BPA-Free Plastic Alternatives for Your Baby and Reducing Plastic Consumption

BPA is all around us, in low levels at least, but there are ways to reduce the unnecessary BPA exposures to your baby when it counts the most.

Plastic Baby Bottles (BPA-Free) or Better..

  • Breastfeed your baby (helps avoid BPAs in bottles and formula can liners).
  • Use BPA-free plastic or PLA-polyactide (made of corn so it’s biodegradable and safe for food storage), instead of polycarbonate bottles. Glass baby bottles are highly recommended.
  • Powdered formula is safer than liquid, as The Environmental Working Group reported that babies fed with liquid formula (from a metal can) consumed 8-20 times more BPA

Plastic Baby Pacifiers/Teethers (BPA-, PVC- & Phthalate-Free)

  • Plastic teethers are made with vinyl plastics (PVC) containing Phthalates, which are hormone-disrupting chemicals that are used as plastic softeners.
  • Look for silionce or natural latex alternatives.  Silicone is a harder material that is odor free and cleans better, whereas latex is softer, contains more odor, and doesn’t last as long.

Plastic Baby Gear (when it’s ‘needed’)

Your baby will need to use a lot of baby gear during its first year. But is it necessary to buy everything? The answer is no. You can buy just one item that has multiple functions, which will save you money and create less unnecessary plastic.

Some parents prefer a bassinet, as it is cozier for their newborn to sleep in versus a giant crib. However, if you choose a multiple purpose play yard instead, you will use a lot less plastic, as it is essentially a 4-in-1 product (a bassinet, changing table, play yard, and storage place for toys). I personally like the Graco Pack ‘n’ Play Playard with Newborn Napper Broadstreet, as it is reasonably priced and it comes with an extra napper (song and vibration option included) to replace a traditional baby bouncer — thus, it is a 5-in-1 product!  Any time you are using less and gaining more, you are helping the environment.

And one of the best practices is to donate your good-condition baby gear to someone else in need, reducing brand new materials (plastic) to create a new baby product.  If the product itself is no longer usable, at least it is still recyclable.

Images via Julien Haler & gracobaby

4 thoughts on “BPA-Free Plastic Alternatives for Your Baby and Reducing Plastic Consumption”

  1. That is the EXACT playpen/napper that my husband’s office got for us 14 months ago! That was a wonderful gift and we got a LOT of use out of it. Then my mom’s boss gave us the crib her grandson grew out of, so we benefited from that, and we used my sister’s old bassinet – it’s been used for both her children and both mine.

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