Taking to the Bottle

People have repeatedly emphasised the benefits (in terms of bonding, nutrition quality and immune protection) of breast feeding (wherever possible). There is now, however, an added disincentive to bottle feed a formula. It appears, that the high temperatures specified for sterilising the bottles and preparing the formula, result in numerous micro- and nano-particles of plastic being released and inadvertently being fed to the baby (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/19/bottle-fed-babies-swallow-millions-microplastics-day-study). There would be several feeds per day over a pretty long period of early life, so the intake of plastics would be high. Of course, the particles may be relatively harmless to the baby (although this isn't established as yet). There are, however, growing concerns about the biological impacts of plastic particles in ecological systems. Some white blood cells could certainly phagocytose particles. One should also note that some women have to use donated (or even their own stored) human milk. They may hope to avoid some of the problems of formula feeds but sterilising the bottle would also liberate plastics here.