7 month old eating maramite?

[FatherJames]

My mother in law has been doing really well at getting our sob to eat marmite on toast, so he's been having that every meal this week while I've been away.

Previously he's not liked toast that much and struggled to really eat much, now he is eating about half a piece of maramite onb toast.

I know marmite has a lot of salt in but is salt really that bad and why?

I don't want to take The success of marmite this week in terms of eating and and say it was wrong without good reason.

Thanks

[3littlefrogs]

Marmite is way too salty for a 7 month old. His kidneys cannot process it so it builds up in his blood stream.

Babies can die from a condition called hypernatraemia (salt overload) so your MIL needs to stop giving him marmite.Please. This is really dangerous.

[FrazzleRock]

Nothing wrong with a very thin scraping on toast IMO.

[3littlefrogs]

At every meal for a week Frazzle?

[BertieBotts]

Marmite is fine unless you're giving it by the spoonful. When used sparingly it's absolutely fine - DS had it all the time at that age too.

You do need to make sure she's spreading thinly and not slathering it on, but most people will anyway as it's a very strong taste for babies. It is good though. Lots of B vitamins :)

[BertieBotts]

Oh every meal... hmm, that could indeed be a bit much. Maybe one or two meals a day but it does need a balance - I don't think it's a massive deal if they don't eat a lot at 7 months. Does he like anything else, chicken, pasta, carrots, cucumber, fruit, yoghurt? Those are things DS liked at that age.

[PatriciaHolm]

A thin scraping on half a slice of toast is fine. There will be as much salt in the bread as the marmite! Both are around 10% salt, but in small quantities, are fine. Half a slice of bread and a thin scraping of marmite is likely to be less than 0.5g of salt, and 7 month olds should have no more than 1g a day, so keep salt down in his other meals and its fine. Marmite is full of vitamins!

[PatriciaHolm]

Every meal for a week - does this really mean 3x a day every day? I would get her to vary that though, that seems a bit excessive.

[Fianccetto]

It's too salty to have every meal, just limit a tiny amount scraped across a whole slice for a couple of breakfasts per week. Try healthier alternatives.

Wasn't there a couple (a few years ago) who were jailed for feeding their baby so much Marmite he died?

[3littlefrogs]

So - 0.5mg salt in the marmite, at every meal for a week.

How many meals a day? 3 or 4 perhaps. Then add whatever salt is in anything else - I would think that would certainly add up to more than 1 mg per day.

However, I seem to be a lone voice on this one.

[3littlefrogs]

There was a case a few years ago where a couple were feeding their baby mashed potato with instant gravy. The baby was about 5 months old I think.

They were also giving him readybrek. The papers made a big deal of the readybrek, but it was actually the salt in the gravy that caused the hypernatraemia that killed the child.

[FrazzleRock]

What Patricia said

[ShhhhhGoBackToSleep]

A scraping of marmite is nothing to worry about IMO, you need to look at the amount of salt in a day. If I gave my 7 mo marmite on toast for breakfast I would just make sure the other two meals are lower.

However, I wouldn't give a child the same thing every day, you are meant to be introducing a variety of textures and tastes. I also wouldn't be trying to get more food down him, half a slice of toast is quite a lot and milk should still be the main source of nutritution at 7mo.

My 7mo has been offered for breakfast this week -
Toast with butter and mashed banana on top
Quick Blueberry pancakes
Scrambled egg with grilled slices of tomato
Porridge with grated pear
Grilled pineapple and Greek yoghurt
Porridge with squashed blueberries
Toast with peanut butter and a bit of omelette.

Some she liked, some she didn't but she got to try a few different things.

[ChocolateCoins]

Once or twice a week is fine but not everyday. Way too salty. I only let my 17mo have it once a week, and even then, only a tiny amount.

[BertieBotts]

Yes having marmite on bread (which is also salty) 3x per day is too much because it will probably add up to more than 1g of salt per day which is the limit for under-ones.

Shhhhh blimey are you Annabel Karmel?? Variety is great but there's no way I would have managed a list as varied as that.

IMO at 7 months it's about offering them things to try, and not worrying too much whether they eat it or not, but if they do like something there's nothing wrong with giving them that more often, as long as you don't overkill on it. DS also used to like apricot or raisin wheats soaked in milk so they were a little bit soft but he could still pick them up.

(What is SOB btw? You might want to be careful about using that acronym as I have only ever seen it to mean son-of-a-bitch which I'm sure isn't what you want to convey! )

[BertieBotts]

OH I've just realised it's just a mistype of "son"! I'm so sorry. I am a bit blind sometimes