A personal review from our recent experiences with glass baby bottles.
If there's one thing that new parents are always concerned about (and yes, us repeat parents as well), it's the safety of the products we are using with our children. When Health Minister Tony Clement announced earlier this year that some baby bottles contained the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), many parents were concerned.
Our Story
At the time of the announcement this spring, I was about 7 months pregnant, and wanted a healthier choice than the plastic bottles we had used with our first child. Perhaps because of the announcement, and the resulting demand for glass bottles, it was very difficult to find what we were looking for. It was my mother who eventually found Nurture Pure glass bottles in a Once Upon a Child store. We also more recently started using Evenflo glass bottles, which are now readily available at Shoppers Drug Mart.
We have to admit, we were a little nervous about the bottles when we first started using them. We were concerned that we would break them. Luckily, this hasn't really been a problem, even with 4am-oh-please-let-me-sleep-now feedings.
We also didn't notice much difference in cleaning or using glass bottles compared to the plastic ones. We did notice that repeatedly using boiling water in plastic bottles sometimes caused the plastic to turn cloudy, and the glass ones don't have this issue.
One issue we did notice concerned the Nurture Pure bottles. The measurement marks were stuck or printed on instead of being part of the glass. When we boiled the bottles to sanitize them, the print started to come off the outside, and little flakes would stick to the inside of the bottles - obviously this is not ideal! In addition, this also caused the problem of the measurement markers degrading over time so they can't be read. The Evenflo bottles don't have these issues, since the measurement markers are embedded in the glass.
Travelling is also fairly effortless with the glass bottles. The only difference between plastic and glass bottles is that you have to put something between each bottle to keep them from knocking while traveling. We've taken to packing the bottles with the diapers or change of clothes, which we place in between each bottle.
Health Benefits
There have been a few studies lately about the adverse effects of BPA on the human body. Following are pages of information about BPA:
- Toxic Baby Bottles in Canada
- Toxic Baby Bottles
- BPA Breaking News: Human Study Links to Heart Disease, Diabetes
- Safety of plastic in baby bottles again raises concern
Environmental Benefits
Even though the bottles themselves are made out of glass, in general, the nipples are still silicone, and the rings and lids are still plastic. We did some digging around, and from what we can tell, silicone generally does not contain chemicals such as BPA, Phthalates or PVC.
When it comes to finally disposing of the bottles, glass is generally the winner. Glass is more recyclable, in that it can be made into a glass bottle or similar product over and over. The plastic bottles may be turned into something else, but the plastic may never have the strength to be a bottle again (unlike glass, plastic can't necessarily be recycled forever).
Conclusion
So far we have been very happy and comfortable with our choice to use glass bottles. Whether they are right for your baby is something only you can decide.
