Dishes

Have you ever thought about the safety of your dishes? I hadn't until relatively recently. I stumbled upon something mentioning lead content in many dishes. Lead poisoning seems to be more common than I ever would have thought since I have heard of several friends and acquaintances who have discovered that their children have high amounts of lead in their systems. We didn't have A tested since our Pediatrician didn't think it was necessary given the newness of our home and the places he spends most of his time. But lead in dishes? That seems scary since it leaches into our food and is very indigestible.

After investigating the subject a bit, I found that the government spot checks dishes and that most are okay. But there have been problems with a few manufactures, including Pfaltzgraff, the brand of our dishes. In particular, there had been problems with Pfaltzgraff's products since they moved production to China about 10 years ago. Yikes! Our dishes were made in China. This was enough for me to want them out of my home. I quickly found that several major companies were considered to be universally safe, which included Fiestaware, Denby and Corelle. Stoneware and traditional pottery dishes are considered to be the most risky, as lead is commonly used in the glazes on them but Denby and Fiestaware do not use lead at all. Some of the older Fiestaware did contain lead, though. Corelle is made from Vitrelle glass, so it is also lead-free (Corelle does make a stoneware line, which I did not research so I have no idea if lead is used in its manufacturing). Now, at this point, my husband wanted to kill me as he subscribes to the ignorance is bliss theory...can't we just assume our dishes are fine? No, honey.  Fortunately, I saved my old college dishes which were basic Corelle. They are ugly but I would much rather use a product that is safe for my family than one that is pretty. Corelle is also much cheaper to replace if it gets broken and it is lighter weight. All in all, probably a much better choice for a family with young kids. 

Speaking of kids, I will not give anything breakable to A yet since he is still prone to throwing things at any moment, for any reason. It's okay, he'll usually say "uh oh" before he throws it. (Obviously it is really accidental.) He has been digging eating his food off of dishes as of late, though. I was dubious of many of the kid plates and bowls I found locally. I won't use melamine dishes at all and I really wanted ones free of BPA and phthalates. I couldn't find anything that met my criteria that wasn't breakable. But alas, Ikea makes children's tableware that fit the bill. We have been using the tableware for a few weeks and I really like it. The pieces are dishwasher safe (upper and lower racks) and microwave safe too. I won't put plastic in the microwave, personally, but it is handy to know that it is okay if one wants to do so. Plus, all of the pieces are bright, fun colors and they are a great size for little portions. As a bonus, they were very economical. I would highly recommend them if you are in the market for toddler dinnerware.