Baby and maternity programmes fail on material more often than on design. A bowl that goes chalky after fifty dishwasher cycles, a bib that stiffens at low temperature, a placemat that stains after one week of pureed carrot: all of these are material decisions taken at the quotation stage, when the cheapest resin per kilo looks like the obvious choice. This guide compares the two materials that carry most of this category, food grade PP and platinum-cured silicone, from a tooling and production point of view.
Food grade PP: the default for rigid items
Polypropylene is the workhorse for rigid baby tableware. It is BPA free by chemistry, it survives 110 C dishwashing without deforming, and it is cheap to mould in high cavitation tools. The limits show up at the extremes: unfilled PP goes brittle in a freezer and softens near 100 C, and it is stiff enough that a dropped bowl can crack at a living hinge. For feeding bowls, divided plates, sippy cups and storage boxes, food grade PP remains the default because the tooling is inexpensive and the cycle is fast.
Two design points decide whether a PP item lasts in service. The first is wall thickness: thin-wall moulding at 0.9 to 1.2 mm packs more parts per shot and cools faster, but the part loses impact strength, so drop-prone items like bowls are usually quoted at 1.5 to 2.0 mm. The second is the hinge: a moulded living hinge in PP needs a generous radius and a gate positioned so the polymer flows across the hinge rather than along it, otherwise the lid snaps off in the first week.
Platinum silicone: where softness and temperature matter
Platinum-cured addition silicone covers everything the baby touches that should be soft: bibs, placemats, teethers, spoons with soft tips, suction bases, and the growing family of silicone feeding sets. Compared with PP it costs several times more per part and moulds on liquid silicone rubber equipment with cold-runner or cold-deck systems, but it brings properties PP cannot reach: service from -40 to 230 C, no plasticiser migration, and a surface that stays grippable when wet.
Tooling is the real difference. An LSR tool is cut to tighter tolerances because the material shrinks predictably and the part is demoulded elastic, which lets deep undercuts be released without slides. The trade-off is tool cost: LSR tools run hotter, need textured or polished cavities chosen for release rather than cosmetics, and are built for cold-runner systems that add manifold cost. For a programme that will run above roughly 200,000 pieces a year, that premium pays back; for short runs, PP with a TPR overmould usually wins on total cost.
Side by side
| Property | Food grade PP | Platinum silicone (LSR) |
|---|---|---|
| Service temperature | -20 to 110 C | -40 to 230 C |
| Feel | Rigid, smooth | Soft, grippy, matte |
| Tooling cost | Low, high cavitation possible | Higher, cold runner manifold |
| Cycle time | Fast, 15 to 30 s | Slower, 30 to 90 s with cure |
| Typical items | Bowls, cups, boxes, lids | Bibs, placemats, teethers, suction bases |
| Food contact | FDA 21 CFR 177.1520, EU 10/2011 | FDA 21 CFR 177.2600, EU 10/2011, LFGB |
Certification: what to ask for
Both materials can be supplied with declarations covering BPA, phthalates, heavy metals and, for silicone, peroxide or platinum residue where the process requires it. The declaration should name the resin or compound grade and the moulding plant, and migration testing should be commissioned by the buyer at an accredited laboratory. Be cautious of generic certificates: a food contact certificate for a resin grade says nothing about the colour masterbatch, and masterbatch is where migration problems usually originate.
Decoration differences
PP takes in-mould labelling, pad printing and a printed sleeve without special preparation; the choice is mostly about dishwasher durability. Silicone cannot be pad printed reliably without a primer, so branding usually comes from moulded-in colour, laser etching or a printed insert captured between two silicone layers. If the brand identity depends on fine detail, silicone programmes should budget for tool texture or a moulded logo rather than surface printing.
Related reading
Our food grade PP feeding set programme shows the rigid side of this category, and the baby and maternity category lists the full range. The certification guides cover the documentation side in more detail.
