I am wondering what the cut off age is for honey. I buy my honey from a local nature center so it is local.
My son is 30 months old and I have let him have honey for a long time now but can't remember if it would be safe for say an
eighteen month old.
Thanks

"They" say under that age of 12 months is a :nono

Thanks, I thought that was the rule but my sister was worrying about using some ginger tea sweetened with honey for her daughter's cold. She just turned eighteen months old so I think she would be all right.
:D

I don't worry about it, as long as it is reasonably fresh and unprocessed. However, I can't see wanting to give any kind of sweeteners to a kid less than a year old. If the tea is over 160 degrees or so when the honey goes in and is hot enough to stay over 160 for a few minutes, I'd expect that anything wierd would be killed off. Of course, that will destroy all of the enzymes and things that make honey a better sweetener than sugar...
Any kind of syrup that is kept at room temperature can potentially grow nasties, so maple from bulk bins, brown rice, and agave are not necessarily better choices than honey.
If you want to sweeten tea for children, try a stevia extract. It makes the tea taste nice, and won't give them a sugar crash. My dd likes it, and can't really tell the difference. I only give her honey tea when she is sick and barely eating, so she can have a little energy boost.

Yes, the rule is 12 months of age due to the fear of infant botulism. This applies even to foods cooked with honey because the botulism spores can withstand high heat. Cooking kills any botulism toxins but not the spores. After 12 months the digestive tract should have enough acid that this is no longer an issue.
Kaye

** Why Honey is a Healthy Food for Infants
**
** Most people have been convinced by the medical "authorities"
** that honey is dangerous for infants to consume. Indeed, most
** honey on the market in groceries stores today is unhealthy
** for ANYONE to eat, let alone infants. However, there is more
** to the story about honey than meets the eye.
**
** Most honey sold in grocery stores is not raw. It has been
** filtered, and in some cases, heated to kill any bacteria
** that might be contained therein. Heating the honey is what
** renders it unhealthy for adults, and dangerous for infants.
** In the heating process, all the live enzymes in the honey
** are destroyed. It is the live enzymes and their precursors,
** contained in the honey, that make it such a healthy food for
** both adults and infants.
**
** Why are the live enzymes in honey important? According to
** Dr. John McKenna, "We know that honey is antibacterial - it
** kills bacterial cells by drawing water out of them. In
** addition, the enzyme inhibine, which is found in honey,
** converts glucose and oxygen into hydrogen peroxide, a
** well-known disinfectant" (1). In fact, "honey helps replace
** missing enzymes for nearly all purposes throughout the
** entire body" (2). This is only true, however, of honey that
** has never been heated over about 96 degrees Fahrenheit
** during processing and packaging. Since enzymes power all
** immune system functions, unheated honey is be a powerful way
** to boost the immune system.
**
** Some of you may remember studying in school about a
** scientific experiment that was done on raw meat versus
** cooked meat. They took a piece of raw meat and a piece of
** cooked meat, and put them outside where they could have
** contact with flies. Of course, flies lay eggs which in turn
** hatch and become maggots. Guess which piece of meat grew
** maggots, and which didn't? You guessed it.....the cooked
** meat began to decay and produced hordes of maggots. The raw
** meat was untouched. Of course, the flies laid eggs in both
** pieces of meat.
** Why did only the eggs in the cooked meat survive? For two reasons.
** First, the live enzymes kill bacteria which makes the meat
** decay, and it also kills the maggot eggs. The purpose of
** enzymes is to break whole substances down into digestively
** appropriate substances.
**
** All the cases of botulism in infants involved heated honey.
** Of course, these cases cannot be used to prove that unheated
** honey would cause the same result. Even if the label of the
** honey says it is raw, it can still be heated above 96
** degrees during processing.
** Before any honey is consumed, one should call the company
** who packages it to find out about the temperature during
** processing. It is preferable to get honey from a local
** provider, and to visit their establishment and observe their
** packaging techniques, as well as the safeguards which assure
** that it is not heated during processing.
**
** When one is sure one has obtained unheated honey, feel free
** to feed it to everyone in your family, including your
** infants. Unheated honey will not support the growth of
** unhealthy bacteria, so there is no danger. Also, if
** unhealthy organisms were to get into the body, the fact that
** some of the honey is converted to small amounts of hydrogen
** peroxide makes it perfect for disinfecting the body. I would
** not suggest that you go and drink a bottle of hydrogen
** peroxide. However, the small amounts which this natural
** process produces are just the right amount to produce good health.
**
** There is a comparison which I find amusing. Very few parents
** would allow their infants to consume honey, even though it
** is a very healthy, natural substance. But many of these same
** parents allow their children to be injected with
** vaccinations which contain known carcinogenic substances,
** heavy metals, and have dangerous, predictable side effects.
** The number of cases of injury and death due to vaccination
** side effects is extremely large in comparison to the number
** of reported cases of botulism in infants. In fact, the first
** number dwarfs the second by comparison. Yet, parents
** continue to allow their children to be vaccinated, risking
** their lives in the process, all for the sake of preventing
** diseases which are no longer lethal in our country. I find
** it funny and yet sad that these parents would refuse to give
** their children a substance which is much safer by comparison.
**
** Honey is an excellent antibiotic. If applied to wounds or
** burns, it accelerates wound healing and prevents infection.
** If honey produced locally is consumed, the pollens in the
** honey help those with allergies to local plants to control
** their allergic response. And in addition to all this, the
** immune system depends upon the enzymes in the honey, as well
** as those produced by the combination of the enzyme
** precursors in the honey, and other substances in the body.
**
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