salt in food

[muslimah28]

hi
if i give my 6m ds toast, do i need to make sure the butter is unsalted?

And how do you give food from your own meals if blw, if youve added salt in? Or do you just take some out when cooking before adding salt?

Tia

[RJandA]

Until they're one, they can have max 1g of salt per day. It's better to use unsalted butter, but if salted is all you have then you could use it, just make sure the rest of what he eats that day is low salt - and check your bread packet, you'll be surprised how much salt is in bread. Also make sure he has plenty of water with a "salty" meal, it'll help him flush out the salt.

I tend to cook without adding any salt, have found that I actually don't miss it in my own food in most recipes. You can always add salt at the table if you need to.

But if we're out, obviously restaurant food is going to be salty, there's not much you can do about that. I think so long as they generally have a low salt diet, the odd high salt day won't matter too much, try to think of it as max 7g over a week and don't worry too much.

[RJandA]

Oh, and forgot to say, you can get slightly salted butter if you only want to buy one type and can't bear to be an unsalted household!

[muslimah28]

thanks so much! We can live without the salt in butter so may invest in unsalted, but was hoping to give him some tomorrow and ive only got normal in the fridge at the moment...also its useful to know for when im at my mums!

Do you know which is a good low salt bread? Thanks :)

[RJandA]

I have spent about half an hour going up and down the bread aisle checking all the labels, I haven't found one yet! Sainsbury's own brand seems slightly lower but not great (that's just cos Sainsbury's is our closest, I'm sure the other supermarkets are about the same).

Some people make their own..... I guess if your LO only has on average a slice a day or even less then it might be worth making a loaf, slicing it and freezing it, but I have never quite got round to it yet.

I just give her bread in moderation, everything else she has is without any added salt so I think overall she must be ok.

I reckon if you're even thinking about salt then it's likely your DS will be fine -lots of people don't even consider it.

[muslimah28]

i checked our pack or warburtons this morning, and it has 0.5g per SLICE

gave him just half a slice in the end.

i used to make my own bread but i remember you still need to put a lot of salt in to get the yeast working...though sugar does a similar job and is not as bad. i may have to hunt for home made low salt bread recipes! the trouble is with home made bread its usually tougher than shop bought though....oh what to do! will probably just stick with 1/2 slice for now, esp as most ended up on the highchair/floor!

[muslimah28]

hi there just thought id let you know i found a good loaf-warbutons milk roll, has 0.2g per slice :) thanks for your help, esp about the 'high salt days ok if generally low salt' concept, makes a lot of sense!

[RJandA]

Cool thanks, I will look out for it!

[missytequila]

what about sodium? are grams of sodium the same as grams of salt?

i see sodium in almost every single food on the shelf... is sodium ok? i saw it even in baby yogurt

[Seona1973]

you need to multiply the sodium content by 2.5 to get the salt content i.e. 0.4g of sodium is the equivalent of 1g of salt. You do get naturally occuring sodium which is why you will find it in foods where no extra salt has been added.