Period Childhood raising and the use of Honey

[viking@csra.net (Doug Munitz,Sven Olafssen,Maria Munitz,Giuseppinade'Materesi)]

Poster: viking@csra.net (Doug Munitz,Sven Olafssen,Maria Munitz,Giuseppina de'Materesi)

Greetings, 
     I am in the middle of a research paper on Medieval child-raising
practices and the use of honey.  I already have more toxicology reports
from college textbooks and the Dept. of Agriculture than I can use.  What I
need is examples of how the Medievals gave their children honey.  For
example, here in the antebellum South, people used to give teething babies
clean cloths with a knot tied at one corner that had been dipped in bourbon
and then in sugar. It was for the baby to suck, soothing the gums.  It was
called a sugar tit.  Did they have similar practices in the Middle Ages?
     My theory is that honey contributed to the high infant mortality rate
during the Middle Ages.  Honey naturally carries a form of the botulin
family.  It is Not killed by pasteurization at the present required
temperatures, and while people over the age of 2 have immune systems strong
enough too fight it off, infants do not.  Symptoms range anywhere from
severe constipation to death.
The Department of Agriculture is very addamant about warning parents about
the dangers of honey; ask anyone who has been in a WIC office.
  If anyone knows about books or scholarly articles on either this subject
or the period use of honey, please let me know.  Thank you.
Giusi
Border Vale Keep



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