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266539 tn?1281402152

BPA, why is it bad?

I posted this on the Maternal Fourm but everyone was very rude and never answered my question.  I have looked in the past posts and can only find people talking about bottles with BPA but not really an explanation on why it is bad.
I have seen several posts about bottles and BPA and have never even heard of it until coming on this site.  What is BPA and why does everyone think it is so bad?  Thanks!
34 Responses
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281603 tn?1229311681
The first time I heard about BPA, I looked everywhere for BPA free bottles for my child (which she is little over 3 weeks now) so I decided to use the Playtex drop ins.  They work great and I love it but it gets pricey because you have to buy liners and if you really think about it a few of boxes can be the same as buying a thing of formula.  When I go back to work I am considering buying a pack of the Playtex vent air for convenience.

I personally haven't talk to the pediatrician about BPA bottles but some mothers I know talked to their pediatrician and the doc pretty much said that it is okay to use normal bottles but make sure that you keep the bottle in good conditions and replace any that it isn't.  My nephew who is 8 months now used normal bottles and he is the in perfect health and very smart (what a brat LOL).  

It's up to you to decide what's best for your child.  Consult your doctors or other mothers.
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266539 tn?1281402152
Thanks ladies for all of your responses.
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293420 tn?1243142938
I made the IEP comment and I'm sorry that you took offense...I'm being honest.

I'm an SLP and service 52 children with IEPs and I do not take offense to my own comment. I'm just being honest. Do you have any of your own children who have IEPs? Trust me, it's a different story when you're on the other side of the table. Working with disabled children everyday and having one of your own are completely different...I never thought in a million years that I would "take my work home with me" everynight. I'm not making fun of disabled children...I have one for crying out loud.

Not using BPA bottles will not stop the epidemic of disabled children, but it might be a start. At this point in time, using BPA bottles is the ONLY thing that I have figured out that I did wrong and may be attributed to my son's disabilities.
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613259 tn?1220846252
I re-read the previous post again and there is a lot of question about BPA getting into the food or liquid. Read some of the BPA links. They are strait-forward and clear about how the chemicals get in your food.

It is NOT just a problem if the item is heated.

It is NOT just a problem if the items is cleaned with harsh chemicals.

I am going to repeat myself here, but much of the scientific review indicates that it is absorbed by food stuff over time and that the heating can make it worse, along with using say a dishwasher to clean the items. But that is like saying that you will not get cancer from light cigarettes.

If this is important enough for you to change your lifestyle - it should be important enough for you to take a few minutes and review some official documentation from reputable sources.
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613259 tn?1220846252
First thing is first CHECK THE MANUFACTURER WEBSITE. Playtex, until recently did not offer BPA free items, they now have both options. Avent does have BPA and a number of others do as well. The manufacturer's are being bombarded buy email and calls about this so most of them have a link on their site about their products. No offense or anything but you need to check this out through the proper channels if you want the right information. Avoid items labeled as POLYCARBONATE. That word should be synonymous with BPA.

The best source for non-BPA bottles are, as far as I have investigated, are Gerber and Evenflo.

Born Free and Dr. Browns offer BPA free bottles and glass bottles at anywhere from 6.00 to 12.00 PER BOTTLE. That is INSANE.

Gerber uses #5 plastics, which are considered food safe and do not contain BPA, on the items marked with #5. The Gerber company is also the only company I have come across thus far that actually MARK the bottles with the plastic type codes. If you do not want plastics at all I suggest Evenflo. They produce glass bottles, the same as they did 20 years ago. I purchased these for my next child, due in a week. They cost me around 4.00$ for a set of three 4oz bottles and 6.00$ for a set of three 8oz bottles. You cannot beat that.

I have read some bad reviews about all the brands leaking and needing to be replaced, however, if you look at Brown's and Born free prices - you can buy 3 to 6 Evenflow bottles for the price of ONE of the others. Even if one of them leaks... you still win in the price range. They use silicone nipples now, instead of the rubber ones, but the Gerber company still makes the old fashioned rubber nipples that fit their bottles and the Evenflo bottles. That way you can completely remove plastics from the equation, if you want to, for less money than these "new better bottles". Again more links:

Gerber: http://www.gerber.com/About/Press_Room_Detail.aspx?PressId=5050364c-cc99-488b-9839-1d8354b50a86

Playtex BPA: http://www.playtexbaby.com/bpafree/info.html

Plastic Codes: http://www.healthgoods.com/Education/Environment_Information/Solid_Waste/decoding_plastic_codes.htm
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503882 tn?1288843037
I agree with sweetangel on the water bottle thing.. My dad was watching a show about the whole BPA thing (not too familiar with it myself but I did notice that the platex drop ins were BPA free so those are the bottles I will be using.. Plus I will be mostly breastfeeding and they have the freezable drop in bags so that will come in handy.) Anyway! My dad WILL NOT let us drink out of water bottles that have been sitting in the car.. (sounds crazy I know, but I guess if your dodging a bullet then why not just get a new water bottle..) I actually joked around with him one day because we were going on a family vacation and a water bottle rolled out from under the drivers seat by my feet and I lifted up my feet and yelled "cancer water!!" but yeah.. my parents are really serious about the whole "cancer" thing and the whole "environmental danger" stuff.. My mom actually started buying cloth grocery bags because of something about plastic and seagulls eating it or something.. Idk but like gr8 grl said.. If you knew something had the "potential" to cause danger to your child would you still do it anyways?? I wouldn't.. Its kind of like smoking while you are pregnant.. (I know its probably a touchy issue for some) but if you know that it could potentially harm your baby why would you do it? you have the rest of your life to harm your own body with toxins...
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342988 tn?1299782356
ok again not to be rude but when everyone stops using BPA products and their children still have learning disabilities, are we going to be shocked? I'm not.  i know all the comments above about IEP's were geared towards me but really ladies.  it is just another thing for all of us to worry about and go out and buy the latest other products.  I am in no way saying that i am going to purposefully go out there and put hazardeous things near on in my child but just like jesselee said, you have a higer chance of you and your child getting into a major car accident and you still drive a car every day.

i run a group home and take high offense to the IEP comment.  

all i was saying is everyday it is something new that the news tells us to stop doing or to worry us and we all race around and clear out our house and buy new things but ultimately we do more dangerous things everyday and do not think twice.
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435139 tn?1255460391
I've heard that even leaving a bottle in the car or outside in the sun can heat it up enough to leach chemicals...
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266539 tn?1281402152
So is BPA only bad if heated?  Because I know that everyone drinks out of plastic water bottles and there has never been an issue there...  And if it is just when heated, is heating it up to body temp. really going to matter?
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266539 tn?1281402152
I'm not sure if anyone has ever used these bottles but Elan made by evenflo...  I love these bottles but I don't know if they are BPA free, sadly I bet not.
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266539 tn?1281402152
What else was on that list do you know??  That would be a great thing to know.  I absolutely HATE avent and dr. browns bottles anyways so that would.
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385560 tn?1234190277
oops, sorry posted the wrong links, here are the correct ones ...

http://safemama.com/2007/11/22/bpa-free-bottle-and-sippy-cup-cheat-sheet/

http://safemama.com/2008/01/04/bpa-free-pacifiers-and-teethers-cheat-sheet/
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293420 tn?1243142938
You're right...the Born Free are EXPENSIVE and have horrible reviews on Target.com. I'm addicted to reading reviews on baby items just to have the heads up on the best mom-approved items.

I thought of something else that I wanted to add to the conversation. At my son's evaluations with the psychologist and early intervention specialist, they gave me a list of the bottles and toys to completely avoid for my next child. On the top of the avoid list, of course, were the Dr. Brown's bottles...followed by Avent.

Why would they give me this list if they weren't convinced that BPA is causing all of these problems? I work in the school system and the amount of children coming in with disabilities is quite alarming. Some people would guess that we're overdiagnosing and labeling every child, but my son DOES have a problem and I did EVERYTHING right! The "avoid" list was not just included in some handouts or put in a folder, they handed it to me to read while I was sitting at the table with them.

I think this is something serious that everyone should start paying more attention to...
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385560 tn?1234190277
Here is a great website I found that has lists of BPA free bottles, pacifiers and teethers. I think it has more information on BPA and other chemicals.

http://safemama.com/2008/02/10/cheat-sheet-paraben-phthalate-free-baby-care/

Hope this helps
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177382 tn?1253041140
the born free glass bottle are great but i cracked mine some how heating them up but the have new plastic ones  tc ~d
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Avatar universal
I don't think VentAire are BPA free either. There should be a list out there somewhere of safe bottles. I know glass bottles are safe. I use AVENT, which are BPA free now. Born Free also makes BPA free bottles (but they're EXPENSIVE)!
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177382 tn?1253041140
the vent air i don't think are BPA free  tc ~d
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266539 tn?1281402152
So I don't have to worry about the drop ins at all?  What about the Playtex Vent air ones?
I didn't think you were rude at all!
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177382 tn?1253041140
the drop ins are bpa free.  the plastic you usually have to worry about is the hard plastic bottles.   the liners don't have it.  :)  i use avent nursers which are like drop ins b/c you can sqeeze out the air which gives the baby less gas.  tc  ~d
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293420 tn?1243142938
Playtex drop-ins do not have BPA in them. Actually, Playtex is sending out free samples of 8oz bottles right now on their website. I made everyone in my family order one so I have a whole set for the next baby :)

I used Dr. Brown's last time and while they worked great, they have BPA in them. I know that they have the new ones without BPA, but I've decided to switch completely. I'm looking forward to only having a couple of pieces to wash! Should be easier next time...

Go to Playtex.com and you can read about how they're BPA free....

Also-I hope you didn't think that my post was rude. It wasn't really directed at you, but to everyone else who thinks BPA is no big deal. I can't tell you how devastating it is to find out your kid has a disibility when they're two years old. It's a touchy subject and I go a little overboard talking about it. I would do anything if I could go back and find out what caused this...
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266539 tn?1281402152
Now when I was pregnant, before my miscarriage, I bought a thing of bottles they were playtex drop ins...  How do you figure out if they have BPA in them or not??
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293420 tn?1243142938
Please excuse my grammatical errors above...how embarrassing :)
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293420 tn?1243142938
I'm surprised that no one has brought this up, but BPA is suspected in causing learning disabilities and other developmental delays in children. It has been PROVEN to alter the brain, so there is more research being completed to figure out exactly how.

I, for one, have decided to not use bottles with BPA in them anymore. I used them with my son and he's Apraxic and has Sensory Integration Dysfunction...there is no known causes for either of these. I did everything right when I was pregnant...no drinking/smoking, ate everything that I was supposed to eat, didn't eat what I was not supposed to eat, took prescription pre-natal vitamins everyday, went to every appointment and had great pre-natal care...and now this?

Think about it.....they STILL don't know what causes developmental delays such as speech/language impairments, Autism, etc....would you really take a chance? What if the BPA bottles are a contributing factor? Take it from me...you would do ANYTHING to make your child perfect and not have to live day in and day out with a child with disabilities. You're taking the vitamins, eating right, etc...why not take out something else that MAY be causing problems?

Ask any parent of a child with delays and I bet that they have decided not to use these bottles anymore. There are HUGE lawsuits in California and Missouri right now against the bottle companies and this has all been brought on by these parents of disabled/delayed children.

I don't think it's "crock of bull" as someone else stated. Wait until you're sitting at your child's IEP meeting in 3 years and see how you feel. Just because they hand that new baby to you and say that they're "perfect" doesn't mean that everything will be rosey in a few years.
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Avatar universal
I'm glad you have found friendship here!!! Stick around!
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