In Infant Feeding

"Sleep with the mouth at a honey bottle." Bedouin proverb

In infant feeding, after milk, honey ought to be considered first in importance. The Papyrus Ebers (The Leipzig Mss.), 1600 B.C., mentions that infants were fed on honey. Galen considered nothing better for teething infants than honey and butter; the combination was supposed to help ulcers of the mouth. Galen's direction was "to rub the gums with honey, for it conduceth wonderfully to the growth, the conservation and the whiteness of teeth."

Among many modern authors, Dr. Paul Luttinger, Pediatrist of the Bronx Hospital, New York City, recorded 419 feeding cases of infants where honey was used with success and where the use of sugar would have been prejudicial. Luttinger found so many decided advantages in honey for infant feeding that he discarded other sugars. He used one to two teaspoonfuls in eight ounces of feeding mixture, substituting honey for orange juice and cod liver oil. Honey is certainly more palatable than cod liver oil and is just as good, if not better; it is tasty, nourishing, and is easily and quickly digested because there is no resistance and delay in its absorption. Infants fed on honey rarely show flatulence. The facility of absorption prevents fermentation. A tea-spoonful of honey to eight ounces of barley-water is an excellent remedy for summer diarrhea. In marasmus, rickets, scurvy, in fact, in every case of malnutrition, honey is a sine qua on because it contains not only proteins but mineral salts and vitamins which are missing in sugar. The mineral content of honey is higher than that of human or cow's milk which contain only exceedingly small quantities. Honey has a great antituberculotic reputation in infant feeding among European peasants. The sedative, hypnotic and diuretic effects of honey are well-known.

Dr. M. W. O'Gorman, Chief of the Division of Hygiene, Department of Public Affairs of Jersey City, New Jersey, used honey for 25 years as a valuable addition to milk modification for infant feeding and in the growing child's dietary. The fact that many of the infants admitted to his institution had been suffering from malnutrition, some even with little chance to survive, makes his statement more impressive. His charges received at first one-half teaspoonful of honey every 24 hours and the amount was gradually increased to two teaspoonfuls, according to size and bowel movements. In case of constipation the amount of honey was increased. Honey has a decided laxative effect on infants. This effect, however, is lost if the honey is boiled.

There are innumerable other reports praising the value of honey in modified feeding of infants. Dr. H. W. Wiley in the May 1926 issue of Good Housekeeping also recommends honey as a sweetener in infant feeding. Condensed milk and other proprietary milk products contain a large amount of cane-sugar be-cause it is sweeter than the appropriate milk sugar. It is a proven fact that infants brought up on condensed milk are less resistant to infections than those fed on mother's or cow's milk. Dr. R. G. Flood thinks that honey is a very valuable sugar in the treatment of constipated bottle-fed infants due to the laxative effect of the levulose faction which is slowly absorbed and eventually reaches the large intestines. Constipated infants benefited in his hands a great deal through the use of honey as a substitute.