Are we allowed salt already?

[Ima shel Alon]

What age can we start and give salt? In moderation of course, I don't mean adding too much of it, but can Alon start and eat the same food I do?

[koe2moe]

At this age, i would still be careful and add salt only on our portions.  Dont forget that there are salt in lots of store bought things, like bread, cheese, etc., and naturally existing salt like fish.  Sometimes DS would want salt and he would eat a whole pack of salami when he was 13-4 months or so.  Also salt tastes good, once you start seasoning his food, he wouldnt go back to the blander version so easily. 

[Papaya]

Here are the UK Food Standards Authority recommendations for salt levels for young children:

0 to 6 months: less than 1g per day
7 to 12 months: 1 g per day
1 to 3 years: 2g per day
Age 4 to 6: 3g per day
Age 7 to 10: 5g per day
Age 11 to 14: 6g per day

So it's still only 2 grams per day, which isn't much. I still don't add any salt to our food when I'm cooking, but I'm slightly more relaxed about letting F have other salty food occasionally.

[amayzie]

Ha ha- I have SOOOO long to wait!

[Ima shel Alon]

Thanks lovelies! Helped much.

[Lemonthyme]

I don't add any salt and I'm careful about adding salty foods (bread, cheese etc) to his diet.  E.g. if he has toast at breakfast, I don't give him a cheese sandwich for lunch.  You get the idea.

[Canwi]

I just took the salt out of everyone's food unless it's needed.  So boiling eggs, potatoes and pasta are the only things I add salt to and then in smaller quantities than my mother would have.
That way it was even all round and I don't have to make more than one version of a meal. 
As with all things, we do need some salt in our diets.  Moderation is the most important rule of thumb

[amayzie]

I also look for the low salt alternatives- like cheese and bread- then i don't have to worry so much about the amount he's having.. (then there was last night when we ran out of cheese for him and he had low fat regular salted variety ... oops!! Still- i think that there are PROBABLY worse things you can do to your children than give them low fat cheese to eat!)

[Lemonthyme]

I wouldn't add salt to potatoes, eggs or pasta at all.  Have you tried missing it out completely Canwi? 

[amayzie]

I actually dont add salt to the cooking wate for those things at all anyway.. they turn out fine...

[Canwi]

Tried it and they taste disgusting. Even when the boys were first trying those foods, sans salt they wouldn't eat them. With salt they would.

I cannot keep my kids in a bubble. They go to school and preschool where food gets shared etc.  They go to birthday parties where I have little control over food. I am a SAHM 5 days a week and work 12 hour shifts the other days so everything being homemade is physically not possible for me.  I have to accept that moderation is the key and that perfection is not a reasonable goal.

[Mashi]

Also keep in mind when you are cooking with salted pasta water, you are not drinking the water.  You are pouring that water down the drain, and the amount of salt that is absorbed into the pasta for consumption is SO minimal.  2 grams of salt a day is actually a LOT -- it is an entire TEASPOON.   If you are eating a lot of processed foods, premade sauces, packages, ready meals and the like, then yes it would be a very wise idea to keep close eye on salt. But for a family that is feeding their LO home-made food, fresh and prepared in the house, then they are not getting very much salt/sodium in their diets.  Sodium is a needed part of your diet and a lot of foods that have a bad rep for being salty are not as salty as you think -- ie/ cheese...cheddar cheese "typically" contains about 620mg of sodium per 100g.  Which works out to be 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Now, **I** could easily eat 100g of cheddar cheese in a day (in a single meal even  ) but a chunk for a toddler is closer to 3-5g ... so resulting in like 0.007% of their salt intake for the day.  I think that a toddler who ate their daily salt-intake in cheese would have bigger problems to worry about 

Providing you are eating and preparing foods with a reasonable diet in mind, your LOs can eat all that you do!  My DS as a baby was never allowed to have my buttered salted popcorn, but a home cooked meal where I shook a bit of salt into the sauce, no problems   Health guidelines in the UK suggest this approach.

[Ima shel Alon]

Thanks again, ladies.
We do cook everything at home and we are very conscious of what we are eating (no processed food at all), so I think I should just relax about it...

[Lemonthyme]

5 grams is a teaspoon of salt btw.

I wasn't criticising, I think you get 'used' to a certain level of salt in your food which you can train yourself out of.  I know a lot gets thrown away, some doesn't or else you wouldn't be able to taste a difference no?  Why not reduce the salt by half and see whether you notice?

I agree that eating home cooked foods can help but many people wouldn't think about cheddar or bread being salty but both are.  If you weigh the cheddar you put into a sandwich that's probably at least 20g - approx 0.3g salt.  Bread, you're looking at up to 0.2 - 0.5g salt per slice depending on the type.  If you get bread at the low end then the sandwich is approx 0.7g of salt (without any butter).  My son would easily have the 'recommended' serving size of 28g of cornflakes for breakfast on his own.  That would be another half gram of salt and before you know it, without snacks, without tea, without adding any stock cubes salted water etc, etc. you've exceeded half of his salt intake for the day.

I'm not criticising, I'm just trying to point out that salt is in so many things we don't even think about giving, I don't see the point adding it to cooking water.  It's just another source of salt IMO that we don't need even as adults and it helps gets our taste buds accustomed to saltier foods.

But I was only suggesting.  I wasn't ordering.  I felt like there was a lot of defensiveness after my suggestion and I have no idea why!

[Shiv52]

I use salt in moderation for cooking and in terms of other foods the kids get.  I totally agree with Deb that moderation is key.