CM club - help re salt in 16mth diet

[eleanorsmum]

I have one mindee aged 16mths. she eats well but latley has been very thirsty and whiny in general. her mum noticed it and mention it this week. had to get her to collect eraly on tues as not herself at all. went to docs and said virus so have back today. just gave her lunch and read the label. got a shock! today she had cheesy pasta swirls from a tin. 1.2g of salt! ok she only ate half as not feely 100% but still. this is way too much for lo is it not? i know mum is quite lazy at home and doesn't really cook food. lo usually has cheese triangle and crackers for lunch when with me (provided by mum).

am i worrying about nothing or should i mention maybe she having too much salt? if so how! lo has been very windy lately too.

Sorry Em i dont know the guidlines on salt, but would be interested to find out!

Tricky one! You can only lead them to water, so to speak! Maybe you could mention that you noticed how much salt was in that particular jar of food. I think its pretty unlikely that the food is causing the problem, but its always worth trying to cut back. Perhaps you could say you will feed her now, save mum putting food in for her.

I've got a mindee who's mum provides microwave meals every day! I dread to think what's in some of them! They're fine and have their place, but not every day I don't think. I've tried to get him to eat the home cooked stuff that I do, but he won't and mum isn't bothered by it.

Hi,
I think target salt at this age is 2g per day so I'd say your instinct is right that there is too much in this. The recommended intake increases very sharply with age so it is v easy to give small children too much if they are given processed food meant for adults. The food standards agency website has some useful info.
I would definitely point this out.
good luck.

thanks will politely mention it tonight on collection!