To continue on with our Green Baby series, today I bring you Lifefactory glass baby bottles.
Although I thought breastfeeding was the only way to go (and it was sooo easy), I thought I should have bottles on hand for the times when I was away. Little did I know breastfeeding is really, really hard and those bottles came in very handy.
One of the steps in getting “greener” around the house is trying to cut out as much plastic as possible. If you start reading what is in plastic and how it leeches into the food/liquid it holds you will be totally grossed out. I warn you that you will become flabbergasted at how this is legal and common in the US. In fact so many people were flabbergasted about a chemical known as BPA that it is now being used less. I say less. It is now not in baby bottles by law and I’m sure you have seen the “BPA free” label on lots of stuff. The thing is that there are a lot of other chemicals in plastic that haven’t been taken out yet. And frankly there was something that had to be substituted in for the BPA’s purpose and who knows what that does.
I try not to get crazy about all of this. You can read A LOT of stuff about what is in your food and all the other things in your home. You can go crazy. I have tried to avoid being that weird annoying girl wearing some kind of tie dye and sandals spouting out crazy things at cocktail parties. There is that old joke that it is possible to eat organic without telling everyone about it. And right now I have no time to read research.
I thought the easiest way to go about the bottle thing was to go with glass. It’s easy to clean and doesn’t have leaching chemicals. I went with the Lifefactory bottles because they had great reviews and looked cute.
From the company:
Our baby bottles are made of the highest quality, thermal shock resistant borosilicate glass. This allows our bottles to transition safely from freezer to boiling water. The silicone sleeves provide a good gripping surface for little hands and help protect against the occasional drop. Glass bottles and silicone nipples are made in France. Silicone sleeves and plastic caps are made in the U.S. All components are BPA-free and phthalate-free.
We initially got the starter set with 2 4oz. bottles and 2 8oz. bottles. Once we were sure we liked them we got 2 more of each. Having 4 bottles in rotation seemed to be the right balance between cost and having clean bottles. They aren’t cheap but are well made. They also can grow with your child since they have different lids to change in: sippy cups and solid tops to use for packing snacks like Cheerios.
So far they have held up great. They all look almost brand new. I have dropped them on our floors and between the strong glass and the silicone outside they didn’t flinch. The stage 1 nipples are also really slow which I found great for going between bottle and breastfeeding. The only downside I have is that glass is heavier so Lincoln can’t hold his own bottle yet and it might make the diaper bag a bit heavier.
I liked these bottles so much that I bought the 22 oz. water bottle with the flip cap for me. It’s so much easier to clean than the other water bottles I have tried. It is so gross to go to wash your water bottle and find black mildew under the seal you thought you were cleaning so well. Yuck.
And as always with reviews, these are my opinions based on experience. I haven’t received anything from anyone for this review.