Naturally salty foods for babies

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Apologies if this is a daft question but .... I know that no salt should be added to babies' food as it is potentially damaging, but what about foods which are naturally salty? I am thinking in particular of some cheeses, such as parmesan. Also things like some fish, olives (my dd loved these as a baby, although sadly, at 4 ,she hates them). Are such foods now considered unsuitable for babies (my youngest is 9 months) or is it okay to give them in moderation? I was also interested to read on this site that babies should not have tomatoes or potatoes. I didn't realise this and have been giving them to ds since he began solids at 6 months.

Anyone have any opinions?

My HV told me that things like baked beans and tinned spaghetti could be given at about 8 months, as long as they weren't given at each meal. I always chose the low salt versions where possible, but didn't give ds much tinned stuff anyway.

Cheeses are of course salty, but my ds has been having cheese for a while. I THINK the guideline is about 8 months.

IME/O, the general idea is to give these things in moderation. If you have a baby cookbook, you can get an idea about what naturally salty things they can have from the recipes. Having said that, Annabel Karmel says not to give fish (and chicken) until 8 months, but my HV said that 6 months was OK.

HTH a bit.

I lightly salted my son's food and gave him salty foods (like parmesan and olives) in moderation from when he started solids at 6 months. I think you just have to do it in moderation. Also, if you are cooking the foods yourself you know how much is going in. If it is a packaged food they can sometimes have a high salt content that isn't obvious from the taste. I think the difference in age recommendations of when to introduce things is related to allergies. There are a lot of food allergies in my family, so I waited to introduce the more allergy prone foods like fish/seafood/eggs/etc. until he was over 1 year old. I still don't let him have peanuts. I never heard you weren't supposed to give them tomatoes and potatoes so I didn't worry about it. Also it probably depends on when you start solids and how used your child's stomach is to food.

I'm interested in the salt aspect, Sofiames. Is there any reason why you add it - I think your father is a food expert?? Its just that I haven't used salt for 20 years in cooking, and we don't seem to have come to any harm. I was wondering if there is something I'm not aware of? We're now living in a tropical climate where I thought we might need extra salt, but so far, so good!

Potatoes? Really? dd loved mash from about 8 months.

I think you can give anything in moderation by 9 months (apart from allergens). Smoked fish, olives etc probably aren't brilliant in huge amounts, but the odd few olives or bits of smoked mackerel/salmon etc (dd loved that) probably won't hurt. I didn't give overly salty foods as I didn't want dd's palate to become accustomed to lots of salt, but found that things like low salt beans also came with added sweetener, so I stuck with the normal versions but just didn't give every day.

SueDonim, the only reason for adding the salt is because I love the taste. It's recently been shown that unless you already have high blood pressure, high salt doesn't make it worse. My entire family has extremely low blood pressure, so salt intake has never been an issue.

SofiaAmes what about the dehydration effect of salt. In France they are now campaining to alert people to the danger of salt... as everything is salted (including the Baguette!)
There is/was the theory that Nestle and Co tend to over salt their prepared meals as they are ALSO the owners of Evian and other mineral waters... Each meal contain 2 gr of salt I believe - unfortunately I can't recall up to how much we should take a day....
Dehydration, kidney and heart problems are the things that would worry me about salt. We eat very little salt in my house and we don't miss it.

As for tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and aubergine, these according to Suzannah Olivier (author) contain toxic elements to which a young child can be sensitive.

Most baby jars contain potatoes but I have always tried to limit the potatoe intake of my kids to twice a week from 10 months onwards..... maybe that was unnecssary - but there are so many other things you can give a child.

Pupuce, I don't often eat prepackaged foods (and yes many of them are very high in salt....to disguise their blandness) and have never given my son pre-made baby food of any kind. I think you have to eat a lot of salt to worry about the dehydration and although I do salt my food, I'm sure it's no where near those kinds of levels. Also, in very hot climates you do actually need extra salt because you sweat so much out, so maybe being a california girl, i'm used to needing more salt....Anyway, I'm not talking large amounts anyway, just moderation.

So salt could be bad if there's high BP in the family? I guess that's why they don't recommend it - I have no idea what my children's BP is!!! Better safe than sorry, I guess. We haven't found we need any extra salt even though we are living in the tropics and the locals are too busy adding sugar to everything to bother about salt, LOL!

Pupuce, what type of toxic elements does SO mean? Is she talking about pesticides or naturally occuring poisons? Most people must be aware that green potatoes are bad for you and tomato, aubergine and pepper skins are a bit indigestible but I've never heard of anything else.

I think the recommended amt of salt a day for adults is about a teaspoonful. We do need some sodium in our diet, but as with most things moderation is the key...the problem is it is "hidden" in so many foods we don't realise how much we are having. Children get all the salt they need thru the things that naturally contain it, like dairy foods and some vegetables, plus those that have it added like bread, biscuits and most cereals. Adding salt is a habit more than anything - my dfil smothers his dinner in salt before he even tastes it and it annoys the heck out of me. I add a pinch to vegies when I cook them, but none afterwards; the only things I might add salt to later are eggs, chips and tomatoes.

The main risk with salt for babies is that their kidneys can't cope with very much salt. Plus they don't need it for taste as they have more than 3 times the number of taste buds as adults do, so what seems bland to us (like rice cereal!) is actually a taste sensation to bub! Which is why, apart from the obvious dental/health reasons, there is also no need to add sugar or honey to a baby's food.

My 6 mo old dd loves the Watercress, potato and courgette recipe in the Annabel Karmel book- please tell us whats supposed to be wrong with potatoes! We usually get organic, and I wouldn't dream of giving her green potatoes, so surely there can't be any harm in it!

At the moment we are growing our own potatoes organically so I'd like to know what 'toxins' Ms Olivier thinks are in them.

I know commercially grown vegetables are high in pesticide residue which is why you are recommended to wash and peel them before eating. But bananas are even higher in pesticide as they are sprayed so much, so I am surprised she doesn't add those to her list.

Aubergines? Oh come on.

Sorry, that should have been commercially grown non-organic ROOT vegetables.

Suzanne Oliver ('What Should I Feed My Baby' - it's a very good read although she definitely errs on the not-giving-allegens side)describes potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines and peppers as coming from the deadly nightshade family and therefore prone to being indigestable. She recommends not using them until your baby is 9 months old. Instead of potatoes you should use other carbohydrates such as lentils, millet, etc (personally my baby hated all of these so we gave in and had potatoes from 7 months).

Not being a gardener, I'm not sure how related these plants really are? Still, I'm firmly of the 'variety is the spice of life' school.

9m. old DD LOVES potatoes. I wouldn't get much vegetables in her, otherwise. She also gets very happy at the sight of meat. Meat & potatoes were things her brother refused as a baby. Go figure.

This morning she had coleslaw for the first time (home-made, well, mayo was store bought). I used to crave it in pregnancy with her, so wasn't too surprised she pounced on it. Her brother, of course, won't touch the stuff.

I find it impossible with 2nd baby to avoid a lot of things I might otherwise prevent DD from having: tomatos, egg white, orange juice, some crisps, biscuits..... Nowadays I'm only really vigilent about nuts and seeds, sweets, choking risks, and too much salt.

With the hot weather, I have just discovered that watermelon makes great finger food. I suspect that's on someone's "bad" food list, too, though!

She's right, all those veg are linked to the deadly nightshade plant, which may make them more indigestible than other veg. But indigestible foods aren't allergens, and your baby may have no trouble digesting them. Go ahead and try them, if they don't cause any tummy trouble then they are fine. Dd ate ratatouille from a young age, I used to roast the peppers and take the skins off, but if I couldn't be bothered bits of skin just came out in her nappy - ditto tomato seeds, sweetcorn and other jolly things.

Personally I find lentils more indigestible than potatoes

you can use herbs such as parsley and savory to give a seasoned flavour without adding salt. These also have the advantage of helping to make food more digestible -savory is particularly suited to beans and pulses.

Ooh, "Snap" wrt the lentils! I certainly wouldn't have thought they were more digestible than potatoes!

I am NO expert but I think red lentils are more digestible than the others and they need to be well-cooked.
As for the toxins in potatoes - I don't believe that has anything to do with organic or not it is just a constituent of the potato.... Again I am no expert. When I have a minute I'll see if I can find something on the web.

BTW I know several French and German nutrition books for babies who do not recommend potatoes as well.... as usual you can find everything and its opposite !

I know about red lentils pupuce, in fact I dont think there is any difference between red, green or brown, but personally I (and dd) am more likely to fart like a trouper after a lentil meal than a mash one.

The toxin IS just a constituent in the potato, she is right. My point is whether it is necessarily a bad thing to give your baby something which may or may not make it burp, fart or get a bit of tummy ache. I think a lot of people get confused between allergen-forming foods and foods that might be a bit indigestible.

There are people that already worry that they've done 'something wrong' by giving their baby potatoes, the truth is that if they are unaffected by them, its fine. And even if they don't tolerate them that well, you certainly won't have done them any harm.

zebra, that's so true about the 2nd baby getting all sorts of foods and at a younger age than number one bub! Once they see their older sibling having something, they want it and there's no reasoning with them. And of course there's a limit to how many things you can deprive number one of, things they have been used to getting, esp as "treats"! Ds (our 2nd) has had a much more lax diet than Dd...consequently he is a complete sugar addict. Sigh. At least he likes his fruit too! (and POTATOES! )