Giving honey to kids with a bad cough might help them feel better faster than a fake treatment, cutting about three-quarters of a day off how long the cough lasts.

Giving honey to kids with a cough for a few days helps them cough less than a fake treatment, according to good quality research.

After three days, honey probably doesn't help coughs or sleep any better than cough medicine or a fake treatment, according to research.

For kids with coughs, honey might work better than a common cough medicine called diphenhydramine at making them cough less often, but the evidence isn't very strong yet.

For kids with coughs, honey might work about the same as a common cough medicine called dextromethorphan, but we're not very sure because only a couple small studies have looked at it.

Honey might help kids and their parents sleep better when they have a cough, compared to doing nothing. Studies show it makes a small but noticeable difference in how much sleep is affected.