I had heard that it was not a good idea to give a newborn or young child honey. Is there any truth in that? If so, what would happen to the child, and when can they have honey?
Honey can contain bacteria in concentrations which aren’t dangerous to adults, but can be to infants. Children can have honey after they are about a year old.
Thank you, I just allways wondered about that.
You’re not supposed to give babies honey or anything, even cooked that contains it until they’re a year old or older- something about their digestive systems not being mature enough to destroy the ingested botulism spores(?) until that age. At least that’s what the medical sites we checked for work(we gave kids healthy snacks, so we had to check up on the honey issue) in 2000 were saying at the time. Maybe someone has more current information, though.
Wrong. Honey is mildy antibacterial. There is some evidence it contains botulism spores, as may many uncooked foods.
Typo. mildly
I wonder if anyone has tried injecting honey into their crow’s feet and smile lines…
NAFAIK edwino…but they’re using honey made from the pollen of an Australian plant as a wound and burn dressing. Apparently with very good results.
Honey, being a completely unprocessed food, is quite likely to have botulisms spores in it. C. botulinum spores are pretty ubiquitous out there in nature. They’re not present in high enough numbers to harm adults, with mature immune systems, but they can get to babies.
I was wondering about pasteurization and whether that was any safer…apparently not.
yet, there is supposed to be some medical-grade honey that is given to children who are ‘fussy’ and colicky …
When I was pregnant with Aaron, I attended some parenting classes, one of which dealt with infant feeding and nutrition. Honey was on the Emphatically Bad Food list, along with nuts, cow’s milk, fish and shellfish, and egg whites. The nurse teaching the class said that while honey may have been given in the past for fussiness, it was no longer recommended because of the risk of botulism.
Do you have a cite on this “medical-grade” honey?
Thanks.
Robin
Uh, did you read your cite? What do you think botulism spores are?
Yes.
They are bacteria spores, not active, living bacteria. Spores can survive environments much harsher environments than living bacteria.
I’ve also heard that honey can be bad for young children because it can lead to many allergies later in life. By this theory, several allergens are in the honey, thus sensitizing the young’un for later allergic reactions.
I have zero cites on this, so I could be completely full of it… but it seems to make sense (at least as much sense as sensitization ever makes–I must admit that, although I have taken an immunology class and understand what happens during an allergic reaction pretty well, I don’t understand sensitization at all–how can exposure early on be bad, but repeated exposure in the form of shots be a treatment?)
Okay, I can appreciate the distinction. Honey may contain spores.
Babies may contain bacteria.
Jharmon,
Isn’t one of the theories now that kids don’t get exposed to enough things to stress their immune systems? I don’t know; I’m skeptical of most of the claims about honey, pro and con, although I did not give my kids any honey when they were very young.
Honey does have pollen in it, especially unfiltered honey from a local beekeeper. The stuff in stores probably has much less. Some people who buy honey from local beekeepers think the extra pollen, and the fact that it is local pollen, will help cure hayfever. I’ve never seen real science to back that claim up.
Bees do gather pollen separately from nectar, and some beekeepers harvest it with a trap and sell it to the health food crowd claiming it cures hayfever and all sorts of other ills. This seems crazy to me–these people are ingesting massive doses of what they are allergic to. There are several documented cases of anaphylactic shock from eating bee pollen.