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Here's why adding salt to your baby's food is a terrible mistake

You are not making your baby's food more tasty by adding salt. You are, however, definitely harming your baby's health by doing so.

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Written By: Sneha Sadhwani | Updated : May 3, 2016 5:37 PM IST

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Parents always want their babies to eat healthy foods. This is why they go to great lengths to experiment with food texture and taste, all in the bid to feed the baby nutritious and healthy food. However, many people do not think twice before adding a little salt to the baby's food, to enhance the taste. They do not understand that they might be doing irreparable damage to the baby's body and digestive system.

What exactly is 'salt'?

Salt or sodium chloride is nothing but 40% sodium plus 60% chloride. It is an important mineral that is naturally present in various fruits, vegetables and milk. Though sodium is an essential mineral, excess of it can have a bad effect on health. Babies that are below one year of age should not be given excess sodium in the form of dietary salt. Their sodium requirement is small which can be met through natural sources of sodium.

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Why is salt so dangerous?

Infants or young babies are very sensitive to salt, that is dietary sodium. Adding salt to your baby's food may increase the risk of high blood pressure and heart diseases later in life.

In addition to this, babies have very sensitive kidneys. Sodium is a waste product that is excreted out of the body by kidneys. Adding salt to the diet increases the overall sodium content and this puts pressure on the developing kidneys. Such a pressure may damage the kidneys. Some clinical studies have even shown that excess sodium intake may have a negative effect on baby's brain. Therefore, parents should be very careful and must read the nutrition label before buying any commercial feed for the baby. The word 'salt' may not be written directly on the nutrition label, always check for the word 'sodium'.

Here are some guidelines that parents should keep in mind before buying foods for babies:

  • Adult foods should not be given to young babies. Such foods contain high amount of salt which can be harmful for the baby.
  • Buy only infant-specific weaning foods. These type of foods contain very less amount of salt which is safe for the baby. You can try easy to digest weaning recipes like vegetable upma.
  • Feed your baby with fresh and unprocessed fruits and vegetables. Canned foods contain huge amount of salt.
  • Cow's milk is high in sodium. Therefore, it should be given to babies under one year of age. However, little can be added when preparing baby's meals after six months of age.
  • Many foods contain salt in the hidden form. These include:

a. Breads

b. Biscuit and cookies

c. Ready-to-eat gravies and soups

d. Cheese

e. Salted butter

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Sneha Sadhwani

Sneha Sadhwani

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