Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature BPA-free bottles

I have been intending to change Hannah's milk bottles for a while now since she already 6 months plus, but did not get round to doing it until last week. Currently she is using the Avent regular plastic bottles. I was not one who was afraid of BPA and all that but since I was going to change the bottles, I did some research on the BPA-free bottles available on the market.

What is BPA? The plastic used to make baby bottles contains a chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA). Very tiny amounts of BPA can leach from a plastic bottle into your baby's milk. This is a concern because BPA has been linked to possible health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and changes to our hormone systems. Below is a chemical diagram of BPA:



Although it is said that large quantities of BPA is needed to to be consumed to be actually harmful, I suppose it's better not to take the risk. So looks like I am as kiasu as anyone else. Haha. Of course the safest alternative to avoid chemicals is to use glass bottles, but that option is totally impractical.

There are many brands which now manufacture BPA-free bottles, among them The First Years, Safety Plus, Evenflo, Tommee Tippee, Think Baby, Nuby, as well as Avent.

From my research, I found out that there are two different materials used to make BPA-free bottles, polypropylene (PP) and polyethersulfone (PES). PP bottles are not clear, but opaque looking whilst PES bottles have a natural honey colour tint. PES bottles are also more expensive than PP bottles.

So anyway, after much browsing, I came across this:



This bottle is made of PP and BPA-free. I liked the shape of the bottle and that it came in 2-bottle packaging. So I bought it online from myBBstore at a very good price, RM30.90 for the 5 oz bottles (2-pack) and RM31.90 for the 9 oz bottles (also 2-pack). Their service is also very good. I ordered and paid for the items on Friday evening; Saturday they already shipped the items and I received them on Monday morning. Fast right? Tommee Tippee is an award-winning brand from the UK and their bottles are also made in England. Click on the title above to link to their website. Since Avent BPA-free bottles are so expensive (they are made from PES), I thought it would be worthwhile to give this a try.

I also bought these by Tommee Tippee because it's high time Hannah changed her old pacifiers. She has had one of them since she was about one month old! They look cute, don't they? And the handle glows in the dark so I thought that was pretty useful since currently I have to grope in the dark for her pacifier when she wakes up and wants it.



How does Hannah like her new Tommee Tippee range products? She has taken to the bottles really well. I was afraid that she might not, but she has no problem with them. In fact, these bottles seems to be easier for her to hold on her own as well. She can finish all her milk holding the bottle (9 oz) on her own whereas with the Avent bottle she will drop it halfway into drinking her milk. Maybe the Tommee Tippee bottles are lighter? She also drinks more water from these bottles compared to the Avent ones, which is good.

However, she does not like the pacifiers at all. Maybe because the teat of it is bigger than her current Avent pacifiers, even though they are both of the orthodontic shape. Oh well, I suppose it's not as easy getting her to give up her old pacifiers. Probably because they already have the "smell" that she is familiar with.

Oh well, if she likes these bottles, then we will probably use them from now on. Can save $$$ too! :) Does anyone know where I can buy them in Penang? I have not seen them sold in the usual departmental stores (Parkson, Jusco) and I would need to replace the teats from time to time. It would be easier to buy them at the regular stores than online because it would not be worthwhile to pay shipping costs for such a small item. As for the pacifiers, we'll just have to slowly coax her to give up the old ones and use the new ones. Otherwise I'll just have to go out and get new Avent pacifiers for her. Sigh...babies can be so demanding!