When did you add SALT to baby's food?

MY babies are not in their second year yet, but I thought I would post here to see if what you guys have done in the past. My 10 month old twins will not eat meat or veggies! They just want fruit. BUT, if I add just a little salt to their chicken/veggie/rice mixture they will eat it. Can I add a little salt? I know technically you're not supposed to salt their food until after 12 months.... but they get no other form of salted food (ie. cheese, wheat products) since they have dairy, wheat, soy etc allergies. What did you guys do? Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

My ped says it's perfectly fine to add a little salt and butter to veggies if it gets them to eat. Not "salty" per se, but just to add some flavor. I do worry about sodium because I'm salt-sensitive, but I add a little light soy sauce or salted butter to their veggies. Not that it makes Nate like them any more; I think he refuses because of the texture. But Jack sure likes 'em!

 

I'm not sure about the salt but I added a bit of butter to things to give it some taste. :good: My two weren't big on table food until after 12 months but if they ate a bit of our food I was never too concerned about the salt that was added because they only took a few (very few) bites.

 

I don't know, I never, and still don't add salt to my kids food. ardon: I don't want them to get into the habit of thinking they need it on their food. Can you "pretend" to shake the salt over the food and try and trick them to think there is salt on there? ardon:

 

I never added salt, and I don't plan to either. DH and I aren't big salt people anyways. Sorry...don't have much advice. I'd fake it if they are seeing you do it and they want it.

 

We add a small bit to some of their foods. Sometimes if we just let them see us "salting" their food they'll eat it. Meaning I shake the salt shaker but either cover the hoes or don't open them depending on the kind.

 

Salt (a little, not a heaping teaspoon or anything) is an essential flavoring in lots of things -- they just don't taste right without it. So, if faking it gets them to eat it, fine, but if they can actually taste the difference, go ahead and salt it. The amount of salt in home-cooked food is so minor compared to the vast amounts in purchased or packaged foods, it's almost not worth worrying about (unless you have a medical reason to).

 

I did not add salt until after 1 year, but I think in the conditions you described it would not be doing any great harm.
Have you already tried other ways of adding more flavour (onion, garlic and herbs)? For example cooking rice in (homemade or no salt) stock instead of plain water gives it loads more flavour, or cook some onion in oil/unsalted butter until soft, add the rice and a little tomato puree and cook for a minute before adding the water. Things like that is what I mostly do even now and only add salt to dishes that really need it.

 

I try to avoid it as they already eat too much stuff with salt as it is... I'd say it's unnecessary but if it's the only way they will eat, you gotta do what you gotta do!

 

babies kidneys are so tiny and regular consumption of too much salt plus not enough fluids will cause painful and sometimes dangerous kidney stones. Also, their kidneys may not be developed well enough to excrete the sodium. But also sodium is important on so many levels, for brain development for one. Muscle contractions, oh so many things. although we do get sodium in our natural foods, personally i have a LOW blood pressure problem and i need to add it. i did go no sodium except for whats in my natural whole foods for a year, thatswhen i started having issues myself. But also, I wasn't to do that for myself while pregnant or breastfeeding due to what LLL said about baby brains. I think too many people use too much salt and therefore adding salt to "their" taste isn't a good idea but see how tiny you can go with the munchkins before they start to chow down. once in a while or in miniscule amounts is ok in my book. If we have to get canned veggies, I try to get the no added salt kind. Low sodium for canned soup, etc. They have so many choices out there now a days thankfully!

I noticed after eating that way that restraunt food, fast food, and processed food is one of the major ways we over consume salt. So i try not to have those in our menu on a regular basis. I did learn that bodies will estabish a set point and all things will taste under-salted until we reach that point. Going back from there, you can definitely change that set point, thankfully!

Maybe get the recommended dosage for their age and find out how many grams are in their foods naturally if you you really want to... then you can see how much more you are alloted (but probably will not hit if you are cautious).

btw: we are trying to cut our chloride intake and common table salt is sodium chloride. We are going to use more sea salt. Table salt is normally rock or ocean salt that is mined, heat blasted, chemically treated, and then anti-caking agents and iodine added to it. What you have left is table salt that is basically dead. It is now just dry sodium and chloride. Processed salt is devoid of all the essential minerals and macrobiotic nutrients that our bodies need to survive.

 

We don't salt their food. they get enough in processed foods. I also don't salt my own food

 

I've never added salt but I add real butter.

 

When they started eating table foods at 10 months, they were given what I eat. If I salt it for myself, I salt it for them. We eat so few processed foods and I go very light with the salt myself so I'm not concerned with the tiny bit I add. I will take the shaker off of the table, though, if we go out to eat and I've explained to them that the food at the restaurant comes with salt already on it. They are allowed to sprinkle pepper, parmesan, or hot pepper flakes if they wish.

 

I don't really add salt to their food but I do use butter. But DH &I are not big salt eaters, so if we don't add it to our meals, it doesn't get added to theirs.

 

I've never thought about salting their food because I never salt mine. I just don't really care to... just my preference. As others have said, just a tiny bit is probably ok, or just pretend and see if that works. My kids eat things with salt in them but I never add to it. They do eat pasta with butter occasionally but I guess we usually go pretty light on the salt.

 

I thought I'd replied already, but I don't see it... anyway, my friend just mentioned that she used to add lemon juice to her kids veggies... I wonder if that would help you instead of salt...

good luck!