since july 14, 1907, leo hendrick baekland has fully synthesized plastics, plastic products have been widely used in various fields, including high-end fields such as national defense science and technology, aerospace, and communications, because of their low manufacturing costs, strong corrosion resistance, durability, waterproofing, light weight, insulation, and easy to be shaped into various shapes.
nowadays, plastic products have penetrated into all aspects of our lives, from industrial production to food, clothing, housing and transportation, plastic products are everywhere.
just while enjoying convenience, the growing problem of plastic waste is also threatening the living environment of human beings, and the first of them are infants and young children.
a few days ago, the topic of “the content of microplastics in infant and young children’s stool is 20 times that of adults” was concerned by many netizens, and it suddenly topped the hot search list.
by analyzing the stools of 6 babies and 10 adults, new york university found that the content of microplastics in the infants’ bodies was much higher than that of adults, and it was 10 to 20 times higher than that of adults.
as soon as the study was released, it attracted the attention of many people, our lives have long been surrounded by plastic, especially infants and young children, daily use of bottles, tableware, crawling mats, toys, teething sticks, etc., all of which are plastic products.
what exactly are microplastics?
in 2004, thompson et al. of the university of plymouthton in the united kingdom published a paper on plastic fragments in marine water bodies and sediments in the journal science, which first proposed the concept of “microplastics”, which refers to plastic particles and fragments with a diameter of less than 5 mm.
the results of the national marine environment test show that the presence of microplastics has been found in seawater, the seabed and the sediments on the seabed, circulating through the food chain and eventually entering the human body at the top of the food chain.
in daily life, microplastics are more common in dust, food and bottled water, because infants and young children like to crawl on the ground, nibble on plastic toys, tableware, bottles, etc., so that they are more exposed to the plastic environment, because the content of microplastics in the body is higher than that of adults.
will microplastics harm your baby’s health?
according to the report of the world health organization, most of the microplastics, regardless of the size of the particles, will be directly excreted from the human body with feces and will not be absorbed by the human body. at present, what kind of impact microplastics have on human health, the scientific community has not yet reached a conclusion.
but a large number of cellular and animal experiments have shown that microplastics can cause inflammation, cell shutdown and metabolic problems. more professors of pediatrics at new york university in the united states said that microplastics will affect the early development of infants and young children, and we, as parents, have to pay attention.
how to reduce my child’s intake of microplastics?
change the use of bottles
GLASS BOTTLES ARE TOO HEAVY AND EASY TO BREAK, SO MANY PARENTS WILL CHOOSE PLASTIC BOTTLES. HOWEVER, STUDIES HAVE FOUND THAT PP (POLYPROPYLENE) BOTTLES WILL RELEASE A LARGE NUMBER OF MICROPLASTICS DURING USE, AND THE HIGHER THE TEMPERATURE, THE MORE THEY ARE RELEASED, IF THE FORMULA HAS BEEN BREWED WITH BOTTLES OF THIS MATERIAL, THE BABY’S DAILY INTAKE OF MICROPLASTIC PARTICLES IS AS HIGH AS 1.58 MILLION.
in order to prevent this problem, parents may wish to first brew the formula milk in a non-plastic container, wait for the temperature of the milk to drop to hand temperature, and then pour it into the bottle to avoid the release of more microplastic particles at high temperatures.
avoid plastic cutlery whenever possible
plastic tableware because of the relatively light weight, the baby is not difficult to use, followed by plastic products are not easy to be broken, wear-resistant, resistant to cleaning, so it is loved by many mothers.
however, plastic products are not resistant to high temperatures, especially tableware may need to be repeatedly heated, and the quality of products on the market is uneven, parents may wish to avoid plastic products when choosing tableware for their children.
stainless steel tableware is not fragile, safe and easy to clean; resin tableware is resistant to high temperature and light, not fragile, healthy and non-toxic; wooden tableware material is stable, green and healthy, these are good choices.
choose safer plastic products
nowadays, plastic products have penetrated into all aspects of our lives, and it is not realistic to avoid the use of plastic products completely. so if you must choose, how to choose safer plastic products?
At present, the common plastic products on the market mainly include: PP, PES, PPSU and TRITAN, PC, from the perspective of heat resistance, stability and safety, the grade we choose should be PPSU > PES> Tritan > PP> PC.
THERE ARE MANY CUTE PC MATERIAL WATER CUPS ON THE MARKET, BECAUSE OF THE LOW PRICE, THERE ARE MANY PARENTS TO BUY, BUT THE BIS MATERIAL IN PC PLASTIC IS LIKELY TO LEAD TO THE CHILD’S ENDOCRINE DISORDERS, SHADOW TO THE CHILD’S GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
OUR COUNTRY HAS LONG BANNED THE USE OF PC MATERIAL TO PRODUCE BOTTLES, PARENTS MUST BE CAREFUL WHEN BUYING WATER CUPS, DO NOT BUY PC MATERIAL WATER CUPS FOR CHILDREN TO USE.
buying toys also requires caution
at present, many of the children’s toys, crawling mats and other children’s products on the market are plastic products, although these supplies do not directly contact the baby’s food, but parents also need to pay attention when buying, after all, the baby in the oral period is “with the mouth” to understand the world.
when parents buy baby supplies, if it is a plastic product, we must look more to see whether the color of the item is too bright and whether there is any debris, etc.; smell more, smell whether the plastic material has a pungent odor; touch more, touch the plastic to indicate whether it is smooth and firm.
