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Breast milk is the golden standard of infant nutrition, but if your tot will be chugging down pumped breast milk or supplementary formula, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has a laundry list of what to look for when you're shopping for feeding bottles:
1. Use silicone nipples: Silicone nipples are clear or brightly colored, not brownish like their latex counterparts. Silicone may be safer than latex because babies may develop a sensitivity or allergy to latex.
Silicone is also less porous than latex, so a silicone nipple may be more resistant to bacteria, according to Consumer Reports. Avoid nipples made of #3 PVC because they can leach pthalates and adipates, which have been linked to reproductive and liver damage in animal studies.
2. Choose glass bottles: Most plastic baby bottles are made of polycarbonates, usually marked with the plastic recycling code #7. Polycarbonates can leach an endocrine disrupter known as bisphenol A (BPA) into the formula.
A review of 115 published studies investigating the impact of low doses of BPA in lab animals concluded that 94 percent of them found "significant effects" below predicted safe or recommended doses, including alterations to brain chemistry, male and female reproductive functions, and immune systems.
Also reported was the fact that the level of plastic molecules leaching into food and beverage containers-and accumulating in our bodies and even fetal blood-was higher than previously thought, exceeding the level that caused these adverse effects in mice. According to Consumer Reports, babies using the bottles it tested could be exposed to levels of BPA 40 times greater than what was considered safe.
Tip: If you choose to go with plastic, #5 plastics are among the safest of its ilk, and have not been found to leach BPA. Inspect your bottles regularly for scratches that may harbor bacteria, however, to prevent potential contamination.
3. Skip the plastic bottle liners: Ditto. The soft plastic liners may leach toxic chemicals into the formula, especially if you heat them up in the microwave, rather than in a pan of hot water.
4. Use filtered tap water: If your water is fluoridated, use a reverse osmosis filter to remove the fluoride, which the American Dental Association recommends avoiding because babies' developing teeth may be susceptible to enamel fluorosis-a condition characterized by faint white lines or streaks on tooth enamel-if they receive a higher-than-optimal amount of fluoride through reconstituted baby formula.
5. Use powdered formula: BPA can also leach from the linings of metal cans and lids-liquid formulas tend to have higher levels, according to EWG.
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