Grandma was right all this time !

A new report today states that a teaspoon of honey before bed seems to calm children's cough and help them sleep better. In a three way comparison, Honey did better than Cough Medicine and no treatment at all.

For the research, researchers recruited 105 children with upper respiratory infections from a clinic in Pennsylvania. Parents were given a paper bag with a dosing device inside. Some were empty. Some contained an age-appropriate dose of honey-flavored cough medicine containing dextromethorphan. And some contained a similar dose of honey.

Federal health advisers have recently warned that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines shouldn't be used in children younger than 6, and manufacturers are taking some products for babies off the market .

Honey should not be giving to anyone under the age of 1 year because of a rare but serious risk of botulism.

The parents were asked about their children's sleep and cough symptoms, once before the bedtime treatment and once after. They rated the symptoms on a seven-point scale.

All of the children got better, but honey consistently scored best in parents' rating of their children's cough symptoms.