Honey - potentially dumb question

HZ2012

Do honey graham crackers count as honey? Or do I need to give LO straight up honey to see if he's allergic? I feel like Graham's totally count... But I'm second guessing myself :-S

memcgee1

The "no honey before age 1" rule isn't for allergy purposes.  It's because honey can contain botulism spores that an infant's immune system can't fight off.  After age 1, you can give them honey without concern from what I understand. 

Kashy

DS has had honey recently. Dh eats peanut butter and honey sandwiches and DS always has a few bites.

But honey that has been cooked into things will be OK. Before 1 they should not have straight honey because of what pp said.

TrulyBlessed22

memcgee1 said:

The "no honey before age 1" rule isn't for allergy purposes.  It's because honey can contain botulism spores that an infant's immune system can't fight off.  After age 1, you can give them honey without concern from what I understand. 

This is exactly my understanding as well.

PumpkinAndThePeanut

They shouldn't have honey cooked in things before 1 either - cooking generally doesn't kill the spores. After 1 I don't think the risk of botulism really decreases, I think it's more that their immune systems are a little stronger and their bodies are mature enough to handle the medical treatment required if they do contract botulism. I have still been a little wary about giving it, although I have given them some cereal bars with honey in them since they turned 1.

PumpkinAndThePeanut

^ I was partly right, partly wrong. Infant botulism is different from food borne botulism, and the risk of infant botulism does decrease after 6 months or a year as their gut matures. I don't think the risk of regular food borne botulism does though.


https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs270/en/

caden1206

I give honey.