Oops, I poisoned my kids

I used glass bottles for my kids but unfortunately EvenFlo has stopped making them. They may sometimes be found in some supermarkets - I found a few in Nanaimo. I phoned the company and they said they might make them again if there was demand. It's good you are posting on this issue because most people have no idea. In Indonesia they are even more careful about sterilizing as the germs are more virulent there so the bottles get all cloudy and even more carcinogenic.

My friend ordered very expensive plastic bottles which are Bisphenol-A free from somewhere in the US.

Thank you for taking the time to share your info/research. I too, have been using Avent bottles for my 8 month old and was surprised to learn about chemical releases from the plastic into the formula. I stumbled across your sight of which I found very useful, it saved me from having to search high and low for what bottles are safe. You pointed me in the right direction and I have just purchased the Gerber Gentle Flow hoping my son wouldn't notice much of a change. Of note, I even found the Avent nipple fit to make an easier transition for him. Although I'm not eager to use Avent products, discovering this issue is nothing new, I would think Avent would make the health of our children a priority and elimiate the use of polycarbonate!
Teresa/Manitoba/Canada

I was shocked! I was watching the news a week ago when they featured a segment on baby bottles that contained Bisphenol A. Having a 4-month old baby, this drew my attention. The news mentioned that plastic baby bottles, such as Avent, contain Bisphenol which has been known to cause cancer, type II diabetes and hyperactivity. I was really scared because I used the Avent bottle. Here's what happened:

At 3 months I stopped breastfeeding and went strictly to formula. My baby was a very happy, content baby until we started bottle feeding. She slowly became more and more colicky and would scream for up to 6 hours at a time. I thought perhaps it was the formula she was on, so I changed to a different type. Things didn't get any better with her so I was going to change brands again, and that's when the news story came out. I stopped feeding her with the bottle and we saw IMMEDIATE results. Changing bottles has been the only change to her diet, and she's a different person. She is now happy, cooing, laughing and smiling, all of which she had not done at all in the last month. Her bowel movements are also back to a normal color and gas isn't an issue any more. I can't believe how much this chemical affected her!

I told my Doctor this story and she was really upset by it. She has recommended that I only use bottles with the liners.

I have sent an email to Avent to see what they have to say. I'll post their reply when I receive it. I encourage more people to contact the companies involved in manufacturing/distributing potentially harmful foods or products. If they know we know they know we know they know then they will recognize profit in switching to what the consumer thinks* is safe and lost profit if they don't. Don't expect someone to do an about-face from talking behind their back. I, personally, think Avent has well designed products that are more baby friendly than most (subject of this thread not withstanding). If you want to flame a company that is not baby friendly start a thread on Nestle. They make Avent look like saints.
http://www.babymilkaction.org/resources/boycott/nestlefree.h...
 

Live intentionally.

As a breastfeeding mother who used the Avent system for expressing milk and storage, I am concerned. I don't seem to be able to find alternatives to the Avent system and understand that you should not use glass bottles for breast milk. Any thoughts on what one should do for storing (and freezing) breast milk?

In response to how to store breastmilk use medelas mini bottles or their separate set (sold at toys r us) about 10 dollars i think for 4 5 oz bottles good luck

Has anyone found non-BPA bottles that are compatible with the Avent rings and nipples (she asked hopefully)?

Hello,

Just wondering if you ever got a response from avent, and if so what it was?
I am currently trying to find out if I could have a glass copy of an avent bottle made so that I could continue to use all their other products that all work together. No luck yet but I haven't given up.
Thanks for your time
Kerri

I just searched the Gerber website and could not find any verification that their bottles are Bisphenol A free. Do you have something in writing to this effect? My baby is 10 months old and I have been using Avent bottles since day one. I hate to incur the huge cost of buying freeborn bottles if she decides anyday to quit using them. However I would like to purchase safe sippy cups.

The Gerber bottles are on this naughty list too.

Yes. The Gerber GentleFlow fit with the Avent system and are PBA free. I used them but sent them back to Gerber as I found they leaked all the time. I know other people who use them and have not had that problem. Good luck. I am looking for some as well.

The following link talks about the level of BPA in some bottles. It does say that there were no significant level of BPAs found in 3 gerber bottles tested, they also said the same about an Avent bottle? I found evenflo glass bottles at a toys r us in Calgary although there is no selection of nipples for the bottles and the ones supplied with the bottle are not very good.

Chelsea

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080207...

Just to throw something out there. I am a soon to be parent and investigated this matter on my own. I am also a scientist so I looked at some of the data from the study.

The data that I reviewed stated that the BPA was detected at 5-8 ppb (parts per billion) after 24 hours of soaking in water (i.e. water in the bottle) at 80 deg Celcius. No BPA was detected if they incubated at room temperature.

They stated that this incubation (although extreme) was supposed to simulated repeated washing and scrubbing over months. However, as most people know when you wash the bottle, you don't drink the water that you used to wash/rinse it. Also, the report stated that the EPA has stated that the allowable level of BPA is ~50 ppb day. So based on the data that I saw, the harsh conditions of the experiment only produced about 1/8 to 1/10 the "safe" amount of BPA.

I just want to note that I am not saying that it is ok to use bottles with BPA in them, but I do/did want to clarify the conditions of the experiments in which people used to come to that conclusion, which I feel are a little extreme. Therefore I feel the claims are a little oversated and people shouldn't panic about using the bottles up to this point. I am going to look into this further.

A really good site on BPA to check out is wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

Seems a lot of studies in were compromised by funding...
I found this really interesting...
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/7713/7713.html

This chart illustrates quite clearly what happens when science is heavily funded by companies with a vested interest in the results...
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/7713/tab1.jpg

Another issue just as important as bottles... liners in cans of liquid baby formula leach high levels of BPA into liquid formula (all of them)... the only exception I have found is readymade formula in plastic bottles that do not contain BPA (numbers 1,2,5,9 in the little recycle box)

Cheers

Alex

You can use the AVENT nipples with the AVENT Magic sippy cups which are BPA free.

A friend of mine told me the NUBY brand is compatible with the Avent lids and nipples. Good Luck!

A friend of mine told me the NUBY brand is compatible with the Avent lids and nipples. Good Luck!

all of the companys like avent and playtex are offering bpa free samples (free product).

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

avent is 800-843-2174

I have called already....

Hey there

Going through the process of changing from AVENT too. Bought BORNFREE but hate all the pieces that come for the venting system. Bought GREEN TO GROW... but babe collapses the nipple all the time... it just isnt big enough. SO... I tried the bornfree nipple on the green to grow bottle. IT FITS and so does the AVENT nipples!! HOORAY. Now ... that said, there is still no venting system... so occasionally pulling out bottle to let air back in is required. The GREEN TO GROW also fit the AVENT sippy spouts. I love this. Now my EXPENSIVE bottles can be used with big nipples and for sippy cups down the road
Hope this helps!

Where did you buy the GREEN to GROW bottles? I went to their website and they do not ship from the US to Canada.

Thanks!

just wanted to let you know that Avent had the highest level of leaching... and i think that is a big problem

I don't believe in what you are saying because for years people have been using those bottles and I use it in my family and the kids are fine they have no problem the're healthy kids. I think canadian peoples always try to look like the are better than others but in fact are just pretending to care but in fact they couldn't careless about health cause lots of people smoke drink while the are pregnant & after that the are acting oh! the feeding bottle is going to destroy my baby health.

Diana Young

There are a lot of harmful chemical in products we and our families use on a day-to-day basis.

Luckily, one of my friends pointed me in the direction to an alternative way of cleaning - CHEMICAL FREE!          ENJO is cleaning with Enjo fibres and water and it has been proven to clean 6 times better than chemical cleaneres. No chemicals means that money is saved! It improve the health of you and the people around you and also creates a safer enviorment to live in. Breathe better with ENJO!           www.enjo-canada.com