Botulism & Honey

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Have a baby!

There is Botulism in honey as there are lots of other nasties in out diets. As adults the dose is considered too small to be a problem. Having a child makes this all too clear. All the literature makes reference to not feeding a child below the age of 1 honey due to the possible exposure to Botulism. However, once over the age of 1, then they are considered big enough and bad enough to have an immune system that can deal with it. Mine is now a honey addict!
 
The facts:

No case of infant botulism in the UK has ever been linked to the child eating honey, and especially not UK honey which has never had botulism spores found in it. The perceived risk is totally theoretical.

A recent case of infant botulism in the UK was traced to spores in powdered milk formula. How odd that baby milk powder doesn't contain the warning "Unsuitable for infants under 12 months". Statistically it's more of a risk than UK honey!

The USA has many more reported cases of infant botulism than the rest of the world put together. Botulism spores have been found in Californian honey.

Infant botulism is nasty but rarely fatal. It's treatable and full recoveries are made.

Infant botulism is only a danger under 6 months of age.

I don't know about anyone else but I think these things deserve to be put into perspective. It's probably more dangerous driving a baby to the clinic for a health check than it is feeding honey, especially your own honey.
 
The facts:

No case of infant botulism in the UK has ever been linked to the child eating honey, and especially not UK honey which has never had botulism spores found in it. The perceived risk is totally theoretical.

A recent case of infant botulism in the UK was traced to spores in powdered milk formula. How odd that baby milk powder doesn't contain the warning "Unsuitable for infants under 12 months". Statistically it's more of a risk than UK honey!

The USA has many more reported cases of infant botulism than the rest of the world put together. Botulism spores have been found in Californian honey.

Infant botulism is nasty but rarely fatal. It's treatable and full recoveries are made.

Infant botulism is only a danger under 6 months of age.

I don't know about anyone else but I think these things deserve to be put into perspective. It's probably more dangerous driving a baby to the clinic for a health check than it is feeding honey, especially your own honey.

Great post I agree wholeheartedly , all my bambino's enjoyed honey from an early age and I'd hate to think children across the land are being deprived due to an eronuous perceived danger
 
I didn't know about the botulism, but I didn't let my two children have honey before they were about 12 months old and I advise anyone else to do the same. Reason being that as honey is loaded with sugar it can be the root cause of childhood diabetes if fed to children under 12 months.

As for the botulism, the risk is so low as to be negligible, therefore I would not consider it to be a risk at all.

If you really want a young child to have honey, for whatever reasons, just water it down considerably and it's much safer, I'd still remain very cautious about letting a child less than 6 months have any honey. Same goes for any food that is loaded with sugars.
 
Thanks Martin. 3 cases in the last 12 months where infants have been fed honey (my information is out of date). In one of those cases botulism was found in the honey. Also very interesting that other factors affect vulnerability e.g. switching from breast milk to formula milk.
It would be good to know the origin of the honey.
Still, only 11 cases from any cause ever in UK does give it perspective.
 
As there only seems to be one case that can be confirmed to be from honey I would be far from worried about honey. I had 4 kids all reared on honey for coughs and colds never a problem.bee-smillie

I would be more concerned about breathing fresh air with all it's exhaust fumes, chemical sprays etc.

bee-smillie
 

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