Phthalates During Pregnancy Affect Newborn Brain Chemistry

The phthalates a pregnant woman absorbs from plastic packaging show up in her newborn's blood chemistry. A 2025 study in Nature Communications traced that connection all the way to infant neurobehavior.

What the Research Found

Researchers at Emory University enrolled 216 mother-newborn pairs in the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child Cohort. They measured eight phthalate metabolites in prenatal urine at two different points: 8 to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and again at 24 to 30 weeks.

At birth, they measured metabolite features in the newborns' dried blood spot samples. Then they assessed infant neurobehavioral functioning. The published findings in Nature Communications (Hoffman et al., 2025) showed that prenatal phthalate exposure disrupted the newborn metabolome, and that disruption was associated with neurodevelopmental differences.

Where Phthalates Come From During Pregnancy

Phthalates are everywhere. They're in food packaging, plastic wrap, vinyl flooring, fragranced personal care products, and synthetic fabrics. They don't bond permanently to plastics. They leach out. You eat them. You breathe them. You absorb them through skin.

During pregnancy, whatever you absorb crosses into the placenta. What disrupts your hormones disrupts your baby's development.

Start by reducing plastic food contact. Glass containers, stainless steel lunch boxes, and unscented personal care products make a real difference. Browse non-toxic baby products for products made without phthalates.

Also see glass food storage for safer alternatives.

Source: Hoffman SS et al. (2025). Impact of prenatal phthalate exposure on newborn metabolome and infant neurodevelopment. Nat Commun.