When I mentioned the botulism-in-honey issue at a talk about bees to
gardeners, who happened to be a very international bunch (India and Germany
were represented, and at least one other country), they laughed. They had
dipped pacifiers in honey for their kids. These days, I see posts to forums
from parents worried because they gave their 9-month-old Honey O's or
whatever the cereal is called.

As far as I can tell from my own reading (as a beekeeper and relatively new
parent), the danger is mostly to babies under 6 months; spores are found
more in some states (in the US) than in others; odds are, the case would be
so mild as to be misdiagnosed or even go unnoticed; but if you're unlucky,
your baby could end up in the hospital for a month, or worse.

I took the middle road. She didn't need a pacifier dipped in honey, or honey
at all, so I didn't give it to her. However, if it was in cereal or baked
goods or she ate a bit of my honey-laced yogurt, I didn't call 911 over it.

On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Peter L Borst
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Back in 1974, when I had my first baby, we knew nothing about botulism in
> honey. ...

-- 
*****************************
Lesli Sagan
[log in to unmask]

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