Honey and breastfeeding

[squigglesmum]

I know that you're not supposed to give honey to a baby under 1 year old, but has anyone ever been advised not to eat it themselves when breastfeeding? I've got a sore throat, so was going to buy a bottle of glycerin, lemon and honey from the pharmacist, but he said not to if breastfeeding. When I queried this, he said it was because of the honey in it "which can cause allergies", so when I then queried whether that meant I shouldn't eat honey at all, he said it was best not to. I had about a quarter of a jar last night, I always use it when I've a sore throat, in preference to "real" medicine! Anyone else heard of this? Dd is coming up three months, if that's of any relevance.

[hoxtonchick]

i thought the reason babies couldn't have honey is there's a tiny chance there can be botulism or something similarly nasty in it & their digestive systems are too immature to cope. but if you're eating the honey it really shouldn't be a problem. i'm sure i did when i was breastfeeding. sounds like the pharmacist is either being super-cautious or doesn't know what he's talking about....

[nailpolish]

yes its something to do with botulism. do you still have the accompanying leaflet? check and see if its says anything about not taking while bf.

i have a bottle of honey and lemon cough mixture in my cupboard and ive just been to check, it doesnt mention it for bf, just says to be cautious if pg.

hth

[Beansmum]

I eat loads of honey, never heard that I shouldn't. But by the time any of it gets through to the baby anything nasty would be gone surely?

[Prufrock]

This is rubbish. There is no way that the botulism toxin could get through your digestive system and into your babies gut. It's completely safe

[tiktok]

Honestly, I have never heard anything so utterky daft - the pharmacist wants a kick up the a**e.

There is a supposed risk of botulism for babies who eat honey - but most commercially-sold honey is boltulism free, and the risk is theoretical only.

If the mother eats honey, and gets poisoned (!) by botulism, her baby is still all right - I have just checked Hale's Medications and Mothers Milk on this, and he details a case report of a mother who was severely poisoned by botulism and continued to bf - her milk tested free of the toxin and the bacteria (though she was v. ill) and the baby was fine. As Hale says 'neither the botulism bacteria nor the toxin is secreted in breastmilk.'

The idea that a commercially-packaged over the counter med for sore throats should be withheld from pg and bf women is just preposterous.

Hope your throat gets better, squiggle, and tell the pharmacist from me to get real

[squigglesmum]

Thanks tiktok and others. I was pretty sure he was talking nonsense, but you know what it's like with new babies, if someone tells you to worry, you do! you'd think I'd know better by now, dd is actually my second baby .

[squigglesmum]

And thank you all for replying so quickly!

[nailpolish]

lol at tiktok! get that pharmacist sorted

[MissGreenie]

My daughter had botulism at 2 months old. I learned a lot about it during that time and after. Botulism is caused by a neurotoxin that lives in the dirt, just like tetanus. When the dirt is disturbed, up go the spores into the air. The two main culprits in the food study were corn syrup and honey. No one ever talks about corn syrup! We live in an agricultural area that is extremely dusty, and chances are it blew right in to the house. I think many SIDS cases are actually botulism. They never test for that. It takes two weeks to grow the culture to see if it’s really botulism. I took her to many doctors that said she was fine. As soon as I took her to the Children’s Hospital, they knew in seconds. Now I tell every mom that if something is wrong, skip the pediatrician and go straight to the emergency room. She would have died if I had listened to the doctors.