How to Consume Honey for Babies
Honey is undoubtedly a health food. Unfortunately, honey has a significant amount of sugar in it which makes you need to be careful when consuming it. Therefore, if you want to include honey in the list of healthy foods for children, it is obligatory to regulate the dose of honey each day. You can get healthy honey on bumblebee decorations website. With the right honey, the child’s health will be maintained without worrying about the side effects.
Giving honey to children must follow the age of the child himself. The problem is, the needs and metabolic abilities of each child is different. Proper administration will make the benefits of honey properly digested by the body. Conversely, giving the wrong can cause health problems in the child’s body.
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that infants younger than twelve months should not consume honey at all, be it pure honey, mixtures, or foods that contain honey. This is caused by the risk of infant botulism or botulism in infants.
Infant botulism is a serious health condition caused by toxins from the Clostridium botulinum spore. This poison attacks the spinal nerves and muscles, causing paralysis of organs, including respiratory muscles. As a result, babies affected by botulism can experience respiratory problems and the worst and even lead to death. Clostridium botulinum spores usually contaminate the food that is not well processed or has expired. But besides that, these spores can also develop with honey media.
For this reason, parents are advised to delay giving honey to children until at least one year old. This is because babies under the age of one do not yet have a mature digestive tract. Digestion of infants under one year does not yet have sufficient acid intensity to ward off the poison of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Therefore, the risk of poisoning is even higher compared to children one year and over and adults.
Although including rare, infant botulism usually appears about 8 – 36 hours after your baby consumes honey. To be more vigilant, you can recognize the signs and symptoms of botulism in infants, including:
Difficulty defecating
Not much moving
Weeping weak
It’s hard to swallow
Hard to breathe.