Honey in baby food

The use of honey in folk medicine goes back more than one millennium. As modern research has shown, this bee product is the richest source of trace elements, enzymes and vitamins. It is useful for any adult. But is honey possible for children? And, most importantly, at what age should it be given to babies? There are different points of view on this matter.

The content of the article

  • 1 Benefit
  • 2 Противопоказания
  • 3 Dosage by age
    • 3.1 Answers to parents’ questions
  • 4 Treatment of ARI and SARS
    • 4.1 Cough
    • 4.2 Heat
    • 4.3 Runny nose
  • 5 Oh botulism

Benefit

The advantage of honey over many foods, especially sweet treats, is obvious. With all its rich chemical composition, it is easily absorbed by the human body. May be included in diet food. It is recommended to use it in case of a weakened physical condition, after intense sports training, heavy physical or mental labor. From a certain age, the product is introduced into the children’s menu.

Giving honey to children is beneficial for several reasons. The most basic of them are:

  • the richness of the chemical composition is a source of important trace elements;
  • good digestibility – better tolerated than sugar;
  • high calorie content – a large number of calories can, if necessary, be introduced into the diet in a small amount of food.

It is used for various problems with the digestive system, hematopoiesis:

  • with constipation in children on artificial feeding;
  • with pronounced putrefactive processes in the intestines – fermentation, accompanied by flatulence, diarrhea;
  • with prematurity and poor appetite;
  • with a delay in growth and development;
  • with a decrease in red blood cells in the blood (buckwheat honey is useful);
  • with dysentery (the bee product quickly inhibits the growth of Escherichia coli due to the normalization of the activity of lactic acid bacteria);
  • for colds, including for their prevention.

Противопоказания

Photo 2

Many children are prone to food allergies. This is the main problem with the use of honey by a child.

According to Dr. Komarovsky, the response of the child’s body to the biologically active substances that make up the bee product is little predictable. Especially at a young age.

Most pediatricians are of the same opinion. Perhaps this is a reassurance, but the fact remains – a strong allergic reaction is a difficult test for a child’s body, and its consequences are unpredictable. And it is impossible to completely eliminate such a problem in the case of honey.

There are some signs that most likely indicate intolerance to bee products. They are:

  • parental allergies, especially to honey;
  • child’s intolerance to other foods (chocolate, strawberries, eggs, citrus fruits).

Honey intolerance manifests itself in different ways. In a mild form, this is a burning sensation of the skin in the area of ​​the lips, itching all over the body, sometimes accompanied by the appearance of a rash. More complex reactions – urticaria, weakness, salivation, heart palpitations, a feeling of suffocation (in difficult cases, there is swelling of the upper respiratory tract). Vomiting may occur, and blood pressure may rise.

Read more: Natural bee honey – its benefits and possible harm

Dosage by age

дозировка

In folk clinics, the honey product is recommended even for newborns and infants. We are talking about premature babies on artificial nutrition, deprived of appetite, for whom a quick weight gain is vital. And also for babies who do not tolerate cow or goat milk poorly.

Honey makes it easier to digest caseins – milk proteins, turning them into smaller flakes. It also helps in the absorption of fats and carbohydrates, preventing putrefactive fermentation. Reduces constipation.

The dosage is directly dependent on age… If there is no vital necessity (including direct instructions from a pediatrician), up to six months, the medical product should not be introduced into the diet at all. Ideally, you need to wait until one year old.

Acquaintance with him begins literally with the tip of a teaspoon. In the absence of an allergic reaction, the daily amount is gradually brought to 2-3 teaspoons without top per day. By the age of 13-14, the daily dose ranges from 30 to 50 grams.

The optimal dose is calculated based on the person’s weight! No more than 1-2 grams of honey product is consumed per kilogram of weight.

Answers to parents’ questions

To make it easier to navigate, below are the answers to the most common parenting questions.

answers

Can honey be given to a newborn?

In such an early introduction of a potentially allergenic product there is no point… Moreover, if the baby is exclusively breastfed, healthy, gaining weight well.

Can honey be given to a baby?

Probably, we are talking about a breastfed baby up to 1,5-2 years old. Give the baby a honey product not worth it until the moment of complete introduction of complementary foods (in the amount of two to three servings per day). According to WHO recommendations, this is an age of six months. Until this moment, the mother’s milk fully covers the needs of the crumbs for nutrients, vitamins, microelements. And only from six months they begin to gradually accustom him to adult food.

Honey can replace sugar added to cereals… A preliminary test for tolerance is carried out – the product is given once a day in the morning at the tip of a spoon. And then, during the day, they observe the reaction of the body.

We remind you once again: giving honey to children under one year old is a risky undertaking due to the possibility of a strong allergic reaction.

If the body tolerates the new product well, the daily dosage will be as follows:

  • a one-year-old child and a child at 2 years old – from half to one teaspoon;
  • children under 3 years old – from one and a half to two teaspoons.

Over the age of three years, the number can be gradually increased. By the age of 7-8, it can be 15-25 grams per day.

Limit or completely abandon honey for dermatoses, accompanied by hyperglycoderma (retention of carbohydrates in the skin). With diabetes mellitus (excluding type 2 disease). And also in acute inflammatory processes in the digestive system.

It is necessary to clarify all the features of the menu with the pediatrician observing the sick child.

Treatment of ARI and SARS

The biostimulants that make up the bee product make it possible with its help to protect against seasonal viral infections. People often call them “colds”. Honey is active against many viruses and pathogenic bacteria that cause complications in acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections.

ARI

Prevention carried out in the traditional way – daily intake of a bee product inside in a dosage according to age.

Cough

Honey for coughing children:

The recipe is the first… Mix honey product with olive oil in a one-to-one ratio. Give warm in a teaspoon 3-4 times a day. The remedy is also effective for whooping cough.

Recipe for the second… In a glass of water brought to a boil, boil 2 tbsp. tablespoons of aniseed and a pinch of salt. After cooling, filter the broth, add a teaspoon of honey. Give the medicine 0,5-1 teaspoon every 2-3 hours during the day.

Recipe Three… Rub the radish on a fine grater, squeeze. The juice is mixed with the honey product in a one-to-one ratio. The remedy is taken in a teaspoon every 1,5-2 hours. Helps with bronchitis, pneumonia.

Additionally you can make a compress on the chest from melted goat fat with honey at night… Both ingredients are taken in equal proportions. The mixture is rubbed into the leather, compress paper and woolen cloth are applied on top. The compress lasts from 15 to 30-40 minutes. After that, the skin is gently wiped with a cotton towel, the child is covered with a warm blanket.

Heat

Can a child have honey at a temperature? Yes, orally. But its introduction by inhalation is completely prohibited at temperatures above 38 degrees.

temperature

Oral ingestion, on the contrary, is recommended for febrile conditions and acute respiratory diseases..

The following combined remedy is used. Vitamin tea is being prepared. For one part of water, 10 parts of fresh or dried raspberry berries are taken. After cooling it is filtered, 1-1,5 teaspoons of the honey product are added. Give children at a temperature of 2-3 teaspoons or tablespoons several times a day.

Runny nose

The first recipe… Honey treatment for rhinitis in children consists in instilling its aqueous solution into the nasal passages two to three times a day. The honey product is diluted in half with warm boiled water.

Children over seven years old can be offered to rinse the throat with the same solution.… The remedy relieves inflammation of the tonsils well.

The second recipe… Children over three years of age are nasal with aloe vera. For its preparation, the leaves are chopped with a knife and poured with liquid honey in a one-to-one ratio (by volume). Insist for five hours, after which it is used warm for instillation 3-4 times a day.

Read more: Drinking honey for colds

Oh botulism

There is an opinion that the causative agent of botulism enters the child’s body with honey. Allegedly, 25% of this bee product contains spores of Clostridium botulinum. Where such exact figures come from and why they are so actively spread on the Internet is not known. They can hardly be trusted 100%.

Botulinum is the culprit of severe food intoxication caused by its toxin. But the disease is provoked only by some of its types. Type C generally weakly multiplies in the human body, very rarely producing a toxin.

botulism

You also need to take into account the conditions favorable for the reproduction of the stick. This is an environment inaccessible to oxygen (anaerobic). therefore the main source of infection is hermetically sealed canned food inseminated with the spores of the pathogen. Also meat, fish, smoked or dried at home (the bacillus growing in the soil easily penetrates the intestines of animals and fish). Pickles cooked under open (aerobic) conditions are safe. These are mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, apples from barrels.

Disease-causing spores are extremely tenacious. It is not easy to destroy them by boiling – at least half an hour of heat treatment of canned food is required. And smoked meat or fish, especially when transported in warm conditions, must be heated in a pan on both sides for 15-20 minutes before use. However, in a very acidic environment, they completely lose their activity. Accordingly, canned food with a high content of vinegar can be consumed without fear.

Sweet foods, including honey, may contain Clostridium botulinum bacillus. But spores do not grow in a highly concentrated sugar solution. In addition, once they enter the digestive system of an adult, they are exposed to acidic digestive juices. The probability of infection is close to zero.

As for children under one year old, their digestive juices are low in acid. Theoretically, botulinum spores can be activated in an insufficiently acidic environment without oxygen.… As soon as the child begins to eat solid food, the acidity of his gastric juice increases dramatically. Such an environment becomes destructive for spores that have entered the stomach along with honey.

According to the WHO recommendations, babies get acquainted with solid food, starting from six months. And by the time they are one year old, their diet mainly consists of adult food. Therefore, it is better to postpone the introduction of honey until the age of 6-7 months. It is even preferable to give it after a year.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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