Honey, Babies and Botulism
Why Babies Under One Year Old Shouldn’t Eat Honey
The American Pediatric Association recommends not giving honey to a child less than one year old due to the risk of a rare foodborne illness called infant botulism.
As a nutrition student, I learned about not feeding babies honey in no less than 3 classes; We learned about it in Nutrition through the Lifecycle, Food Safety and again in Microbiology class. Furthermore, it was discussed during the pediatric rotation of my nutrition internship. Yet with all this information, I still managed to accidentally feed a 10 month old Ramsey honey.
I had made a big pot of vegetable tagine. The dish was full of garbanzo beans and different vegetables, so I was excited to have Ramsey try it. Only later, when a coworker asked what was in the dish did I realize my mistake. The pot of stew contained 1 tablespoon of honey.
Luckily Ramsey didn’t get infant botulism, but the story goes to illustrate how even with the best intentions and education, it can be hard to avoid honey for that first year.
Honey the Superfood
The reason to avoid honey is not because honey is inherently unhealthy. It’s actually kind of a “superfood”.
Honey contains antioxidants which protect against damage in the body at the cellular level. Honey also has antibacterial properties which is why it was used in ancient war times to treat injuries such as battle wounds and amputations before antibiotics were discovered.
Honey is even invincible—it doesn’t spoil (party because of its antibacterial properties). They have found honey that is still edible buried with mummies.
Now that Ramsey is over one year old, I like to make a cold remedy that I call dragon juice (recipe is here) when he is sick. I boil fresh ginger and then mix in fresh lemon juice and a little honey. I’ll give Ramsey an ounce or two warmed up twice a day.
Botulism and Babies
Honey (even when pasteurized) can contain botulism spores which could lead to infant botulism.
In one study, about 8% of honey contained botulism spores. It is not fully understood why, but the spores can colonize in an infant’s digestive tract leading to the release of toxins. In older children and adults, the mature digestive tract prevents botulism from building up and releasing toxins.
Classic signs of botulism are constipation, lethargy and muscle weakness. Luckily, infant botulism is very rare with only about 100 cases a year in the US.
Two fun facts about the very-not-fun botulism:
The toxin from botulism spores is what is in botox
Botulism is the reason you were told not to buy dented canned food
The Bottom Line
No honey before one seems simple enough especially as most parents are trying hard to keep concentrated sugars out of baby’s diet as much as possible.
As babies near their first birthday, they may be eating a wider range of foods including those that are homemade, store bought, commercially processed and from restaurants making it more difficult to keep track of everything in your child’s food.
Reading labels is important especially in light of how common it is for food producers to add sweeteners such as honey to essentially everything. Some baby cold remedies contain honey, so be sure not to use a supplement for “1+” on a younger baby.
