After the child enters the babbling stage, parents begin to face the first problem - to buy various daily necessities for the baby. One of the biggest headaches is choosing the right water cup for your baby. There are all kinds of children's plastic water cups on the market, which one is a safe and healthy choice?
Nowadays, food safety problems in society are endless, and parents are paying more and more attention to the raw materials of baby products. In particular, children's products such as feeding bottles, water cups, etc., are in direct contact with the child's oral mucosa, and safety is particularly important. Therefore, we must be cautious when choosing a plastic cup, and make sure that its main raw material is food-grade PP or PET plastic, and stay away from toxic and harmful PVC, BPA and other ingredients.
Otherwise, these inferior plastic cups will slowly ooze harmful substances and be absorbed orally by the baby, bringing great harm to their physical and mental health. This article will take stock of which plastic cups are of poor material and need to be pulled into the "blacklist" for parents to avoid the painful lesson of buying the wrong one and carrying health losses.
Inferior quality one: The plastic cups with printed patterns are mostly made of PVC
In order to arouse the interest of the baby, many parents will choose some cute and exaggerated plastic cups, such as pink princess cups, or cups printed with cartoon patterns. As everyone knows, most of these printed plastic cups are made of inferior PVC materials.
What is PVC material? The full name is polyvinyl chloride, which is a very environmentally friendly plastic and belongs to a typical endocrine disruptor. It releases toxic substances at room temperature and leachs into the water. These toxic substances are extremely harmful to human health, especially the central nervous system and endocrine system of infants.
Scholars have found that the organic chlorides released by poor quality PVC plastic cups at room temperature show an annual increase, and the release will be higher and higher with the extension of the use time of the cups. Therefore, parents must avoid these plastic cups with printed patterns, so as not to repeat the water in these cups every day, which will bury hidden dangers to health.
Inferior quality two: plastic cups with high flexibility are mostly made of shoddy raw materials
Some plastic cups are very flexible and can be bent and deformed at will. The handle can be rotated 360 degrees repeatedly, and the lid can be twisted and deformed. Parents seem to think that such cups are durable and easy to clean, but in fact, these high-elasticity cups are mostly shoddy and inferior products with a lot of plasticizers.
We know that the hardness of normal food-grade PP/PET plastic will not be very high and cannot be bent at will. Excessive hardness and elasticity are often due to the addition of a large amount of plasticizer. These additives can enhance the toughness of plastics, but they have a strong endocrine disrupting effect and can cause damage to the human endocrine system. Therefore, this kind of cup with strong elasticity is not suitable for infants and young children.
In addition, cups made of this type of material are not easy to clean, and there are many gaps, which can easily accumulate bacteria and dirt. It is also a threat to infant oral hygiene and may induce oral diseases.
Inferior quality three: plastic baby bottles made of PVC material
As an indispensable feeding tool for babies, the safety of the bottle is also very important. Unfortunately, there are still some baby bottles made of inferior PVC materials on the market. These bottles are usually cheaper, but they pose a health risk for your baby.
Through searching, it was found that the current domestic and foreign infant bottle standards basically require the use of food-grade PP or PET materials. These two types of plastics are processed to food grade to ensure that they are safe and hygienic. However, some small workshops are still using low-quality PVC and adding too many plasticizers for shoddy production.
So parents must not buy this kind of cheap bottle by mistake! Don't ignore your baby's health in order to save a few dollars!
Outside the blacklist: two types of plastic cups that are relatively safe
Luckily, there are plenty of quality plastic cup options out there on the market as well. For example, food-grade PP and PET materials have been strictly tested to ensure that the additives are qualified and safe for babies to use.
So what is the difference between these two types of materials? To put it simply, PP plastic cups have more colors and types, which are relatively affordable, while PET material is safer and more environmentally friendly, but the price is also higher. Both can be preferred as a first choice.
Of course, in addition to the correct choice of material, parents also need to pay attention to the following points in the process of buying and using plastic cups:
1. When buying a plastic cup, be sure to take the baby to try it out in person to ensure that the size and weight are appropriate, and whether the cup mouth is convenient to drink.
2. Do not give your baby a cup of water that is too large or too heavy to avoid wrist injury. Do not exceed 300ml after filling the cup with water, and the weight of the cup itself should be controlled within 150 grams.
3. Regularly check whether the water cup is damaged or deformed, and it is best to replace it once every 3 months. If damage is found, it will be deactivated immediately.
4. Make sure to wash thoroughly after use to prevent the growth of bacteria.
We can see that we must be cautious when choosing children's plastic water cups! Don't be confused by the colorful appearance and ignore the choice of materials. Be sure to avoid choosing inferior PVC materials, or products with too many additives. This kind of plastic cup will bring great harm to the baby's physical and mental health.