laris...
is a little bit of honey ok for a 6 month old???
Hi, my little girl is just about 6 months old, she has been eating solids for a couple of months now, and i have started using just a squirt of honey in things such as weetbix to sweeten them up a bit. A friend of mine who has 2 children had a go at me saying that it was really bad for her.......surely just a little bit not so often is that bad for her, or would i be better off just using sugar????
Jane ...
Answer:
Hi,
Your friend is right, but this isn’t so much an issue of the sugar in honey (and there’s plenty of that)! but the risk of her contracting Botulism from the honey. Check http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001624
This is bacteria which can be very dangerous in babies and honey can contain the spores of botulism. She’s too young for honey or sugar too at six months. Although as adults sugar is very nice, for babies it’s not the best addition to their food. And at six months her little teeth will be erupting through her gums very soon and baby teeth are VERY prone to decay, they’re precious and need lots of nurturing and protecting.
So to answer your very good question, you’d be better not to offer her honey or sugar and just give her plain foods which if she learns only come sweet, will refuse to eat them if they don’t have sugar added.
Cheers
Jane
Your friend is right, but this isn’t so much an issue of the sugar in honey (and there’s plenty of that)! but the risk of her contracting Botulism from the honey. Check http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001624
This is bacteria which can be very dangerous in babies and honey can contain the spores of botulism. She’s too young for honey or sugar too at six months. Although as adults sugar is very nice, for babies it’s not the best addition to their food. And at six months her little teeth will be erupting through her gums very soon and baby teeth are VERY prone to decay, they’re precious and need lots of nurturing and protecting.
So to answer your very good question, you’d be better not to offer her honey or sugar and just give her plain foods which if she learns only come sweet, will refuse to eat them if they don’t have sugar added.
Cheers
Jane
Answered:
08 Jul 2012