Saying "no" to plastic plates & bowls for feeding - any suggestions?

[Melody7]

I'm just not feeling comfortable about my kids eating off plastic. I'm not keen on melamine either because it is made with formeldehyde.
Having said that, I've found some great brands that sell PVC-free, BPA-free and Phthalate-free products - but not plates & bowls.

Nevertheless, I'd much rather not have any dodgy chemicals around their food (or toys for that matter - wood all the way!).

I have heard of GLASS dinnerware made by "Corelle". I've read a bit about it - it's meant to be tough and really hard to break. Is it like Pyrex?

I've heard you can buy it from K-Mart, Woolies or BigW.

Has anyone used this with children? I have wooden floors, but my mum has slate flooring. Any smashing incidents? Any other suggestions??

[Ellibam]

i know you can get bamboo plates and bowls maybe look at that to??

[Melody7]

Yes, I've heard of those - but they're disposable (like the ones you might take on a picnic)...

[Ellibam]

but you dont have to throw them out.... they are re usable

[Melody7]

Yes, I've heard that. How many uses could you get from them? I've read that "the wear of the plates/bowls is obviously dependant on the type of food that it is being eaten off it e.g. a casserole will have a different effect to salad".

I'm about to place an online order with a company that does sell them (Bambooware) so I might give them a call...

[butterfly_warrior]

Melody, we use a corelle dinner set here. We've had it for over 10 years and in that time I only recall one breakage - no idea what happened, either, just opened the cupboard one day and a bowl had cracked in half. My parents have had a corelle dinner set for nearly as long as I can remember (20+ years?) and again have had no problems with it.

They "bounce". They are also very lightweight in comparison to normal crockery.

For a while we had them advertised on buses here - they actualy put a plate in a plastic sleeve on the side of a bus... you'd see it rolling around and smashing into each end as the bus stopped and started. Never saw a broken one.

One thing I do like is that we were able to get small bowls and plates matching the pattern of the rest of the set so that our children will be able to eat from crockery that matches everyone else's until they are old enough to graduate to regular plates and bowls.

Tough, durable, dishwasher safe, light enough to not cause problems with me and my arthritis (so therefore light enough for kids to help out with dish washing much earlier)... what more could you want?

BW

[christy]

Yeah we have a few Corelle bowls that the girls love. We've never even had a drop or fall on he floor yet, but the girls use them for breakfast.

[Visitor7]

I also have Corelle dinnerware. My MIL got me onto them. I love them as they don't break.

[Melody7]

The Corelle dinnerware is sounding like a good idea. I've just spoken a guy from their customer service and he said that, from his experience (and he had a 2yr old) 85% of the time they don't break (he's only had one breakage - his DD dropped a plate on tiles).

I have wooden floors, so I'm hoping a plate being chucked from the highchair won't cause a breakage - I have heard that when they smash - they really SMASH (think thousands of little pieces).

I thought I'd go to BigW today and check some out. The rep suggested (though not supposed to) that I could even "test" one - and if it broke, get a refund (3yr warranty).

Do you think it's going to be unsafe for little kids (that definately chuck things)?