Born Free review - safe bottles for your baby!

Hi

We were sent Born Free bottles to review.  With Aaron being 9 months you'd think he wouldn't adjust to a new bottle, but let me explain.  We combination feed, which means he alternates regularly from the breast to the bottle (and occasionally to "express" bottles - I don't express often).  So, I thought he'd be flexible.

Well he was, but I had to put the teat in his mouth about 5 times before he got used to it, but that was due to the brand new taste rather than an issue with the bottle or teat.  Aaron can hold his own bottle and I was delighted that he could with these too.  They are a lovely shape to handle.

This is a picture of Aaron watching CBeebies tonight; quite happily holding his Born Free bottle.

Flexible boy.  Bottle very easy to get used to.

On unpacking them, the first thing to note is that the bottles are tinted, which is cute because when full they look like coffee.  This is a reassuring indication that the bottles are indeed BornFree® Bisphenol-A Free (BPA) plastic (PES) bottles, BPA free being the operative words.

Here's a picture of Aaron's made up coffee :-)

Now this is where I feel bad as I researched EVERY purchase I made for Aaron (or so I thought).  I spent months researching baby carriers, before I invested in my wrap, months researching cots and decided I wanted a bedside cot, and read every review on Amazon before I got my Jumperoo, but did I know about BPA, no!!!! Oh and spent time reading up on swaddling too and swaddled Aaron for 14 weeks.  Mothers probably know about BPA, but before I had Aaron I was not a mother.  And I am the person who hates chemical nasties.  I am that same blogger who wrote about aspartame - yeah that's me.

It took Born Free running a competition for me to find out about BPA.  Do I feel terrible about this? Hell yeah!

When Googling BPA this is the first article that comes up: BBC news
What's worrying is that as it says, it is activated when heated......... errrrrr.... bottles are always heated, or hot water is put in them to make a warm bottle that is later cooled (which is what we do).... you can't really avoid the plastic becoming hot... and gone are the days where we all use glass.  And even if you didn't heat a bottle or make a bottle with hot water, they get damn hot when sterilised... In 2009 when that article was written, you can see that the UK was lagging behind the US which is sad.

Oh and speaking of glass "BornFree® leak proof BPA-Free baby bottles come in plastic or glass and feature an innovative venting system designed to promote ActiveFlow™ and and help minimize the painful symptoms of colic".  Glass is making a bit of a comeback apparently.

Before we went through to the sitting room, I let Aaron hold his "new" bottle so that he would know his way around it.  He is very tactile with things and is very precise and accurate in the way he touches things.  He looks quite happy with his new bottle:

Well, we get through 5 bottles a day as we are tentatively introducing solids. Started at a couple of weeks over 6 months. Doing a mixture of jars and baby lead weaning. We were sent two bottles to review, so I now have to decide whether to invest in a few more. Will also need to get some faster flowing teats for his age.  I definitely want to and hopefully having written this review I will get a discount (*hints*).

I would certainly give the Born Free bottles a huge thumbs up, and I hope whoever's reading this is a mum-to-be, who hasn't already invested in her bottles.  Don't go for the market leader like we did.  Give it a little more thought, and do some research and satisfy yourself.

Oh and the only reason we went for the market leader.... because I had intended breast-feeding, but sadly Aaron had a tongue tie at birth, so while I was still in hospital (having had a C-section) hubby had to go out and get bottles in an emergency (as breastfeeding was struggling to be established - I didn't give up and we were there by week 6 and still are combination feeding now).

Born Free's got a great website if you would like to check it out

This is what it says on Born Free's blog:

BornFree was created by 3 dads out of their concern about the harmful chemicals found in baby bottles and drinking cups. They developed a range of of bottles, cups, soothers and more which are 100% free of the toxins Bisphenol-A (BPA), Phthalates and PVC.
These days many companies are removing these chemicals from children’s items. We never used them. Ever.

BPA is a known estrogen mimicker that is used in the production of polycarbonate plastic.
According to researchers, BPA may cause developmental and neurological problems if it leaches from plastic. Reports suggest that small amounts of BPA may leach into food or beverages stored in polycarbonate containers, especially when the contents are heated
In addition, BornFree’s cups and bottles feature the unique BornFree venting system, designed to reduce colic and ear infections.

Bye for now,
Liska
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