Glass baby bottles have been growing in popularity as parents are becoming increasingly concerned over the mounting evidence of chemical leaching from plastics. But like any other material, glass isn’t perfect. All things considered, are glass baby bottles better than plastic bottles? In this article we’ll cover the pros and cons of glass baby bottles vs. plastic bottles to help you decide if glass is the right option for your family.
(We’ll also discuss two additional options in bottle feeding besides plastic and glass if you’re not completely sold on either.)
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Pros & cons of glass baby bottles
Glass baby bottles are universally considered safe and for many families they are a great choice. Read about the many advantages of glass baby bottles, including one important aspect you won’t want to overlook (!) if you’re considering glass bottles to feed your baby.
Pros:
- resists high temperatures
- non-leaching
- easy to keep clean
- dishwasher-safe
- eco-friendly
Cons:
- heavy
- breakable
- fewer options
- possibility of lead paint (!)
Glass baby bottles vs. plastic bottles
➤ Convenience
Winner: plastic
Plastic bottles are lightweight, making them easy to hold for both mom and baby or carry around in a diaper bag, and they’re virtually indestructible. Glass bottles are the opposite – heavy, and they can shatter. For babies that like to feed themselves and for feeding on-the-go, a glass bottle can potentially be too risky to use.
➤ Cleaning
Winner: glass
Glass baby bottles are easy to clean and keep clean. Wash them by hand or clean them in the dishwasher without any risk of high heat damaging the integrity of the bottle. Moreover, odors and stains don’t linger on glass like they do on plastic, so glass bottles will retain a fresh new look even after years of use. In addition, glass bottles are more hygienic than plastic bottles – easily sanitized by heat, and glass is resistant to scratching which is not only unsightly but can allow bacteria to accumulate and thrive.
➤ Cost
Winner: plastic
Glass baby bottles tend to be more expensive than plastic bottles. Although it depends on the brand because some glass bottles are actually cheaper than certain plastic bottles (and have excellent reviews to boot!).
➤ Exposure to toxins
Winner: glass
Glass bottles are an excellent choice if avoiding toxins is your highest priority because glass won’t leach hormone disrupting chemicals and microparticles even when exposed to hot temperatures or UV rays. This is a common issue with plastic baby bottles. Although BPA (bisphenol A) is no longer allowed in plastic baby bottles, there are other concerning chemicals to worry about that get released from the plastic surface. The one thing to watch out for with glass bottles, however, is the possibility of lead contamination.
Unpainted glass is best (LEAD concerns!!)
To minimize exposure to toxins, it’s best to choose a clear glass bottle that has no paint on it whatsoever, including the volume markings. By choosing unpainted glass bottles you are eliminating the small (but real) risk of the paint containing heavy metals.
A glass baby bottle that has the volume lines etched into the bottle instead of painted on is generally the safest option.
As crazy as it may sound, it seems as though regulatory loopholes allow for lead paint to be used on the EXTERIOR of baby bottles. Shocked by this? I know I was.
Tamara Rubin, an advocate for childhood lead poisoning prevention, screens various baby, kids, and household items for lead, using lead strips and x-ray fluorescence analyzer (XRF). Over the past few years she had uncovered that certain glass baby bottles contain high levels of lead on the outer painted measurement markings, decorative elements, and/or the company’s logo, sometimes far exceeding allowable limits.
Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can seriously harm a child’s health. There is no safe threshold for lead exposure, especially when it comes to babies and small children who can suffer lifelong adverse outcomes even with low levels of lead in blood.
The paint on the outside of the bottle doesn’t come in contact with the liquids inside the bottle, but it can chip and rub off with normal use and get on baby’s hands and easily make its way into baby’s mouth due to high hand-to-mouth activity, causing irreparable harm. It can also end up on your hands when you hold the bottle to feed your baby, and you may unwittingly expose your baby. Or it can contaminate the interior of baby bottles in the dishwasher and expose your baby that way.
A word of caution – I’m not well-versed in XRF lead testing nor can I vouch for the validity of the results or the legitimacy of these findings, however, when Tamara’s message made the news a few years ago, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) replicated her findings. Then, an independent lab verified the CEH results.
The issue with lead paint on the exterior markings of baby bottles seems to be specific to glass.
Plastic baby bottles (even between the same brands that have had their glass bottles test positive for lead) have NOT been found to contain lead paint.
A few popular brands of glass bottles that have tested positive for lead:
- Lansinoh
- Hevea
- Nuk
I’m no expert on glass paint, so I’m not able to weigh in on whether lead is used in glass paint to enhance certain features of the paint or if its presence in the paint is simply due to negligence. On the other hand, lead-free glass paint does exist, so in my opinion there is no excuse for using lead paint on baby bottles. It’s even more terrifying to find lead specifically on glass baby bottles because the majority of those who buy glass bottles are already doing so to prevent exposure to harmful chemicals.
UPDATE: There has been a recent recall of certain NUK glass baby bottles due to the violation of lead content in the outer markings of the bottles. (Recall date: July 28, 2022) This recall only affects one type of NUK First Choice glass baby bottles (ASIN B0027SVJ9O), with the reasoning that this design was manufactured for the U.K. market (where the regulations for baby bottles are different). (Here is what Tamara Rubin had to say about this.)
Do glass baby bottles break easily?
Although a glass bottle can break if not handled with care, it will take quite a bit of force for that to happen. Modern glass baby bottles are made with reinforced glass which is actually very hard to break. Even dropping one off the countertop onto tile or hardwood floors won’t necessarily always result in breakage.
Nonetheless it’s a good idea to purchase a silicone sleeve for your glass bottles if they don’t already come with one for that extra protection from an impact and for better grip.
FYI: Silicone sleeves are easier to put on glass bottles when the bottle is wet. Add a drop of soap to make installation or removal even easier!
Tempered glass vs. borosilicate glass
Glass baby bottles are made with tempered or borosilicate glass. Both are stronger and more resistant to temperature changes than regular glass.
Tempered glass is ordinary glass that has been thermally processed to make it stronger and more heat-resistant. It’s thicker than regular glass and more resistant to breaking when dropped. In conditions that cause it to break, tempered glass shatters into many small blunt fragments that are relatively harmless when it comes to the possibility of injury from cuts.
Borosilicate glass is regular glass with added boron trioxide. It has higher thermal resistance than tempered glass and can withstand extreme temperature changes. While significantly more durable than regular glass, it can still break when dropped or bumped against a hard surface. If it does break, it shatters into chunks rather than razor-sharp shards like regular glass does.
Don’t miss: The Best Natural & Non-Toxic Baby Products (2022 Ultimate Guide!)
Best glass baby bottles
If you’re considering glass bottles and wonder which brands are the best, I’ve looked into various glass baby bottles on the market, and the following bottles would make my best glass baby bottles list (if I had one!):
- Evenflo Classic (4 oz or 8 oz; narrow neck)
- Evenflo Vented (4 oz; 8 oz; narrow neck)
- Philips Avent Natural (4 oz; 8 oz; wide neck)
- Dr. Brown’s (narrow – 4 or 8 oz; wide – 5 or 9 oz)
- Lifefactory (4 oz or 9 oz; narrow neck)
Both Evenflo versions and Lifefactory bottles are unpainted. Philips and Dr. Brown’s bottles have painted-on decorations and measurement markings, but neither has been on the list of baby bottles containing lead paint. Lifefactory is the priciest option, but each bottle already has a silicone sleeve, so you won’t have to spend extra on those.
Is glass the right option for you?
Generally, a glass baby bottle is safer for baby than a plastic bottle because glass is a stable material that won’t seep chemicals into your baby’s milk. Unpainted glass bottle is the safest bet that takes away the chances of coming across lead paint. Glass baby bottles are somewhat fragile and with enough force they will crack, chip, or shatter, but they can still hold up surprisingly well if they receive some form of impact.
Check your baby bottles regularly! Replace any glass bottles that have cracks or chips in them.
If you want to try glass bottles because they’re safer than plastic but you’re concerned about them breaking, another option to consider is a silicone baby bottle. Silicone hasn’t been around as long as glass, but so far it seems to be a safer option than plastic, and unlike glass it won’t shatter.
Then there are stainless steel baby bottles which are also safer than plastic (when used with water, formula milk, or breast milk – nothing acidic!), but stainless steel bottles can be a pain to use because you can’t see inside the bottle for measurement purposes. And while a stainless steel bottle won’t shatter like a glass bottle could, it can still dent and become compromised if it does hit the ground or gets bumped. In addition, if you were to choose an insulated stainless steel bottle, you are once more risking exposing your baby to lead.
Related:
Glass vs. plastic – are glass baby bottles better than plastic bottles? Go over the pros and cons of glass baby bottles and see if they’re the right fit for your family over plastic bottles. If you’re still unsure, consider stainless steel or silicone bottles.
What about Simba glass bottles? They claim the ink they use is from Japan and lead- free? Would you trust their claim?
Regardless of any claims, it would require an actual test to see if there are any toxic residues on the bottle in the amounts considered harmful for infants. On their website, Simba states the following: “Unique non-impression printing technology. No peeling-off or scratches of the mark.” – which suggests digital ceramic printing. That’s glass nano-particles blended with pigments printed on glass in a way that essentially bonds the top layer of pigments to the glass. In that case, leaching becomes less of an issue. On the downside, if that’s not the case, these baby bottles have an excessive amount of prints on them. I’m personally hesitant recommending Asian-based brands (Simba is based in Taiwan) with little presence in the U.S. when it comes to baby feeding items or other baby-related products, knowing the market (or I should say regulations) allows a surprisingly lot to slip by. — BUT THIS IS INTERESTING: Tamara Rubin has Simba baby bottles on the DO NOT PURCHASE list for selling lead-painted products currently or in the recent past. She actually does run the tests herself, so it might be worth reaching out to her for details on whether the bottles are CURRENTLY having issues with leaching heavy metals or if that reflects previous testing with other lines of their bottles. (She generally recommends avoiding *all brands* that have not faced selling toxic baby bottles in the past in a way that would be appropriate – even if their current products pass.)
Thanks a lot for all that info!
You’re most welcome! 🙂
Hi!
Evenflo has some colored glass bottles (teal) any concerns there?
My understanding is that those colored baby bottles are safe to use. Colored glass is made by adding metal elements to molten glass which don’t break down or leach from the surface. If any toxic properties are present, they pose more risk to the workers than the consumers from the fumes or dust inhaled during manufacturing. That said, clear glass does not involve the addition of coloring agents and is thus safer for everyone involved.