Jason E. Andersen

Bonus Fun Fact: Babies under 1 year old shouldn’t eat honey, because it can kill them. Technically, not the honey itself, but the potential bacteria carried within it. The honey is a vector, as they say. 

Honey often contains Clostridium bacteria, a genus of bacteria found in soil and dust. It’s literally everywhere. For babies, the worry is Clostridium botulinum. This species of bacteria produces the neurotoxin responsible for Botulism disease (and also disturbingly puffy lips, but that’s for another day).

Infant Botulism can result from babies under 1 year old eating honey, wherein they are exposed to the bacteria. Older babies and regular humans are more or less immune, because they have developed immune systems, but babies aren’t so lucky. For the same reasons, they probably shouldn’t eat dirt, either.