Can my baby eat Salt

Is salt healthy for children?

Our bodies need some salt to balance fluids in the blood and maintain a healthy blood balance. However, we should be careful not to consume too much salt. For babies under 1 year the consumption of salt can be damaging to the kidneys, which is why the advice is to not add any salt to food and refrain from serving processed foods containing lots of salt (such as salami or chips). After the first birthday, your baby can eat some salt, but the advice is still to leave salt out of the diet as much as possible. Another reason, aside from health, is that babies and young children will get used to the salty flavor and then crave it in later stages of their lives as well. For your information, here are the maximum dosages of salt per age range according to the European Food Safety Authority:

under 6 months: less than 1 gram per day
7 to 12 months: 1 gram per day
1 to 3 years: 3 grams per day
4 to 6 years: 4 grams per day
7 to 10 years: 5 grams per day
older than 10 years: 6 grams per day