Bringing home baby comes with a bundle of new precautions for proud parents, and plastic bottle contamination has now become a primary concern.

With the recent increase in awareness of potentially harmful plastic bottles, area hospitals are emphasizing safe guidelines and providing information on bottle feeding to parents.

Breastfeeding is best, said April Clemens, a registered nurse and lactation specialist at Geisinger Medical Center. But those who bottle-feed infants should use glass bottles or avoid bottles with Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make plastic bottles and metal can liners.

"Heating plastic releases the chemical, which is why it's bad to heat these bottles in microwaves," Clemens said.

Clemens advised using breast milk or mixing warm water with a powdered formula, since BPA can also seep into canned liquid formulas when BPA is used for metal can liners.

Though research continues to determine how the chemical affects children, Clemens said it can cause neural problems since "babies absorb more because their bodies are smaller." Clemens suggested avoiding drop-in bottle liners, which can leach chemicals into formula, and informing baby-sitters about heating formula and bottles.

Watching research

Evangelical Community Hospital is also keeping an eye on continuing research on BPA in baby bottles, said Jennifer Leister, director of maternal child services at the hospital. Hospital staff members are evaluating bottles they currently use and are in communication with vendors who provide them.

"The vendors we use here in the hospital have been forthcoming about products and whether they have the contaminate or not," Leister said. "And we're still reviewing research to make sure the information we're giving our parents is correct." With parents receiving information on risky plastic bottles, more are breastfeeding, Clemens said.

Educating moms

Amber Sauers of Danville said she primarily breast feeds her baby boy and is aware of the plastic bottle contamination risk. She received a pamphlet on bottle feeding babies from her hospital when she had her son and looks for baby bottle brands that tell consumers what was used to make the bottle.

Because she already takes precautions when she does bottle feed, she's not concerned about BPA seepage into her son's formula.

"I don't heat bottles in the microwave because of seepage and because they don't heat formula evenly," Sauers said. "I use warm water when I use formula, or use breast milk." For more information on bottle feeding guidelines, visit the Environmental Working Group's Web site at www.ewg.org/babysafe.