According to an American study, heating a plastic baby bottle in the microwave would release a large number of microplastics and of nanoplastics in milk. What alternative can we use?
A worrying study
The use of microwave For heat a bottle milk already had a bad press. But a study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in the United States, recently highlighted the release of a large number of microplastics and nanoplastics when heating a plastic baby bottle in the microwave. Thus, certain baby bottles release up to 4.22 million microplastics and 2.11 billion nanoplastics when heated for 3 minutes in the microwave.
The presence of these components in the body could harm the functioning of the intestine, but also that of respiratory and reproductive functions. They are also found in milk when feeding bottle is stored in the refrigerator, at room temperature, or exposed to high temperatures, but less than during a microwave heating.
Can you heat a baby bottle in the microwave?
For the Dr Célia Levavasseurmaternity pediatrician, the use of the microwave to heat a baby bottle poses two problems.
“First, the microwave heats food unevenly, and causes a risk of burns if the container seems cold while the contents are hot.” If it is breast milk in the bottle, this method is even more harmful. “Breast milk has components that are destroyed during intensive heating, and since microwaving is inhomogeneous, this is not recommended.
The second problem is plastics which will contaminate food. We can clearly see that plastic Tupperware is gradually disappearing to make way for glass. It is recommended to reheat and store food in glass containers.”
A recommendation which therefore also applies to the bottle. You can opt for glass baby bottles, or warm the milk in a glass container before transferring it to a plastic bottle. But in any case, the use of the microwave is not recommended to heat your baby’s milk, whether it is breast milk or infant milk.
What are the possible alternatives for heating a baby bottle?
In addition to the use of glass containers, for Dr. Levavasseur, the use of bottle warmer is a preferred alternative to the microwave, which can have a heating time of between 30 seconds and 10 minutes, depending on the appliance. It is also possible to heat a baby bottle water bathby putting the glass bottle in a pot of hot water.
Sources:
ACS Publications, Medical ResearchDr Célia Levavasseur
Read also :
⋙ Baby bottle: what is the ideal temperature for baby’s milk?
⋙ Plastic baby bottle: a baby ingests an average of one million microparticles
⋙ Bottle warmer: what you need to know to choose the right one