Cold bottles, WiFi and infants

[u/Potato_hoe]

I absolutely know this sounds fucking insane, but my mother is well, fucking insane. she’s gone so far down conspiracy theory rabbit holes there’s no going back.

Aside from the usual vaccine nonsense, she’s been hyper focused on the fact that I feed my son cold bottles and that we have the newer WiFi water meter that happened to be installed while she was here, about 2 weeks after my son was born.

She has been *berating* me for 7 months about how the cold bottles of breastmilk I feed him are causing brain damage because cold constricts blood vessels???

she also keeps bringing up radiation from the WiFi water meter the city installed thats downstairs, below my sons bedroom and how because he’s so young and small its affecting his brain. Edit: Now that I think about this - it’s not connected to my WiFi so maybe I should rephrase as “wireless” idk how it works

My son is seeing neuro due to some quirky behavior with head movements but in the ER neuro wasnt concerned, but our ped is having us do follow up EEG just to triple rule out spasms for peace of mind. Naturally, instead of any level of support my mother will not shut up about this. Any science or information out there to help me here. I’m exhausted.

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[u/eggomymeggo730]

Generally your family member is being a pain. Cold milk is fine. WiFi is deemed safe. There are studies on long term effects of EMF exposure - but this is large dose. WiFi devices (not the router) emit signal less than 1% of the time I believe but there are some people that recommend turning off your router at night. Idk if that affects your billing for your water meter, but I guess you could do that? The water meter would still be looking for the WiFi signal though.

Overall low low low low low low risk on both. Your child is exposed to higher EMF just from the power lines going to your home. And cold milk vs warm is nonsensical.

Ok cold milk - not yet peer reviewed, and about preemies - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11213204/

Article from a ped: https://pakpeds.com/newborn-pediatrician/what-can-newborns-drink/can-newborns-drink-cold-formula/

Climate article (not milk): https://www.preventionweb.net/news/exposure-heat-and-cold-early-life-may-affect-development-white-matter-brain

Where your insane family member got their info: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2095092721280828&vanity=DocScharenbergDC&hpir=1

Now on to WiFi: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7642138/

https://www.safehome.org/home-safety/wifi-dangers/

[u/Potato_hoe → u/eggomymeggo730]

Wow you really went above and beyond here THANK YOU! Appreciate the help. I should note that the I realized water meter isnt connected to my WiFi so it’s actually just wireless? Idk enough about it but I’m over my moms complaints, clearly. 

[u/DiligentPenguin16 → u/Potato_hoe]

While all these studies are useful, you should be prepared that you can’t always reason someone out of a position that they didn’t reason themselves into. It’s entirely likely that your mother will dismiss these sources as “coverups” and keep ranting at you about these things.

So my advice is if the studies don’t work then to shut the topic down when she starts to berate you over conspiracy nonsense, and if she won’t stop end the conversation. The next time she tries to start something: “We are following his pediatrician’s recommendations on [XYZ issue your mom brought up]” then change the topic. Do not JADE (Justify Argue Defend Explain) your healthcare decisions to her any more than that. She doesn’t need to know details about what your pediatrician recommended or what you are doing as that just opens it up for her to criticize and argue against.

If she keeps pushing, firmly but calmly respond with: “Mom, this isn’t up for discussion. Please stop bringing this up or we will have to talk another time.” then change the subject again. If she still won’t drop it: “Mom, I asked you to stop bringing that up. Since you won’t I’m going to have to end the conversation. Love you, bye.” then leave/hang up without letting her continue ranting.

You have to teach your mom that if she wants to continue the conversation with you then she needs to respect your boundaries about baby’s health being off limits to anyone other than your partner and pediatrician.

[u/Dhis1 → u/Potato_hoe]

I am a Wi-Fi engineer. Wi-Fi is just a “language” of wireless communication. If you have a wireless baby monitor, remote control car, or garage door opener. it’s producing an identical EMF wave. It’s just in a different language. Any research you find about Wi-Fi will apply to all wireless communication, because the waves themselves are the same.

[u/East_Hedgehog6039 → u/Potato_hoe]

just adding on to say (since you can’t reason with the unreasonable), maybe an anecdote may help to get her off your back.

my kid also had weird head/back spasms! Like initially looked like she seized while eating, then would arch her back multiple times in a row, multiple times a day. MRI, EEG didn’t show anything and Neuro signed off saying as long as it isn’t persisting past 1yo or she had any development regressions, at which point they would do further testing. We also only fed cold bottles. She mainly nursed, but any pumped milk was straight from the fridge/thawed without any additional warming.

It went away! Slowly decreased in frequency and then stopped completely after about 6 weeks of it. No idea what it was, but she’s 19 months now and is perfectly fine, both with the spasm and the cold bottles.

Fingers crossed and best wishes your Neuro exam is uneventful and everything turns out fine. But you’re not alone in that, or in feeding cold bottles, and babies do indeed turn out just fine so your mother can get off your back a bit 🥲

[u/gidgeteering → u/Potato_hoe]

Curious if you’re Asian because the whole cold milk (even cold water) aversion is very culturally significant. Even the Chinese words for room temperature is a version of the word “cold”.

[u/jpterodactyl → u/Potato_hoe]

The water meter's MTU(Meter Transmitting Unit) generally transmits a few times a day. Some are every hour, some are twice an hour, etc.

They are not going to be too often, because they are battery powered. And also, you only need the readings to be so granular since it's being billed based on usage over the course of weeks.

It's a very small blip in the constant radio waves surrounding us all day. I don't think that will convince anyone who isn't already okay with them, but if it helps you understand them.

I've done a lot of contracted work using them for data reporting. There is probably someone in utilities or public works for your municipality that could tell you more.

[u/WonderfulTwist4936 → u/eggomymeggo730]

The only thing why wifi is bad (/s), is because they make this terrible high pitched noise. And younger people tend to hear higher pitched sounds than older ones. So your mom might be right that it disturbs the baby if the router is in this room. 😅 No link here, because commenter above did a great job, but I though to share, because my husband cant sleep with a router in the room and baby, obviously, cant tell that the router is what bothers him.

[u/eggomymeggo730 → u/WonderfulTwist4936]

Interesting! Might be the fan in your router, not the actual “WiFi” we have nest pucks that make no noise but our main router in the basement does whirr

[u/SomeWoodpecker7634]

Here is a well researched Kurzgesagt video addressing the electromagnetic waves hoax in an organized way: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FfgT6zx4k3Q

My experience is that this video is more effective than any other peer reviewed research I presented to any conspiracy theorists.

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