how much is too much salt?

[kbaby]

Anyone know the above. DD is 10 months and i know that she cant have too much salt, however when im buying food etc I dont know what amount im to look out for.
Thanks

Are you really me? Was having lunch the other day - dd with wholewheat pasta, homemade beef and tomato sauce, peas, carrots and cream cheese (specially selected to be low salt) and diluted apple and mango juice (not made from concentrate of course), me with Chicago Town pizza and Coke - I thought something was slightly wrong!!! Must start eating what she eats and not microwave rubbish!!!

LOL!

DD had chicken with homemade tomato and pepper sauce with pasta and a glass of water followed by banana.
I had a chinese microwave meal with a glass of pepsi followed by some chocolates!

Lol, we've got to start taking our own medicine!! Typical mother's curse - watch what your kids do and to hell with yourself. In a way though it makes me more determined to get dd's diet right, I can see what junk I'm used to and the way I eat cr*p so don't want dd doing it too.

Lunch time beckons.

I wonder what rubbish is in store for me today?

Something frozen and reconstituted for me and wholesome goodness for dd!

Think I may be half healthy today, going to make 100% pork sausages so dd can have them with pasta and veg and I can have a sausage butty!!

That sounds nice. How do you make them?

Sorry, I meant make as in put in the oven. Have found a nice farm butcher about 10 miles away who does them for me - pork mince with a tiny bit of cereal and no herbs added (as their commercial herb mix contains salt) - they cost a packet, about £2.50 a lb (about 6 sausages) but I only use them occassionally and they taste gorgeous, like pork chops, usually rub a bit of garlic and some herbs in for taste before cooking. If you can't find a butcher who can do it, I think you can buy skins on their own so you could get some pork mince and do it. Or homemade burgers are good instead. Anything easy to cook goes down well with me!!!

I'm pretty sure it takes rather a lot of salt to cause salt poisoning. I'm careful about salt, but I see lots of 10-month-old-looking babies out and about with packets of crisps. I think there's a lot of room between "ideal salt per day" and "ill baby", particularly by this age.

If you stay away from ready-made meals, and processed foods in general, for your baby/toddler, you can afford some other salt as a result.

That being said, I think getting used to loads of salt in everything is a much more likely side effect than salt poisoning, if nowhere near as bad.

NQC - you're right but I've read a fair bit about salt and its effects and kids now and I'm not actually worried about salt poisoning, because you DO need so much. What worries me far more is the research showing links between too much salt and lethargy, heart disease, poor concentration, obesity, premature ageing (ok, not as serious as the others but am sure dd would mind) to name a few. And what's worst is the amount of salt in things you wouldn't normally expect. Ready meals etc you would, but things like cereal, yoghurt??? That's why I'm so careful, because its so easy to exceed the 'safe' amount, which is still very unlikely to lead to poisoning but could lead to unwanted effects later in life.

Can i pick your brains you lot ??

NQC I am often guilty of giving Ds (2.3) a packet of crisps when out as he hates shopping and will whinge. I do give him a bannana first but he dioesn't stay quiet for long.......is there any crips i can give him that are low in salt ????? at the mo i usually give him those teddy bear ones.

nutty - either Organix crisps, which are lush and very low salt, or salt 'n' shake, the ones with the blue packet of salt - then you can take the packet out and they're salt free.

ahh right, Boots do the organix crisps don't they ??

I am very carful about not adding salt to food, veg and potatoes get the smallest pinch i can manage and i do not put salt in anything else.

Kids are not allowed salt on anything. Was quite the other week when dd1 went to a friends for tea and told me she was allowed to put salt on her chips.

Have never really looked at salt contents of things, think i'd have to get rid of the contents of my cupboard if i did.

My Boots doesn't because its a teeny one but I'm sure the bigger Boots do, Asda certainly does and Sainsburys.

You don't have to get too paranoid about the salt thing, the real kids at risk are the ones that eat ready meals and crisps all day long. The main things that contain salt apart from ready meals and 'kiddy foods' like chicken nuggets, are processed meat, tinned veggie in salted water, some cheeses, cereal, bread and some yoghurt. If you want unsalted butter, President is gorgeous. Just have a quick look on the packets when you go shopping, then every time afterwards you know what to go for without having to think about it. If it says sodium instead of salt just times it by 2.5 to get the actual salt.

Also you don't have to avoid lots of foods, some brands can be virtually identical to another but one will be packed full of rubbish and the other might not. Shredded Wheat is the only 'main brand' cereal I know with no salt or sugar, ok it tastes very bland but you can always put honey/sugar on if you want, then you know how much there is.

(wobblyknicks - nutritional egghead by day, smut queen by night )

I will definately take more notice of the salt content of things I buy from the supermarket - but where on earth do you find the time to prepare 3 meals a day without using processed food.

I cook ds (1.4) a healthy evening meal everyday but lunch is usually something on toast or from the freezer... any ideas for a quick but healty lunch would be much appreciated, as would breakfast ideas that don't involve toast and weetabix!

nina - I certainly don't do any work if I don't have to!!

brekkie - Kallo organic rice puffs with milk, just like Rice Krispies. Porridge - fine porridge oats with milk, in microwave. Fruit salad - any nice fruit lazily chopped (or mashed for a baby).

I save time by cooking a huge load of something for the freezer - like fish chowder, bolognaise sauce, stew, mashed potato/swede etc, then just have to get it out and heat it through for an instant meal. I also buy tinned carrots and peas (no added salt) for when I need some veg then and there.

If I had to do proper cooking 3 times a day I'd hide in a corner

Pasta is a brill staple, especially wholewheat, just boil a bit up and mix with anything - meat in sauce, shredded chicken, veggies, cream cheese....

And there's so many ways to make your own 'convienience foods' - like tins of plain beans (from health food shops), mixed with tomato puree and chopped tomatoes makes baked beans. Homemade scones out of the fridge or freezer topped with cream cheese and veg instead of pizza. Grilled chicken or lamb chunks instead of chicken nuggets.

By the way, if anyone's interested - this is a good site about salt without being mind-numbingly in-depth. Has a section about children's eating and some good links to other sites.

(...please tell me if I'm getting boring! )

Thanks for the figures, I have written them down and safetly stored in my purse. I cook batches of food for DD but wanted some finger food ie fish cakes, potato cakes. I looked at the childrens section in the supermarket and looked at the salt but didnt know what was the right amount of salt. I dont add salt in any of our food but I know mil does and shes also been going on about me eating dd's eater eggs. I mean does she really think I will give a 10 month old chocolate eggs!!