Yeah, You Can Call Me Crazy!
I just finished reading the newest scare about the plastic in most baby-bottles which contains the chemical bisphenol A.
(A good article can be found at this website: http://www.southbendtribune.com
/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/Lives08/704250488/-1/LIVES/CAT=Lives08; and, a good counter article can be found here: http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/babybottle.html--i believe the counter article relieves any worries for those of us who don't rely on plastic baby bottles as the primary medium for feeding).
Typically, I drink from glass jars and store left-overs in Pyrex containers. When I had my son, Quinn, I was a bit troubled because I had to use plastic baby bottles--I had no idea that there was such a thing as Glass Baby Bottles (which I found tonight, online, after reading the articles mentioned above). My general problem with plastic isn't necessarily one time use or infrequent use, it's the frequent use of a single plastic container and the heating of the plastic container that bothers me. I think frequent use breaks down the plastic, and heating plastic causes some form of "melting" and weakens the plastic and allows it to release chemicals into the food (or whatever) is in the container. Plastic, well, it just doesn't sit well with my soul.
Therefore, you could imagine my reaction to the newest scare about the chemical, bisphenol A, which is being reported to leach into the milk (or other liquid) from the baby bottle. I was affirmed with my neurotic tendency toward glass drinking/storage containers over plastic ones. But then, as quickly as I felt affirmed, I felt just as convicted...because at least three times a week, I gave Quinn a bottle (how horrible of me!). I searched and searched the web to see if the baby-bottles I used with Quinn were some how exempt from the scare...to say the least, I did not find anything that relieved my conviction. My heart pounded and I prayed, "Oh, Lord, please help Quinn...please help me to see that I did not doom him to having some sort of Cancer, ADHD, or reproductive problems!" Grief overwhelmed me, what a horrible mother I am.
And then a voice muttered something inside my head. And I sat for minute, "Excuse me, can you repeat that?" I asked. And then there was silence and then a sigh. "You, my dear Lauren, were STRICTLY bottle fed...where is your ADHD? Where is your guaranteed Cancer? And, please oh please tell me, WHERE IS YOUR REPRODUCTIVE PROBLEM?" "Ahhh....I see where Yer goin' with this..." I replied.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Sanity returned. I wasn't a horrible mom...well, at least not because I gave my son a plastic baby bottle :) . Everyday we are exposed to toxic things-- sometimes in small doses and sometimes in larger doses. But, if we live everyday with the fear of being exposed to even the smallest amount, we will lose out on a lot of what life has to offer. I am not advocating being reckless, but I am advocating living in a somewhat anti-anti-bacterial world. It's okay to be exposed to a little germ here and there. We, as Christians, live not in a state of Fear but in a state of Life. We, as Christians, cannot save our lives or the lives of our loved ones by doing everything perfectly and avoiding all potentially "bad-for-us" things; we are fully dependent on Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being...It is by Him and in Him and through Him that our lives are saved and we live. Through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we live unbound by the cares and concerns and obsessions of this world and especially of our culture; and, we live unbound by our fears that can overwhelm us to the point of immobility. In Christ, a little plastic is just that: A little plastic.
With that said, I confess that I did just order two glass baby bottles and two Sippy cups that don't contain bisphenol A. I just don't like plastic!
Yeah, go ahead, you can call me crazy!
(A good article can be found at this website: http://www.southbendtribune.com
/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/Lives08/704250488/-1/LIVES/CAT=Lives08; and, a good counter article can be found here: http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/babybottle.html--i believe the counter article relieves any worries for those of us who don't rely on plastic baby bottles as the primary medium for feeding).
Typically, I drink from glass jars and store left-overs in Pyrex containers. When I had my son, Quinn, I was a bit troubled because I had to use plastic baby bottles--I had no idea that there was such a thing as Glass Baby Bottles (which I found tonight, online, after reading the articles mentioned above). My general problem with plastic isn't necessarily one time use or infrequent use, it's the frequent use of a single plastic container and the heating of the plastic container that bothers me. I think frequent use breaks down the plastic, and heating plastic causes some form of "melting" and weakens the plastic and allows it to release chemicals into the food (or whatever) is in the container. Plastic, well, it just doesn't sit well with my soul.
Therefore, you could imagine my reaction to the newest scare about the chemical, bisphenol A, which is being reported to leach into the milk (or other liquid) from the baby bottle. I was affirmed with my neurotic tendency toward glass drinking/storage containers over plastic ones. But then, as quickly as I felt affirmed, I felt just as convicted...because at least three times a week, I gave Quinn a bottle (how horrible of me!). I searched and searched the web to see if the baby-bottles I used with Quinn were some how exempt from the scare...to say the least, I did not find anything that relieved my conviction. My heart pounded and I prayed, "Oh, Lord, please help Quinn...please help me to see that I did not doom him to having some sort of Cancer, ADHD, or reproductive problems!" Grief overwhelmed me, what a horrible mother I am.
And then a voice muttered something inside my head. And I sat for minute, "Excuse me, can you repeat that?" I asked. And then there was silence and then a sigh. "You, my dear Lauren, were STRICTLY bottle fed...where is your ADHD? Where is your guaranteed Cancer? And, please oh please tell me, WHERE IS YOUR REPRODUCTIVE PROBLEM?" "Ahhh....I see where Yer goin' with this..." I replied.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Sanity returned. I wasn't a horrible mom...well, at least not because I gave my son a plastic baby bottle :) . Everyday we are exposed to toxic things-- sometimes in small doses and sometimes in larger doses. But, if we live everyday with the fear of being exposed to even the smallest amount, we will lose out on a lot of what life has to offer. I am not advocating being reckless, but I am advocating living in a somewhat anti-anti-bacterial world. It's okay to be exposed to a little germ here and there. We, as Christians, live not in a state of Fear but in a state of Life. We, as Christians, cannot save our lives or the lives of our loved ones by doing everything perfectly and avoiding all potentially "bad-for-us" things; we are fully dependent on Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being...It is by Him and in Him and through Him that our lives are saved and we live. Through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we live unbound by the cares and concerns and obsessions of this world and especially of our culture; and, we live unbound by our fears that can overwhelm us to the point of immobility. In Christ, a little plastic is just that: A little plastic.
With that said, I confess that I did just order two glass baby bottles and two Sippy cups that don't contain bisphenol A. I just don't like plastic!
Yeah, go ahead, you can call me crazy!
posted by L.R.E. Larkin at 10:26 PM
1 Comments:
good one honey.
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