At what age can honey be given to a child

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Honey is a healthy product. But at what age you can give it to a child and how much you can eat per day is a problem that interests many parents. We found out what experts think about this, including Dr. Komarovsky.

Useful and questionable properties

Honey belongs to the category of beekeeping products known to man for a long time. Supporters of naturopathy and folk remedies for treating diseases common in childhood are confident in the undoubted benefits of nectar processed by bees. They try to give it to the child as early as possible for the treatment and prevention of diseases.

The adherents of the sweet bee product believe that honey has many useful components, healing properties, and abilities. For example, to stimulate the immune system, to heal the body, to make the released life longer.

If you carefully study the praise of the supporters of honey and medotherapy, you will find a long list of benefits obtained from its use. Naturopaths are sure that vitamins and trace elements, contained in significant quantities in nectar processed by bees, contribute to:

• antiseptic and bactericidal action on internal organs and the gastrointestinal tract;
• normalization of body tone, improvement of intestinal motility and excretory system;
• optimizing the state of the immune system and increasing resistance to various diseases.

It is quite understandable the desire of parents to immediately introduce the child to the use of a valuable product. The more sane of them still think about from what age period a product popular with supporters of a healthy lifestyle can be given to a baby.

Honey is a collective name for liquid and thick, colorless, golden or dark, collected by bees from different plants, depending on the season of honey collection, genuine or falsified composition.

Indiscriminate claims about harm and benefits do not belong to any specific category, in which there may be few natural ingredients and a lot of sugar added by unscrupulous manufacturers.

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The state of the child's digestive system and intestines is not programmed by nature for food other than breast milk, and this continues until a certain age. An argument against giving your baby any beekeeping products may be essential oils that cause allergies.

Problem product

Pediatricians always carefully consider the possibility of introducing complementary foods, even if the child has already reached the appropriate age. Often, the decision from which month even a simple vegetable puree can be given is made taking into account the individual characteristics of development, diseases or congenital pathologies.

People who are not familiar with the peculiarities of children's dietetics talk about the benefits of honey: the content of B vitamins, carotene, trace elements and enzymes. Not everyone knows that most of them evaporate when heated, and children are usually given honey with hot milk to treat diseases.

A significant part of the valuable components can be obtained from the use of permitted food - fruits and vegetables, juices, vitamin purees. If we argue at what age children can be given honey to obtain valuable components, then there is an easier way out - not to give it until the digestive system returns to normal.

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Carotene is found in much greater amounts in carrots allowed from the fourth month of life, vitamin C - in vegetables and rosehip broth, B vitamins - in foods that are allowed to be given to children from a clearly defined age.

For honey, the word "can" is limited to important circumstances:

1. Potential allergies or individual insensitivity to certain components. Even if there is no allergy to honey, but there is a negative reaction to pollen, essential oils, separate bee segments, this is too dangerous for unformed immunity.
2. The overheated product produces compounds that are harmful to the nervous system. This argument excludes medicinal use.
3. A high calorie content with rapid digestibility in the intestines will easily create an opportunity for rapid weight gain.
4. The main problem in deciding at what age to give honey is the large amount in the retail sale of artificial counterfeit. Moreover, even specialists can make mistakes in identifying real honey.

Children's nutritionists, with their tendency to be careful in the distribution of recommendations, are sure that the only answer from what age you can introduce natural honey into the baby's diet is the onset of three years of age.

Before giving your child honey, it is recommended to check its quality in a laboratory or to carry out several tests to determine the quality.

But this does not guarantee that the baby is not allergic to pollen, acacia or linden blossom, rapeseed or sweet clover, clover or sunflower, from which bees collected honey.

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What Dr. Komarovsky says

A well-known pediatrician, whose opinion is readily listened to by young parents, is sure that the introduction of honey can be started only after one year of age. At a later time, it should be given in small quantities, but there is no definite consumption rate.

It all depends on the activity of the child, his age, energy expenditure. You should not allow it to be consumed in its pure form, but you can add it to cottage cheese or grated apple, it does not have such a detrimental effect on the teeth.

Summarize

Honey is a valuable product, but there are objective obstacles to its use in childhood. That's why:

1. You need to start using it no earlier than one year of age.
2. Nutritionists are sure that the best period to start drinking honey in childhood is three years.
3. At the first, small doses, you need to carefully monitor the body's response.
4. When taking responsible steps, it is always best to consult a pediatrician.