Blw

My health visitor said so long as I don't add salt to give what I have xxx

I do the packet things sometimes or I have simply cook where it’s the spices etc, can I give these as long as I’m not adding any salt in? Because the packets I know for sure have salt in them

It’s more about added salt and moderation. You’ll never be able to avoid salt added to foods as pretty much everything has some in it.

Just don’t add salt to food and let baby taste what you have. For the amount they eat at this age for weaning, it’s no concern. X

I wouldn't worry too much. A little salt occasionally won't hurt so long as they're not having lots of it all the time.

If mine have stuff with salt in it one day, I'll just be super careful the next day.

Literally everything has some salt in it unless I make my own sauce but that just isn’t going to happen every day!🥲

I’ve wondered this too. Everything I cook for myself and my partner has salt in it, because you have to use salt when cooking (!!) and my six month old constantly reaches for whatever I’m eating, but I’m never sure if I CAN let her taste it etc? I’d never put salt on top of anything I give her, but there’s always salt in sauces etc…

I don't necessarily give her what I'm having because my partner is very fussy and doesn't eat a lot of foods, I'm not a big fan of veg and we both LOVE salt through our food as it's being cooked. I usually batch cook a bunch of stuff for her (I use an app called Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook for recipes etc which is £2/3.99 but there's loads online for free) and freeze it and then I meal plan for the week so I can defrost stuff when I need it. With regards to salt, a tiny bit is fine. The portion size that they have means things like tomato puree etc is fine as they'd only end up with a teeny bit of it. Just make sure you don't add extra salt or anything and watch out for things that are super high in salt content like ham etc and don't give it too often. Every now and then is fine though. I usually batch cook a veggie tomato sauce for her and then I defrost and use it when I'm having pasta and I just separate her portion of pasta from mine and pop mines in my salted sauce and hers gets the baby stuff 😊

If you tend to buy shop bought sauces, I agree batch cooking is probably a good habit to get in to now. I try to view salt content over a week as opposed to a day. So my toddler might have chips or baked beans for example that would put her over her salt "allowance" but over the week it averages out.

Lots of cereal has lots of salt in too which is something to be mindful of.

I hate batch cooking, I hate freezing and defrosting things I’d just prefer to do it as and when, I don’t use Jarred sauces but I make them using like the packet things where you add the ingredients and it’s the seasoning in the packets or as I said simply cook which is the seasoning. I really don’t feel like making 2 different meals, one for us and one for LO just salt is unavoidable in literally everything unless I’m roasting veg and blending it!

I’m the same - batch cooking and freezing is just a whole extra effort on top of everything else. I think like Helen said a couple of comments up, actually, the amount our babies WILL eat is so little that the salt content in general will be tiny anyway. More and more I’m learning to de stress about things. I know as we advance in life science and technology and medicine obviously allows us to understand more about how human bodies work, however, I’m certain that when I was a child none of this learning was in place and I still turned out fine 😂😂😂

It's all about moderation, so for example, if I know his dinner will have a fair bit of salt in - which usually it does. I just make sure for breakfast and lunch the salt is minimum. Like today he will have fruit and tomatoes and a stick of cheese for lunch. For dinner he is having roast, but the chicken is basted so a bit salty. But that will be with lots of veg and mashed potatoes.
Other days he has like pasta bake, so I just limit rhe other mealsnin the day, just give him fruit or eggs or something.

I don’t even check jars of sauces etc, I just give her them. I just don’t add any extra salt to meal, I remove her portion first then add salt etc if we want it.

And I definitely use tomato purée for her, I just water it down a little for her food.

Just don’t overthink it and go with the flow 🥰