Last month, The News & Observer ran a story about parents who have decided to replace their children’s plastic baby bottles and sippy cups with BPA-free versions. When he was beginning the story, the reporter contacted me to ask if I knew of any moms or dads he could interview.

Um…me?

To catch you up, Bisphenol A, also called BPA, strengthens polycarbonate plastics used to make baby bottles and sippy cups. It also prevents corrosion in the plastic linings of food and soda cans.

Most Americans have at least traces of the compound in their bodies. Whether that’s a problem is up for debate.

In October, an independent science panel convened by the FDA took issue with the federal agency’s stand that BPA is safe at low doses. At higher doses, it is thought to damage the brain, behavior and reproductive systems in fetuses, newborns and children.

The FDA is expected to issue a response by February.

So where does that leave parents?

Months ago when questions about the safety of the chemical compound first percolated down to parenting circles, I had researched which cups were safe and which less so, trolling the Internet and spending quite a bit of time on www.naturemoms.com.

Armed with new insight, I went on a little shopping expedition.

I must admit, I’m a bit of a sippy cup addict. I have lots of sippies, in many shapes and sizes, with princesses and astronauts flitting around the circumference of each gender-appropriate colored vessel.

Last week, my brother and his girlfriend came to visit for Thanksgiving. She opened up the cabinet to find a glass, only to be greeted by hordes of kid cups. “I’ve never seen so many sippy cups in my life,” she exlaimed.

Touche.

Truth is, sippies are like strollers. There are no perfect ones out there. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my quest.

Learning of the incipient dangers of BPA in my collection of sippies was all the impetus I needed to expand my already sizable sippy collection.

We’re going BPA-free, kids! I announced. They were unimpressed.

Into the shopping cart at Toys R Us went an orthopedic-looking Born Free training cup made of Bisphenol-A free plastic. Whole Foods stocked a straw sippy made by i play.

Online, I found those hipster aluminum Sigg cups in all their glorious designs (I chose a pirate/shark theme for my son, a ballerina motif for my daughter and a glittery fairy for the baby.) At Target, I picked up a Foogo, those stainless steel baby cups with handles to make them easier for tikes to hold.

Thermos’ contribution to the pantheon of straw sippies rounded out my purchases – I picked up both soccer and Supergirl Funtainers online (the “S” conveniently doubled as my daughter’s initial).

Whew.

Born Free leaked. So did Foogo.

What good is a sippy cup if it drenches the floor of my minivan and leaves milky puddles on my carpet?

Siggs work great but they dent if you so much as breathe on them. For babies, whose job description includes vigorous hurling of cups from their highchair thrones to the tile floor, this was not a good match. Likewise for the i play sippy, which contained a warning sticker.

“CAUTION! This bottle is breakable because it does not contain Bisphenol-A. Please use parent supervision with your child.”

I suppose they expect me to hover over my baby, monitoring her every move to make sure she doesn’t toss said i play overboard. Well, I didn’t do that. And the cup shattered.

The Funtainers work great, but only for preschoolers who can close the cap so that an upended cup doesn’t spill its contents on the Persian rug.

So back to babies, who because of their small size are ostensibly the most vulnerable to the hormone disruptions BPA may wreak. I could find no good options, which means that I’m right back where I started, using the same old BPA-infused Gerber spill-proof cup that my son used when he was a baby.

Since baby Orli was never bottle-fed, I’m hoping this small amount of BPA will prove negligible. But I’m already thinking ahead – as soon as she proves herself able to hold a cup without jettisoning it, I’ve got a pink fairy Sigg with her name on it.

Bonnie appears Mondays on TriangleMom2Mom.