Imported milk and bottles

Got a hungry little 4 month old boy, We've been using Avent bottles and trying to get Cow and Gate Hundry Baby milk for him.

1. Does anyone know the best place to buy decent bottles preferably avent (where the opening is wide enough to get powder in) and Cow and Gate (or another imported brand that caters for hungry baby) in Beijing?
2. Does anyone know any good websites for buying imported baby stuffs?

Cheers. Mark

MarkB
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Make sure and get Bisphenol-A (BPA) free bottles. Avent bottles are dangerous (google it) recently even the Canadian Government had to finally agree that the health community has been RIGHT all these years and it BANNED BPA from foodstuffs and table wear and baby bottles.

BPA is hard CLEAR plastic, looks almost like glass when new (think Avent new bottles, once again, steer clear of those). Hazy, semi opaque plastic is not BPA plastic and while as not as good as glass IMO are much much safer than BPA.

Glass bottles are available from NUK and Pigeon brands, sold widely now because of this BPA issue finally making it into the mainstream media.

Liora Pearlman Moderator, Beiing Organic Consumers' Association (BOCA) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/beijing_organic_consumers
lioralourie
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Thanks Liora - Whoosh. We've been using Avent bottles for 4 months since the birth of our son. We were getting them sent from family in UK. Steralizing by boiling - as recommended on the pack!

I'd taken advice from family and friends that these were the best - I'm absolutely gutted and worried for my little boy but very grateful to you. I've checked out yahoo and found the following..

there's a great site (below) that lists the bottles the contain BPA and bottles that dont contain BPA. I always figure better safe than sorry.

http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/z-report-bpa-munchkin.html

BPA free:
-Born Free
-Adiri
-Klean Kanteen
-MAM
-Medela
-Sigg
-Thermos
-Mother's milkmate

Proceed with caution when buying these:
-Gerber (my daughter had many Gerber bottles that I threw out)
-Playtex
-Tommee Tippee

Avoid:
-Nuby
-Evenflo
-Avent
-Dr. Brown's
-Second Nature
-Munchkin
-Ameda
-Playskool
-The first years

There is a more comprehensive list on the website where you can click on the brand and see which types of bottles are effected. Hope this helps!

MarkB
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

hey I just heard that glass bottles are available on Taobao.com and probably, I'll guess, from Leyou (may need to order them, though)

Liora Pearlman Moderator, Beiing Organic Consumers' Association (BOCA) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/beijing_organic_consumers
lioralourie
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

also, Shanghai Lollipop said this "Hi, yes we do carry the Medela [plastic] bottles which are BPA free. Sorry, we
are a bit behind on updating our website. Cheers, Grace"

see http://www.shanghailollipop.com/ for contact info, perhaps she'll ship to Beijing

Liora Pearlman Moderator, Beiing Organic Consumers' Association (BOCA) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/beijing_organic_consumers
lioralourie
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Today I was at Nu2Yu and noticed they have THREE brand new glass bottles with packaging, etc.

Evenflo brand. Did not notice the nipple type (or age recommendations) but they were very fairly priced at 45 RMB each.

www.nu2yubabyshop.com

Liora Pearlman Moderator, Beiing Organic Consumers' Association (BOCA) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/beijing_organic_consumers
lioralourie
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

i notice that many plastic bottles have no marking on them one way or other to indicate if they are BPA-free.

I would not put it beyond local manufacturers to put "bpa-free" or merchants to claim their products are bpa-free even if they aren't.

So i guess glass is the way to go.

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admin
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Indeed.

Medela BPA free bottles are availble from Leyou; bought them at the Wangjing store. They are pricey though at RMB88/bottle for the complete set.

Anyone knows if the mothercare brands are BPA free?

Glass bottles are dangerous though if you have older kids in the house

momnimarco

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Does anyone know where can I buy imported baby formula milk in Beijing ?
I've checked many shops, I do find international brands (Nestle for instance) but no imported product.

Thanks

Poupee

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

I have seen the BPA free Medela botle in Lijia Baby store in Wangjing too (the one in the big mall Capitaland at the corner between Guangshun Beidajie and Futong Xidajie). I didn't look at the price.

Concerning imported milk, in fact often the imported milk is packed in China with chinese packaging. We are buying the Nestle Nan 1 which is made in Germany and packed in China.
I know that there are some milks imported from Australia (brand Nustria? but not sure), New Zealand and Holland (brand Frisocare) too, but packed in chinese packaging.
To know if the products made in China or not and you can not read chinese, you can use the bar code system.
The products made in China have bar code beginning by numbers between 690 to 695.
The milk we are buying have bar code beginning by 400 (bar code for Germany). You can check bar code system in the following website:
http://www.makebarcode.com/specs/ean_cc.html

qingwa
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

For the bottles - you might want to check Landao Towers (Chaoyangmen waidajie), they have a fairly good selection of different baby stuff on the 5th (?) floor. I've seen a selection of NUK bottles in various sizes there. The price seemed adequate.

bix
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Anyone use NUK (the German brand)?

I wonder if they are BPA-safe. Like admin said, very few of these brands actually cite if they avoid BPA (even if they might or might not).

coco-nuts

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

guess what? Just reading up on BPA exposure and found that those plastic containers marked with "7" are the ones that contain BPA http://www.thegreenguide.com/products/Kitchen/Plastic_Containers
Quote:
Before you know which type of plastic container to buy the next time you hit the store, you first need to know how to tell them apart. Plastics are typically classified by a number from #1 to #7, each number representing a different type of resin. That number is usually imprinted on the bottom of your container; flip it upside down, and you'll see a recycling triangle with the number in the middle.
Quote:
#7 PC #7 Polycarbonate (PC) is found in baby bottles, 5-gallon water bottles, water-cooler bottles and the epoxy linings of tin food cans. PC is composed of a hormone-disrupting chemical called bisphenol A, which has been linked to a wide variety of problems such as cancer and obesity.
So the first thing I did was take a look at the 5-gallon water jug that is where 100% of my family's drinking water comes from. You'll never guess in a million years what number is printed on it: 7. Soooooo .... anyone know of a water supplier that uses non-BPA water jugs? Or do we switch to tap water?
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admin
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

here's my pics of my home water bottle. Imagine the dose that Junior gets from melamine-laced formula mixed with water from one of these jugs served in a bottle made with BPA ...




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admin
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

I checked all out bottled and am shocked to find that only one we recently started using is #7 (it's NUK!), and that one will be easy to drop since it's an optional "no drip" cup. Most of the ones we have are #2.

We stopped using our water jugs and starting using the building built-in filtered drinking water system, which is plasticless.

But can anyone post the relevant research link? I 've heard and do believe that putting hot water into plastic or warming things up in plastic containers is the is not a good idea. It "melts" the plastic and releases chemicals. But, as far as I thought, putting cold things into plastic was ok.

There is an argument for using glass baby bottles. It's true they can break, but as far as I know there are no other health risks.

novisad

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

I also live in a relatively new building (constructed 2006), but don't know if I should trust the built-in filtration system in the kitchen faucet. The management company requires a separate fee, in addition to hot water, to refill that filtered system so I guess it's safe to drink the water. But how can I know for sure? Is there a way to check it and determine that it is better/safer than bottled water? I just want to put my money where it's best for the baby.

coco-nuts

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

We have Nestle water delivered in those big jugs. It has the triangle with PC in the middle and "food grade" stamped right next to it. Does that make a difference?

coco-nuts

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

There's almost no way to totally avoid the BPA issue re: bottled water here. ALL the water jugs are made of #7 BPA plastic.

In the U.S. there are glass bottle suppliers, but not here.

Acquaviva provides a single-use only, thin water container (it is recycled afterwards). Scratches and haziness increase the surface area and contribute to higher levels of BPA so this is a pretty safe option.

Heating the plastic, as in baby bottle formula (warming, microwave, whatever) also increases the BPA leaching. So it is MOST important, imo, to avoid hot or even warm foods on plastics in general.

Water, as long as it doesn't get too hot in the container, is less of an issue, especially when we have really no choice.

Some people do decide to get whole house water filtration systems, but these also have some concerns (Reverse osmosis creates 3 gallons waste water for every 1 gallon drinkable water, etc...) Chlorine removal shower heads imo are a good and not too steep investment. Water Softener systems are also great, but I'd have to research how safe these are for using for drinking water day after day.

Anyone who wants more info can join BOCA below and search the archives for ALIKES, or email me.

Liora Pearlman Moderator, Beiing Organic Consumers' Association (BOCA) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/beijing_organic_consumers
lioralourie
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

From my understanding, bottles containing BPA only become harmful (release toxin) when used in the microwave...

winniec0507

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Re: Imported milk and bottles

Haven't had a chance to check it out myself, but I think Mothercare, a British chain of maternity and baby supplies, at Solana may have what you're looking for.

beijingkids
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Re: Imported milk and bottles

BTW - the latest news on BPA in the States ...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?&entry_id=36766

Unfortunately, don't foresee Chinese manufacturers adopting this rule any time soon ...

Stick with the imported stuff! Or, go glass!

beijingkids
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