I was in the baby store making returns yesterday and wanted to buy some more glass baby bottles (which they were out of) when a salesperson showed me this bottle. The packaging says make of natural Silicone, and I thought there was some truth to that (thinking back to AP Bio and that silicone is “natural”) and the fact that it is collapsable and may help with colic and gas (no air bubbles) sounded like it might come in handy the first few weeks with baby.

As soon as I got home, I began to do research.

It’s a bit more complicated that the packaging implies.  First, and most worrisome, there have been no long term studies on the use of silicone as food containers or as bakeware for food.  And, the truth of the matter is, Silicon (without the “e”) is natural. That’s what much of the earth’s crust is made of, but “Silicone” is a man-made polymer.  This polymer may be made with silcon mixed with oxygen, carbon, hydrogen or other chemical agents.

The good news is, this polymer seams to be highly stable and inert even at high heat.  These baby bottles contain no BPAs or Phylates which is good and gives them a clear advantage over most plastics.  Some environmental gurus have even given silicone the green light.  One of my favorites, Debra Lynn Dadd did her research and concludes:

“Though this is a completely manmade product, it is completely inert and will not transfer to foods.”

However, in some of the comments there is disagreement.  For this reason, I have concluded that the jury is still out on silicone.  Consequently, this baby bottle will be returned to the baby store for either glass or stainless.  My concern comes from the possibility of leaching.  We all remember the silicone breast implant scare, where women had a host of health problems including fibromyalgia, from their implants.  When the implants were removed, many women found relief.  Subsequently, the ill health effects have been disputed (largely by studies funded by the manufacturer) but consider this from an article on the Environmental Working Group’s website written by a mother who had silicone breast implants and breast fed her child.

Toxins in Breastmilk: Don’t Add Silicone

“Silicone breast implants eventually leak. No one definitely knows the impact on breast milk. Many children breastfed on breasts with implants display no harmful effects, but some do and the effects can be very bad indeed. There’s a whole community of families dealing with the effects of implants on their kids’ health.”

The below is from an engineer who commented on Debra Lynn Daddy’s site:

The safety of Silicone Rubber cookware has not in my mind been proven. I am an engineer that uses silicone rubber to make parts cast from silicone rubber compounds and the material’s flexibility is in part do to the silicone oil present in the material’s structure. The oily nature of the silicone rubber’s surface testifies to the oils presence. It can be washed off only with very strong detergents, but continues to leach out to the surface over time with use. This is the same silicone oil that has been determined to be dangerous when used in silicone breast implants. I can’t help but wonder and worry about the long term effects of trace amounts of silicone oil mixing with the foods one bakes or cooks in this bake ware.

So, I’m not comfortable with silicone as the baby bottle of choice for my guys.  I think more studies and time have to pass to know the true safety of this very new product — I don’t want to use my kids as experiments.

For more information on our thoughts on baby bottles see this post.