# Pregnant women and honey



## greenbeekeeping (Feb 13, 2003)

My wife did a search on that because she is pregnant. What it said was that pregnant women can eat honey because the moms immume system will take care of anything in the honey before the baby gets it.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

Honey is potentially harmful to babies because their immune system is not fully developed. An adult does not have this problem. Its safe for an adult to eat honey.

FWIW, the best possible food for babies is what mothers produce.

Darrel Jones


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Clostridium Botulinum spores can germinate in an infants lower intestine and produce a toxin which causes Infant Botulism. Once a child reaches the age of 1 year old their systems are fully developed and they able to ingest the spores with no harm. 

Since the fetus is not directly ingesting the honey they are not in any danger.


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## Ardilla (Jul 17, 2006)

In attempt to dispell a common myth...

There is nothing particularly special about honey and botulism. ANY raw food (fruits, vegetables) can have C. botulinum spores on it and is therefore not recommended for infants. Many people only attribute the infant botulism scare to honey. 

I'm not sure what the exposure statistics are, but you will find many people like myself whose mothers stuffed their kids with fresh fruit. Despite what people may say, we turned out o.k. (tick...twitch...shudder...)


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Because of the controversy surrounding babies eating honey and contracting infant botulinum <regardless of whether or not it has merit> does anyone here label their honey in some way to provide a warning not to feed it to babies under a certain age? and what does the warning say exactly? I am only looking at it from a liability standpoint and the potential for a law suit. Just curious.


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

>Once a child reaches the age of 1 year old their systems are fully developed 

I'm sure I read that it's actually only six months, but the assciations, medical folks, etc. that came up with the recommendation to not feed honey to infants opted for 1 year as a safety precaution.


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## paintingpreacher (Jul 29, 2006)

WARNING: Do not feed honey to infants under one year of age.
This is on my granulation label, in red, just to be safe.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Painting Preacher, Thank you, I do appreciate it.
Jeff


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## Pincushion (Nov 18, 2006)

FYI, here is what the FDA says about infant botulism and honey (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap2.html):
"Infant botulism, first recognized in 1976, affects infants under 12 months of age. This type of botulism is caused by the ingestion of C. botulinum spores which colonize and produce toxin in the intestinal tract of infants (intestinal toxemia botulism). Of the various potential environmental sources such as soil, cistern water, dust and foods, honey is the one dietary reservoir of C. botulinum spores thus far definitively linked to infant botulism by both laboratory and epidemiologic studies. The number of confirmed infant botulism cases has increased significantly as a result of greater awareness by health officials since its recognition in 1976. It is now internationally recognized, with cases being reported in more countries."


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