Adults often find baby food bland, so sometimes parents decide to add a little salt to the baby’s food. But what to do if salty food doesn’t suit your child, and when it’s okay to introduce supplements into the diet, we’ll tell you in our article.
Why do children need salt?
Sodium chloride , best known as salt, helps to regulate metabolism, participates in water-salt metabolism and the production of hydrochloric acid, an important component of gastric juice, and prevents dehydration. Both components of salt participate in biochemical reactions occurring in the body – without chlorine and sodium, the processes will not go as they should.
From this we can conclude that small amounts of salt are good for the body, but we should not forget that some of it is already in ready-made products: especially a lot – in bread, sausages, cheeses, semi-finished products, sauces, canned goods and fast food. And here is where the danger arises: if you add salty food to these products, you can get harm from salt instead of benefit.
According to WHO, children who eat a lot of salt are 40% more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than those who eat salt moderately. In addition, excess sodium and chlorine in the body can cause disturbances in water-salt metabolism, the most obvious sign of which will be edema.
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When is it time to add salt to food?
Babies receive their first salt with their mother’s milk or in formula. Thus, 100 ml of breast milk contains 0.15-0.17 g of sodium, in adapted milk formula – up to 0.2 g.
WHO experts do not recommend adding salt to complementary foods : with it, the child already receives an additional 0.1-0.15 g of sodium, which is found in almost all natural food products. Children under one year of age should not eat more than 1 g of salt (0.4 g of sodium) per day. From about 18 months to 3 years, you can give a child up to 2 g of salt (0.8 g of sodium) per day.
Sometimes manufacturers do not indicate the amount of salt in the product, in this case you can use a simple formula: 2.5 * N (amount of sodium). For example, if a ready-made dish contains more than 1.5 g of salt per 100 g of product, then it is clearly not for the children’s menu, but small pieces of food from a parent’s plate will not harm, unless it is a burger or salted fish.
Important
The salt norm for an adult is no more than 5 g per day , which WHO experts suggest reducing whenever possible. They emphasize that people in most countries eat much more salt than a child or an adult needs, exceeding the recommended dosage by 2-4 times.
What salt to choose for a baby
Once you have decided how much salt you can give your child, pay attention to what type of supplement you choose.
WHO experts, who warn against excessive salt intake in general, suggest replacing regular salt with iodized salt, which is considered not only a source of sodium and chlorine, but also contains iodine, the deficiency of which can provoke thyroid dysfunction and other malfunctions in the body. Both children and adults can eat dishes prepared with this salt.
Sea, pink and other types of salt are not equivalent to iodized salt in composition, the concentration of iodine in them is lower, and therefore they do not have all the properties useful for the body. When deciding which salt to choose, it is better to give preference to the one that is labeled as iodized, and not to other options.
When choosing salt, pay attention to the composition and expiration date, as well as the child’s reaction to the salted dish. With all the advantages of iodized salt, it is important to first make sure that the baby does not have a reaction to iodine. The same applies to mineral-rich sea salt and regular table salt, which is not as saturated with useful microelements, but is also suitable for baby food.
What to replace salt with
Once a child has tasted salty dishes, all others will seem bland and not very tasty. That is why many parents try to delay introducing children to this product.
Herbs and spices are a healthy alternative: dill, parsley, cilantro, basil, cumin. They should be added little by little, trying one every 3-4 days.
Advice
If the child can no longer imagine his lunch without salt and exceeds all acceptable consumption standards, do not remove the product abruptly, but gradually reduce the dosage to the required amount.
What can be done?
Reduce the amount of salt in adult food. Firstly, it is good for the whole family, and secondly, the child will not have to cook separately, he will be able to eat the same as you.
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