Is it ok to give babies some salt?

[marsup]

I know salt is the big no-no for babies these days in the UK (though my French MIL gave me a recipe book that recommends adding a pinch of salt to baby main courses and a tablespoon of sugar for each dessert!!!) and I don't add it to cooking but there is salt in a lot of 'adult' food that I'm starting ds on (11 months today). Are the anti-salt warnings really just to stop people adding too much, or is it an absolute ban? and why? (can't remember the theory behind it, I'm afraid).

I really dont want to argue about it but too much salt is bad for children and adults alike. Babies under 12 months shouldnt really have any as their kidneys cant cope. Lots of adults do have health problems and have to reduce their salt intake. As a society we eat far too much salt.

how old is your ds?

And our mothers and grandmothers didn't eat anywhere near as much processed food as we do, which is where most of peoples salt comes from.

I do use some stock in food that dd and ds will be having, but think I am OK overall because they have very little hidden salt - never readymeals, or any supermarket prepared food, and only weetabix or porridge for breakfast.

ds is 9 mo - and I know that we all eat too much salt as a rule. But I know that ds loves 'tasty' foods and hates bland baby jars. But I'm sure that cheese and bread etc have salt in them - but he loves them. I never add sale or sugar to any of my cooking - but sometimes will augment tinned tomatoes with a little cookin sauce from a jar.

There was a case of a baby dying though from too much salt in Smash etc wasn't there. I don't worry too much about salt in bread, cheese etc, but for cooking use herbs, shallots etc to give a bit of flavour to the food.

I remember that case, and their other child was in care having been found with burn marks from an electric fire on her face....I remain deeply suspicious about just how much 'Smash and gravy granules' that child had.

Kallo organic low-salt stock - available in healthfood shops etc

There was a case last year about a baby dying from eating REady Brek - but it was given it three times a day instead of baby food.

No, that was the 'smash' case - the judge mistakenly said that the baby had a high level of salt in his bloodstream because of Ready-Brek but the judge made a mistake.

Ready Brek has 0.1g sodium per 100g. An adult portion is about 40g.

It seems to me that it is a good thing for ds to be eating as much normal family food as possible, so it is a bit of a compromise with the no salt issue for me. I don't actually add salt to my cooking anyway for us or him, and he refuses to eat ready-cooked baby food so he isn't getting much of that, but weetabix, bread, cheese... can one be too paranoid? It's true though that the industrialised world consumes much more processed food now than ever before, so quantities of salt can sneak up on us...

but surely in moderation - we have more pressing things to worry about for them?