as often as possible, and not feeding them honey or nuts until they're past 2, at least it's better than nothing. :0
The only one we had was one Evenflo bottle that I only used to gather breastmilk in while pumping. I've since gotten rid of that one. The kdis have always used Playtex bottles with the disposable liners. (My kids all got the hiccups really badly when they were infants-Olive included) and being able to get rid of most of the air helped out tremendously. Actually their hiccup issues started when I was still pregnant with them!
We use/used the Avent bottles but I have Medela pump stuff. The BPA topic really didn't start becoming high profile until Blake was like 9 months old or so and by then there was nothing we could do about it. We will probably switch over to Medela stuff for the next one though.
Everything is "bad" these days... you can't protect your kids from stuff you don't know about but once you do then I think it is worth it to make the effort.
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