When did you stop worrying about salt content in your toddlers food?

[Sophie1029734]

My 1 year old still doesnt have salt. I see mums giveing their kids wotsits, adding salt to meals etc in no way am i judging, im just curious. Anything that can cause LO to go over 1g of salt a day is a no. I usually stick to toddler snacks.
When did you add salt to your kids meals? When did you stop worrying so much about it or was it not a huge deal?

I never even thought about it. I never bought processed rubbish, so it wasn't even an issue anyway, and they always ate what my husband and I ate. They are healthy adults now, so clearly no harm done.

I think real food with a normal amount of salt is way healthier than toddler snack which are ultra-processed and more damaging in the long term

I just don’t add salt to my little girls food and give her dinners and meals we eat which generally are basic but pretty healthy. We do give her toddler crisps mind you, and we use the low salt gravy. She is 13 months now so still very small.

I think after 1 they are allowed more than 1g of salt.

I haven’t used it though. I cook his food and I don’t use any salt or sugar, and the snacks he has are toddler ones like Ella’s with no added sugar or salt either.

I figure he just doesn’t need much of it, so why bother.

An adult can have 6g salt a day. A 1-3 year old should have no more than 2g.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/salt-nutrition/

I just switched to using no/low salt in our home cooking, including stock cubes. Babies and toddlers eat the same as us. The adults might salt their food at the table, but to be honest, we don't like as much salt as we used to now.

If we are eating out, or with friends, I don't worry about salt as I know most of what we eat is very low salt.

I think it's 11 years old before they can have the same amount of salt as an adult.

@Sophie1029734

My 1 year old still doesnt have salt. I see mums giveing their kids wotsits, adding salt to meals etc in no way am i judging, im just curious. Anything that can cause LO to go over 1g of salt a day is a no. I usually stick to toddler snacks. When did you add salt to your kids meals? When did you stop worrying so much about it or was it not a huge deal?

I have always given ds the same meals as us. All the nutritional courses I went to suggested you only really need to worry about salt intake when you live off processed food or absolutely cover your own food with it and I do neither.

L

Personally I think a varied normal diet is more important than obsessing over salt. Those toddler snacks are pointless. They have no nutritional value and are often high in sugar.

Asian countries are some of the healthiest in the world and consume loads of salt via soy sauce etc. Seasoning makes vegetable based dishes way more appealing.

I don't stress too much. DD is almost 2.
We cook mostly from scratch anyway, including our own bread etc. I do add a little salt to food when cooking but nothing much. Though she often has the appetite of a sparrow so the salt consumed is negligible!!

I think if you were mostly having ready meals, takeaway, crisps, it might be different but if you cook mostly homemade I wouldn't worry too much.

I never really thought about it. She has toddler crisps etc but sometimes normal crisps.

I never add salt when i'm cooking really anyway, always used standard oxo cubes etc

@Angelica789 Well, my 1 year old has never had added salt and absolutely demolishes any veg I give him.

We don't add salt to cooking and she just eats what we eat. I'm more relaxed about her having things like bread but we use unsalted butter for her. The only processed food we use is ready made pastry for quiches and stuff, and we limit that to once a week. She's 20 months.

For snacks she tends to have homemade savoury muffins or things like a cheese slice or boiled egg. She does like mini bread sticks so I try to buy the lowest salt ones I can find.

Basically, we generally have a low salt diet with as much 'real food' as possible, but I'm not zealous about it. Having the occasional biscuit or pastry is not something I consider a problem.

I don't worry at all - DS is 18 months. Everything I cook for him / he has at nursery is without added salt (other than the occasional low salt soy sauce used in a sauce and the salt that occurs in things like cheese). I don't, therefore, worry about what happens when he manages to open a packet of Pom Bears and eat a few or if he has a meal out or whatever. It all balances out and he drinks plenty of water during the day.

My DD is nearly 4 and I don’t add salt to her meals but equally I don’t often add salt to my meals; I think spag bol is the only one I do. I’ve never tracked exactly how much salt she has but I mainly just try to stay away from processed foods; she loves crisps but only has them occasionally and I still buy the baby veggie stick crisps.

Just stay away from processed foods and 'toddler/baby foods' I remember being when looking at the salt and sugar content on baby porridge when DS2 was weaning and redybrek being lower and cheaper

Totally agree with everyone re 'baby foods' too. I buy them sometimes because I get lured in but they're overpriced rubbish.

@mynameiscalypso I don’t see how you can say that. Lots of Ella’s Kitchen crisps, biscuits etc have no added salt or sugar; whereas regular crisps and biscuits obviously have quite a bit.

[quote Doireallyneedaname]@mynameiscalypso I don’t see how you can say that. Lots of Ella’s Kitchen crisps, biscuits etc have no added salt or sugar; whereas regular crisps and biscuits obviously have quite a bit.[/quote]
You’re not supposed to give a whole portion of the normal stuff to a baby and so if you compare portion to portion there really isn’t a huge difference. For example if the adult portion is 2 biscuits a 2 yo will have half. Half a digestive has the same amount of calories and more fibre than a comparable ella’s snack. In terms of ‘goodness’ they’re the same and often ‘normal snacks’ taste less sweet which allows you to help build a child’s palette. For example Quavers and Wotsits are pungently cheesy whereas Organix or Ella’s snacks tend to be sweeter to make them more palatable for babies.

[quote Doireallyneedaname]@mynameiscalypso I don’t see how you can say that. Lots of Ella’s Kitchen crisps, biscuits etc have no added salt or sugar; whereas regular crisps and biscuits obviously have quite a bit.[/quote]
They're still rubbish - there's no nutritional value to them. It's fine, it's no big deal, I give them to DS but they're nothing other than a tool to make my life easier.

@mynameiscalypso Yeah sure, but why would you choose crap with added sugar & salt over the toddler snacks without? It doesn’t make any sense. Neither are intended to nourish a toddler, they’re a treat - may as well go with the healthier option.

[quote Doireallyneedaname]@mynameiscalypso Yeah sure, but why would you choose crap with added sugar & salt over the toddler snacks without? It doesn’t make any sense. Neither are intended to nourish a toddler, they’re a treat - may as well go with the healthier option.[/quote]
Because they cost a huge amount more and, generally, taste quite unpleasant. If it's a 'treat' (which I try not to do anyway), why wouldn't you give them an actual treat that tastes nice and isn't ridiculously overpriced. Each to their own - I prefer being able to, eg, share a biscuit with DS than watch him eat a flavoured rice cake. The exception I make is for the Organix gingerbread men which I have a soft spot for.

I don't worry about it too much. I use low salt stock, unsalted butter and don't add salt to cooking. However, beyond that, I don't count up how much salt is in the cheese, toast etc that I give her.

I’m not that worried. We don’t add salt now as standard to our meals when cooking, just season at the table if adults want to add any salt.
But I’m not bothers by salt in things like bread or cheese. I know he only eats small portions of these so evens out.
We don’t really eat ready meals or many ‘snack foods’ anyway.

Never even thought about it. But then I don’t add salt in cooking and don’t cook processed food really so guess it’s pretty low. Don’t think there’s anything wrong with the odd bit though

I keep a bit of an eye on it but try and not stress it too much. I’d rather, for example, that she tried a spoon of a curry made using a jarred sauce to widen the tastes she’s exposed to, rather than her not try it due to it having a bit of salt in. The amount she actually eats is small so a bit of salt now and then in things I cook isn’t a big issue to me. I’ll make sure there’s unsalted potatoes / veg etc on her plate and she might have a few spoonfuls of the main meat / fish etc that might have a little salt in.

If I give her say sausages for lunch i’ll do a low salt tea. Or if I have macaroni cheese planned for tea i’ll do a low salt lunch.