Why is Salt and Sugar a Big NO for Babies

One of the most difficult tasks that a mother faces in her early days of motherhood is to feed her baby. Babies are usually ready to start solids when they are around six months old. This is the time to gradually introduce non-milk foods, a process called 'weaning'. It’s a good idea to try to introduce your baby to a variety of tastes during weaning. However, it is very important to avoid sugar and salt during this phase at least until the child’s first birthday.

A lot of time people think that the reason their baby is not accepting food is that it is bland. This is where most of us are mistaken, the actual reason that your baby is not showing interest in the food is that the baby is used to breastmilk and doesn’t like being fed with new unknown food. For someone who has tasted only breastmilk till 6 months of age and who does not know the taste of salt, what is the need to add salt to the food?

It’s a general opinion that a little bit of sugar and salt is not harmful to babies. Whenever they create a fuss eating food, we think that if we add a little bit of sugar or salt babies will enjoy their food. But the fact is that this is not true. Sugar and salt are not required for babies under 1 year. The truth is, adding salt to baby’s food may be dangerous. There can be many risk factors if we include sugar and salt in an infant’s diet.

A baby’s salt requirement per day is less than 1 g per day (0.4g of sodium) and this is mostly met by the breastmilk or formula. So, any extra salt (other than natural foods like veggies and fruits, breast milk and/or formula) may be a burden on the tiny kidneys and the kidneys will not be able to function properly due to the excessive load. This may lead to kidney disease and it has also been proven to cause hypertension in adult life. Excessive intake of salt in childhood has also been attributed to diseases as osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory illnesses.

In addition, we need to be really cautious about our little ones’ sugar intake as well, right from the moment they’re weaned. By sugar, I mean the “White Refined Sugar” not the natural sweetness of fruits and natural sweeteners.

The toddler years are really important because that’s when their future eating patterns are established. Adding sugar in baby food also increases the risk of tooth decay in babies. Oral bacteria rely on the leftover food in the mouth for their survival and sugar is perhaps the best food for them. Apart from tooth decay or ear infections, high sugar content in your baby’s diet can increase the risk of diabetes in the future years.

Without adding salt and sugar, we can still make baby food more interesting and tastier by adding spices appropriate to the age of the baby. They don’t need salt in their veggies, soups or lentils. As parents, we need to be cautious about the food that we give to our babies. Pay attention to the list of ingredients of baby food carefully and avoid adding sugar and salt, till 1 or 1½ years. By avoiding sugar and salt in the early years, we can make sure that your child does not develop salty cravings and sweet tooth. It also helps in reducing the risk of developing diseases like hypertension and diabetes.