How to Choose a Safe and All-Natural Teether for Your Baby?

  Who knows choosing a teether for your little one’s aching gums could be so complicated?Kaqiu baby manufacture is a professional manufacture, producing baby feeding bottle,baby milk bottle,baby teethers, tableware,baby cup and so on. I had no idea when I started the search for a teething product that I’d uncover so many options—some green, some not so green and some downright unsafe. Here’s what I found.

  BPA or bisphenol-A is a plastics chemical that mimics estrogen and disrupts the body’s hormonal systems. It’s particularly harmful for pregnant women, babies and young kids. Though most regulatory bodies, including the FDA, will tell you BPA is safe in the small quantities that appear in plastic products, many companies have chosen to produce and market BPA-free plastics. Excellent! Except for one small detail: Many companies simply replace BPA with BPS — bisphenol-S — which is just as toxic, if not more toxic, than BPA. Bottom line? Just because a product is touted as BPA-free doesn’t mean it’s safe.

  PVC or polyvinyl chloride is the third most common plastic in the world — and also the most toxic. It’s bad stuff, and you definitely don’t want it in something your kids will put in their mouths.

  Phthalates are chemicals added to plastics to make them soft and supple. (PVC is actually hard and brittle so to make something like a squeezy toy would require the addition of phthalates.) Phthalates don’t bond to plastic, though, so they leach out over time. Babies who suck on teethers containing phthalates will be ingesting a known carcinogen. Baby Center has an excellent list of phthalate names so you can check labels.

  Having uncovered all of that information, I felt I could better assess whether something like this silicone banana teether was safe . According to the manufacturer, it’s free of BPA,made of premium food grade, durable silicone that is FDA approved. BPA, PVC, Phthalate Free. No toxic gel inside! http://kaqiubaby.com/banana-silicone-teether.html

  In my search for a safe teething chew, I found a lot of products touted as “all natural rubber” or “100% natural rubber.” Natursutten and Hevea are two of the better known companies that make a range of rubber teethers, soothers and bath toys. They’re not plastic so don’t have all the chemicals that make plastics so problematic — but they do contain latex proteins. A small percentage of the population has an allergy to latex, and latex allergies can develop from frequent and prolonged exposure.

  While I didn’t find anyone making a direct link between chewing on a rubber teether and a child later developing a latex allergy, I did find at least one mom who felt the risk was enough for her to avoid rubber teethers for her baby. Whether you consider rubber an acceptable material for a teething chew will depend on your situation, including existing allergies in your household.

  By the way, there’s a hypoallergenic type of rubber called guayule, which is just now starting to come into greater production. It’s currently being used to make gloves and other medical products for those with a latex allergy. But as far as I know, there are no baby products made with guayule yet.

  Silicone is a type of rubber but one that doesn’t come with concerns about allergies. Medical-grade silicone is considered hypoallergenic and therefore safe for babies. So cute teethers like this silicone.http://kaqiubaby.com/Grape-Silicone-Teether-Baby.html

Is Silicone Safe?

  Is silicone safe? It seems like so many things are made with silicone. Are we going to find out in a year that it’s not safe?

  We believe silicone to be a safe alternative to plastics, right? I mean, silicone is everywhere: pacifiers, baby bottle nipples, teething toys, storage jars, freezer trays and more. And our babies are sucking on these products and for long periods of time. “Are we going to find out in a year that it’s not safe?” is an eyebrow-lifting question.

  We contacted the Consumer Product Safety division of Heath Canada and think Baby founder Kevin Brodwick, to find out more about tested silicone safety. Additionally we had contacted a very reputable on-line retailer who specializes in silicone products for babies as being a safe alternative to plastics but never heard anything back from them, even after several emails.

   Silicone is an”inert, synthetic compound”according to Wikipedia and that seems to be a safe alternative to plastics. But is this true?  Frederick S. vom Saal, Curators’ Professor/Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia stated to us that silicone is NOT INERT if it gets into the body. Hmmm. Has silicone really been tested and proven safe for our babies and children to suck on and teethe with?

  SafBaby: We are very curious about the tested safety of silicone for our babies and children. These days there are so many products (pacifiers, bottle nipples, toys, etc.) made from silicone. It seems to be a safer alternative to plastics, but we are curious to know if there have been any studies that have measured showing what leaches off baby products during use.

How We Choose Our Best Picks?

 Babies usually feed on bottles until at least one year old. That’s when the American Academy of Pediatrics says it’s okay to give your child cow’s milk. However, many breastfeeding moms continue to nurse well into the second year. Also, you’ll likely want to introduce your child to sippy cups, used to transition kids from bottles to regular cups, between one and two years of age.

Parents prefer different bottle materials for different reasons:

Glass

Sturdy and long-lasting but also heavy, typically more expensive than other models, and can shatter easily.

Stainless Steel

Extremely strong but also makes it difficult to measure how much liquid is actually stored within a bottle.

Plastic

Polypropylene, the hard plastic typically used in bottles, is lightweight and virtually unbreakable but can wear out faster. After health concerns rose a few years ago, plastic bottles are now required to be free of a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA). So while any bottle currently on the market should be BPA-free, it’s best to pass on any hand-me-downs.

  The glass bottle is a great little bottle that is easy for parents to use and easy for most babies to latch on to. We like that this body has an eco-healthy borosilicate glass body that is thermal and shock resistant. The silicone sleeve makes it easy for baby to grip and offers some protection from drops and accidental throwing. This bottle is easy to clean, easy to assemble, has limited parts and a nipple that didn't collapse and didn't seem to contribute to air ingestion. Babies were able to hold this bottle easily despite it being heavier, thanks to the grippy sleeve and babies in our testing had no difficulty latching onto the nipple even though it is on the narrow side and one of the least breast like in this review. When baby is ready to move on from bottles, a sippy cup lid can be purchased to prolong the life of the bottle body. There is much to like and not much to dislike about this simple and cool looking bottle.      

  Some babies will take to just about any bottle whether they've experienced the breast or not, but many babies have difficulties with new bottles and nipples causing frustration for parents and baby alike. With so many bottle options on the market, it isn't as simple as picking one off the shelf and throwing it in your cart. What if baby likes a wider more breast like nipple? What if you have decided to limit baby's exposure to plastic? What if baby is prone to gas and colic? Knowing which bottle might be your best bet given all the different shapes, sizes, materials, vents, valves and nipples that today's selection of baby bottles has to offer can be a daunting task. We considered 30 of the most popular bottles on the market before choosing 9 to test side-by-side.

3 Places Not To Leave Your Baby Alone

Now, most of these warnings make sense when some parents out there fail to apply common sense. Else the parental instinct is enough to let one know when or when not to leave one’s baby unattended. Otherwise, you need to have the commandments chalked out by your grandmother, mother or other expert parents if you are too preoccupied with managing other children of yours.

1. You don’t want a Humpty-Dumpty of your child:

Your toddler falling from five feet height is the number one woe. We know how babies are evolving. They attempt doing things you can’t imagine of their age. Don’t be surprised if a one-year-old can indeed climb over your dining table. So if you are not watching, your baby might as well try alighting with no support – he is too fast for you to come and save him in time – much like a silverfish. Hanging on to him under all circumstances, even if it becomes one of the most tiring of the jobs, makes sense. So, taking a chance by leaving him on the couch while you want to check the oven, is a total no-no.

2. There’s nothing worse than leaving your baby in its bathtub:

Whoever told you that your baby would be fine in the bathtub while you are away even for a moment? For one, you baby might not be able to balance itself in water. Do you know something called buoyancy of water? If you have a toddler who can sit in the tub, you will still fool yourself into thinking that he can take care of himself. What about the suds? Ingesting chemicals of any sort or getting soap in the eyes is quite an unwelcome thing.

3. Letting your baby in the vicinity of choking hazards:

Why don’t you just stitch those stuffed toys when you know that the cotton inside keeps showing up? If you can’t, then it might be ideal to dispose of the toy. I often wonder how mothers can keep stuff like cotton, playdough, paints and other hazards – both chemical and non-chemical in nature – in the proximity of their babies.

Do you know how much nutrition the baby has had through bottle feeding?

Bottle feeding lets me know how much nutrition the baby has had. Moms who bottle-feed, whether using expressed breast milk or anything else, should be aware that while artificial feeding may seem to be a very accurate measure of volume consumed, in fact it is often not. Bottle-fed infants more often regurgitate some quantity of a feed, or get a less than perfect balance of fore and hind milk than they might if feeding directly from the breast. If a substance other than breastmilk is used, the increased metabolic workload for the baby, lower digestibility of nutrients and increased waste substantially dilute the benefit of a feed, although it is more easily measured.

It is simple to bottle-feed safely.

Bottle-feeding caregivers face certain challenges in feeding a baby safely. 

Wash hands before handling bottles or feeding baby.

Wash bottles and nipples/teats with hot water and soap, and rinse well. Some sources recommend sterilization of all feeding equipment, particularly bottle nipples/teats.

If infant formula is used:

Wash, rinse, and dry the top of the formula can before you open it. Make sure that all equipment used has been thoroughly cleaned: can opener, measuring cups/spoons, mixing container, etc.

Lot numbers should be kept for any infant formula or bottled water fed to the baby, so that parents can determine whether the product was subject to a recall.

For powdered formula, a clean source of water must be available, free from bacteria. If tap water is used, the caregiver must decide whether to boil the water to eliminate bacteria (which may concentrate any heavy metals in the water), or to use unboiled water. Because powdered infant formula is not sterile, it should be mixed with water that is at least 70°C/158°F to kill any harmful bacteria that may be present in the formula (to reduce the risk of infection, do not mix with cooled water–even if it is bottled or has already been boiled). Cool formula before feeding to baby.

Quantities the baby will need should be carefully estimated, since unused formula must be discarded after the feed.

If you are using both breastmilk and infant formula during the same feed, it’s best not to mix them in the same bottle. This is simply to avoid wasting breastmilk when baby does not finish the bottle (since it contains formula, contents must be discarded at the end of the feed). Feed the breastmilk, then follow with formula.

Additional resources

There are a number of options for feeding baby when you are unable to directly breastfeed-a bottle is only one of them. If your baby is older than 4-6 months old, consider going straight to a cup. If your baby is younger than 3-4 weeks old, consider alternative feeding methods for a couple of reasons:

Regular use of a bottle instead of breastfeeding can interfere with mom’s efforts to establish a good milk supply

Bottle use also increases baby’s risk of nipple or flow preference

One study has shown that babies fed by bottle (whether the contents are breastmilk or formula) tend to gain too much weight.

Step by step for baby bottle feeding

If you've recently decided to bottlefeed your newborn, you're probably full of questions about formula preparation, sanitizing utensils, feeding positions, and burping techniques. Here are seven steps for successfully bottlefeeding your baby.

1. Make sure all bottles, nipples, and other utensils are clean. If the water in your home is chlorinated, clean the utensils in your dishwasher or wash them in hot tap water with dishwashing detergent and then rinse them in hot tap water. If you have well water or nonchlorinated water, either place the utensils in boiling water for five to 10 minutes or use a process called terminal heating.

In terminal heating you clean, but do not sterilize, the bottles in advance. You then fill them with the prepared formula and cap them loosely. Next, the filled bottles are placed in a pan with water reaching about halfway up the bottles, and the water is brought to a gentle boil for about 25 minutes.

2. Read the directions. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's directions exactly for the formula type you choose. Too much water and your baby won't get the calories and nutrients she needs; too little water and the high concentration of formula could cause diarrhea or dehydration.

3. Prepare the formula. Bring the water you plan to use in the formula to a boil for approximately one minute. Then add it to the formula powder. If you're preparing this in advance, be sure to store it in the refrigerator. If the formula is left out of the refrigerator for longer than one hour or if you don't use refrigerated formula within 24 hours, throw it out.

4. Warm the refrigerated formula. Refrigerated formula doesn't necessarily have to be warmed up for your baby, but most infants prefer it at least at room temperature. The easiest way to warm refrigerated or frozen milk is to place the container in a pan of water on the stove at low heat and rotate it frequently. Microwave ovens should not be used for heating bottles; this can overheat the milk in the center of the container. Even if the bottle feels comfortably warm to your touch, the superheated milk in the center can scald your baby's mouth. Also, the bottle itself can explode if left in the microwave too long.

If you warm a bottle or use it immediately after terminal heating, test it in advance to make sure it's not too hot for your baby. The easiest way to test the temperature is to shake a few drops on the inside of your wrist.

5. Place your baby in a feeding position. Cradle her in a semi-upright position and support her head. Don't feed her lying down -- formula can flow into the middle ear, causing an infection. To prevent your baby from swallowing air as she sucks, tilt the bottle so that the formula fills the neck of the bottle and covers the nipple.

6. Take note of your baby's intake. The pediatrician will probably ask you how much your baby has eaten, so be prepared to answer the question. Your newborn will probably take between two and four ounces per feeding during his first few weeks (during the first few days, he may take less than an ounce at feedings), and will probably be hungry every two to four hours. It's best to feed your baby on demand. Don't encourage your baby to finish the bottle if he's not interested. And if he's still sucking enthusiastically when the bottle is empty, offer him more.

7. Burp your baby. Babies get fussy and cranky when they swallow air during feedings. This happens more often with bottlefed infants, though breastfed infants can also swallow air. To prevent a tummy full of air, burp your baby frequently -- after every two or three ounces of formula. If your baby doesn't burp after a couple of minutes of trying, resume feeding. Here are the three best positions:

Over the shoulder: Drape your baby over your shoulder and firmly pat or rub her back.

On the lap: Sit your baby upright, lean her weight forward against the heel of your hand, and firmly pat or rub her back.

Lying down: Place baby stomach-down on your lap and firmly rub or pat her back.