Is manuka honey safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about manuka honey during pregnancy?

1. Honey may help decrease nighttime coughing, which puts it among the small group of kitchen staples with supportive trial data behind them for cold symptoms. 1
2. Across 10 randomized trials in children with acute cough, honey performed comparably to common cough medicines on cough frequency and sleep quality, though the reviewers rated the overall evidence low to very low quality and noted nausea or vomiting in up to 14 percent of participants. 2
3. Honey should never be given to infants under one year of age because of the risk of botulism, and that age-specific caution is the reason honey carries a warning at all. 3
4. Manuka's antibacterial reputation traces to methylglyoxal, and laboratory analysis of 80 honey samples found antibacterial activity tracked almost exactly with methylglyoxal content. 4
5. Being cautious about dietary supplements beyond a standard prenatal is the general advice in pregnancy, and the label "natural" does not by itself mean a product is safe. 5

Is manuka honey safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. If nausea has made you picky about smells and textures, a small amount of honey in warm water is one of the gentler throat options available to you right now. Watch the sugar load if you are managing blood sugar, and remember honey does nothing for nausea itself.
• Second trimester. This is often when colds catch up with people, and honey is one of the few home remedies with actual trial data behind it for cough. Jars sold by potency grade cost more, but the research on grading is about antibacterial activity in a lab dish, not about swallowing it for a cold.
• Third trimester. Nothing changes for honey late in pregnancy. Once your baby arrives, the rule flips: no honey at all in the first year, not in food, not on a pacifier, not stirred into formula.