One Pacifier Could Send Your Baby to the Hospital
There is one certain food that babies under 1-year old should not have, so don't buy the pacifier that is filled with it! Four babies have been hospitalized with botulism because of it.
The parents that are buying these pacifiers mean well. They're looking for new ways to soothe a crying baby, thinking honey might help, and they're scouring the internet for good ideas. But this isn't one of them. Buying a honey-filled pacifier is a totally wrong approach.
At least four babies in Texas have been hospitalized with botulism since August because of the honey-filled pacifiers, and it's gotten so serious that they've needed life-saving treatment.
Can you imagine how these parents must be feeling? I feel so sorry to them. We all try to make the best decisions possible for our kids, and it's even more important when the babies are so young they are completely dependent on us. Ordering the honey-filled pacifier was a life-changer, and not in a good direction.
Honey can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum, which the Texas Department of State Health Services says can flourish in the absence of intestinal flora that have yet to develop. The organism produces a neurotoxin that leads to infant botulism, and the effects range from constipation to paralysis, respiratory failure, and death.
The pacifiers are from Mexico and sold on sites including Craigslist and eBay. They're designed to keep the honey inside, but if the child bites a hole in the pacifier and swallows the honey, big problems can happen. And parents know babies will chew.
Any pacifier with honey inside is a bad idea regardless of the manufacturer that it comes from, and the advice is to throw it away or ask for your money back. The FDA is also working to find the pacifiers online and asking the retailers to discontinue them.
We're all looking for unique gift ideas right now, and this is one to skip. I hope these kids get well soon.