Article: Honey for Kids' Coughs

[brittone2]

Weren't our grandparents smart LOL :)

In light of cold season and the recalls on children's cold products, I thought this might be of interest.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/03/honey.for.cough.ap/index.html

[brittone2]

deleting. Why am I having problems today?? I've used this format elsewhere. Sorry!!

[kcandz]

This is the only cough medicine we use in the house, adult and child. It has a honey base.

http://www.boironusa.com/products.aspx?pageid=13&pcat=14&pcat2=&prodid=16

[BeachBum]

Very interesting.

My son (age 2) has his first congested cough today. I called the Ped and they recommended Benydryl allergy. The article made it sound like all cough meds were not appropriate for young kids. Is that true?

[tylersmama]

I read this article in the newspaper today. DS has a little bit of a cold and his cough was worse today, so I figured we'd give it a try before bed. Go figure, I had the hardest time getting the spoonful of honey in his mouth (leave it to my kid to reject pure sugar)! I've only heard a couple of coughs, so maybe it's helping a little.

[Kungjo]

That's interesting. I don't know about giving honey though. I asked our ped once and he said no processed honey till after 6 and no raw honey at all. Why does the article make it seem okay after 1? Maybe our ped is too conservative?

[tylersmama]

Hmm, I've never heard that, and I read A LOT of different sources. Everything I've read is that after 1 is totally fine.

[brittone2]

I'm not an MD, but what I've always heard is that honey can contain botulism spores. However, supposedly after one year of age the stomach acid is sufficient to kill those spores.

We use raw honey regularly around here. I haven't given any to the almost one year old baby, but we're fans otherwise.

Statistically, salad bars are more likely to make you sick than many other foods that people urge exercising caution with.

That said, I really have never heard of any issues with honey in a kid over 1 year of age, but I'm not an MD.

Oh, to the PP, the new recommendation is that cold meds shouldn't be given to young kids.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/19/coldmed.fda/

ETA some other links on honey and children:
http://www.drgreene.com/21_1037.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/botulism_g.htm

I haven't seen any recommendations that there is a need to avoid honey beyond 1 year of age.

[ellies mom]

I read this article in the newspaper today. DS has a little bit of a cold and his cough was worse today, so I figured we'd give it a try before bed. Go figure, I had the hardest time getting the spoonful of honey in his mouth (leave it to my kid to reject pure sugar)! I've only heard a couple of coughs, so maybe it's helping a little.

Try adding lemon juice and maybe warming it up a bit so that it is thinner. The lemon juice cuts out some of the sweetness. That is what we used to take for sore throats. It seemed to work then.

[KBecks]

Thanks for the article! We still have some children's cough medicine on hand but I have been worried about what to do when we run out.