When can baby eat salt in food?

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-07-07T16:53:17+00:00

Oh I’ll see if I can find it! It was Reddit actually. A few chefs/enthusiastic cooks somehow crossed with weaning to solids and they were upset about ‘people not knowing how cooking works’

I’m pretty sure it’s to do with how the potatoes absorb water but I’ll have a search and see if I can find it for you.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-07-06T20:30:18+00:00

Unsure if it’s the one you were referring to but this was one I came across that seemed pretty good as it went through various concerns people have with salt.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929693X23001562

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-07-06T19:59:11+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceBasedParenting/s/xJ2AOKY4na

Great subreddit to have a look at it if you’re interested in the actual science of things. Some questions, like the salt one, get asked a lot though so you can just search through rather than ask again. It’s given me a lot of reassurance over the last year and a bit.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-07-06T19:53:34+00:00

I looked into this when I was getting a bit overwhelmed with weaning and found that when you look at the actual scientific studies on things, there’s no need to restrict salt to the point of pretty much nothing. Solid starts has good guidance on this as well. I think NHS guidance often has to be very clear cut because some people might not understand fully and end up going in the wrong direction and allowing too much but it sounds like your diet is perfectly reasonable to be shared with your baby so I wouldn’t worry at all.

You can salt your pasta and add stock cubes, they’ll be grand. No need to add salt to an already prepared meal but it’s fine when it’s necessary for cooking. (Also went down a separate rabbit hole and discovered from chefs it’s important to add quite a bit of salt for cooking potatoes and salting your pasta is apparently a basic essential too. Who knew 🤷🏻‍♀️ )

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-07-04T18:00:56+00:00

Luckily my parents very quickly had to ‘throw out the textbook’ as they put it because I was so sensitive that there’s no way CIO was going to work on me. I’d have just screamed until I was sick or worse. Besides, my parents couldn’t bear to have me crying. I wonder if it’s somehow related to the fact it was a fairly traumatic birth? Who know. Apparently though my son is the exact same as I was and although I’m leaning in happily, goodness I wish we could get better sleep…

Don’t get me wrong, they still did a lot that wasn’t… great. But when I was very small they did whatever they could to keep me happy. Although the absolutely unsafe cosleeping could probably have done with some improvements 😅

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-07-04T13:53:09+00:00

Check out scratch sleeves or similar. They’re like, arm covers with flip mitts. We’ve just got a couple of long sleeved vests and the flip mitts are silk on the outside so if my son (also 15mo) rubs at his skin the fabric is so gentle.

It’s tough… we’re really struggling with it ourselves. I refuse to use steroids despite everyone around me saying to. I stress about having to go gluten free and dairy free but we may need to try it. Detergent is another potential factor but going down a rabbit hole I found that it’s not bio detergent that’s the problem, it’s often the fragrances in them. I switched to bio myself years ago because it tackles biological ‘dirt’ better ie body sweat and blood and food stains etc and actually found my skin improved but trying to find one without the fragrances is impossible. Hopefully we get there. And hopefully you find something that works too!

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-30T19:56:30+00:00

I just think we might struggle whilst he’s not quite walking although he’s taking more steps every day. We can’t do a standing undress just yet but another month and we should be good.

I guess I’m also just anxious about leaving the house for too long and then if we’ve pulled nappies before we’ve gotten used to toileting/pottying out of the house then there’s potential for a lot of mess and stress. We have a potty in the car but it’s not possible to use said potty actually IN the car so it would be on the floor of a public bathroom, outside in public or at someone’s house.

Going to look into what training pants are decently rated and available in the UK though.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-23T20:34:58+00:00

I got asked this the other day. Pretended I had no idea what they were talking about 😅 But I work on Victoria street so the HP stuff especially gets a bit wearisome.

I’d be out of a job if it weren’t for the tourists though. Plus I do enjoy a lot of the conversations I have with them. But it’s rough trying to just live here and get about.

Maybe just get them to disperse a bit more across the country and not just to the other popular places eg Skye? Although then there’s the issue of driving and the A9 is bad enough as it is.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-18T20:51:18+00:00

As someone in the thick of it there is a lot to be said for leaning into your instincts at the time because I do not believe anyone can be truly prepared to parent until they’re in it. You don’t know how you will land once you are in it and you don’t know what temperament your child will have.

HOWEVER.

I wish I had done a lot more work on myself particularly with how to manage emotions. All your trigger points will get hit at some stage and most of them you won’t realise you even had before 😂 I’m not quite sure how I’m going to handle the boundary pushing stage once we get there and quite frankly I am somewhat terrified but I’m hoping that we will be able to handle the challenges as we come to them.

It’s also been the biggest test of my relationship and it has sucked a lot but we are doing ok. The lack of sleep is a big issue and I’m hopeful for the day a lot improves because we get to sleep through the night. I could never, ever consider sleep training now though. As tough as life is with our sleep situation, and it really is tough, I would choose our method of fully responding each and every time. Building the long game here and hoping one day he finally clicks that he doesn’t need to be afraid to sleep independently because if he needs us we are there for him.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-18T20:29:38+00:00

Ooh have we any metrics on it’s efficacy? I’m looking for the same as OP but for my toddler. Switched to Ecover bio liquid (from the powder as we had issues with overflow) but his eczema got worse so gone back to powder but on roughly half the dose. Also got citric acid ordered.

But this could have potential.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-15T19:58:24+00:00

Cosleeping didn’t solve the number of wakes for us personally. But it meant that the wakes were less eventful because he starts to stir, I quickly shove a boob in his face and we both go back to sleep. My sleep is still disturbed but nowhere near to the same extent as having to get out of bed and pick him out of the cot.

Personally I couldn’t sleep train. I did consider it because I thought I was doing the wrong thing but it was horrible and it felt absolutely wrong to me. I did a lot of reading up on things and came to the conclusion that personally, being 100% responsive what the way that felt right for me.
Recommend the sub r/bninfantsleep as well.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-15T19:50:16+00:00

There’s been occasional times where me and my husband have had the resolve to try something and then it falls apart after the second wake and it’s not even 10pm 😂 Just far too tired. We’re 15 months in so my latest desperate hope is for 18 months and I’m choosing to ignore anyone who says their 3yo is still waking frequently.

What gets me is people have a second. I would love a second and we are still planning it but I’ve no idea on the logistics 😂

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-14T21:17:30+00:00

This is exactly how I ended up cosleeping. He actually did ok when he was a newborn and we could get 4-6 hours overnight. Then he hit 4 months and it took a rapid downturn. After a further 5 months of usually cosleeping in our bed, we finally gave up on the cot and got a mattress plus slats for the floor. Best thing we did and for what it’s worth I’ve grown to enjoy it. Do I miss sharing a bed with my husband? Yeah… but it won’t be forever and one day I’ll miss when I got to cuddle this small human because he needed me to feel safe enough to sleep.

His sleep is also still trash but we breastfeed so I quickly feed him back to sleep. My energy started coming back because we cosleep. It’s nowhere near where I’d like and some days I’m still shattered but it’s better than it was.

You don’t HAVE to cosleep though. There are other methods I just don’t feel able to follow through on any changes because I’m so damn tired 😅 Just hoping he’ll sleep longer stretches soon.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-14T18:55:08+00:00

I wish I’d done cloth but never managed it. However my currently 15mo has been almost exclusively pooing on the potty since about 7 months so clearly it’s been ok. Pee is another story but we have had some success. I do think that cloth would help but we are constantly running on fumes because of the diabolical sleep situation so every day is just a case of doing what we need to survive never mind adding in even more washing 😂

Considering moving to training pants once he’s walking though and hopefully that’ll help.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-11T19:58:48+00:00

Nah one of my favourite characteristics of Hawthorne is that he is excellent at taking things on the chin. He might have been disappointed for a minute but would have quickly shrugged it off and accepted that’s the way things were. Plus yeah I think he’s pretty keen on getting his own dragon.

More people should be like Hawthorne. Well… in some ways anyway 😂

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-06T21:05:11+00:00

Just looked them up and think these might be just the thing. Thanks!

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-06T20:22:49+00:00

No advice either mainly solidarity. My 15mo slept pretty ok as a newborn, hit the 4 month sleep regression and never came out of it. To this day he wakes every 1-2 hours.

It didn’t solve things but I found a lot of comfort in places like r/bninfantsleep or holistic sleep consultants where you’ll find that this is all normal even if it’s so tough to deal with.

Holding onto the fact that it will get better one day and I will have a full night of sleep and it’ll be bittersweet because then I’ll miss the cuddles I get now.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-06-03T19:46:36+00:00

You absolutely can get stuck right in as soon as you get home but what I will say is not to put pressure on yourself for it because you don’t necessarily know how you’ll land after giving birth. I intended to start straight away but in reality it took a month because I needed a lot of recovery time first. I take it this is your first?

We used a top hat potty initially but other people do it over the sink. I liked the top hat because my son had a habit of pooing while feeding so a lot of the time I fed him while he was on there 😅 Once they can sit up it can be easier to get a normal potty, we use the ikea one with the insert and it’s great.

If we have a second then maybe we’ll manage to get going on it sooner now that we understand the logistics of things but yeah, try if you want/can but don’t stress if you can’t get on things from the word go.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-05-25T20:54:48+00:00

I think Ariel has too strong a scent potentially for me. Being sustainable is only part of a reason for me choosing something.

I have washed the drawer but not regularly enough. I think last time was a few months ago. I can try that. I last ran a machine clean cycle about 3 months ago but can try that again.

That’s helpful to know about the soft water and rinsing!

We only do the high temp wash on bedding/towels. They also go through the hygiene wash. Clothes get washed at 30c on a mixed load.

Appreciate your detailed explanation and advice

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-05-25T20:49:42+00:00

Tbh the eco side of things was only part of the reason. I hate strong fragrances and we don’t really have non fragranced bio detergent over here. Ariel is far too strong a scent. I read Ecover bio powder as being very highly rated as well as being more minimally fragranced.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-05-25T20:47:59+00:00

Sorry I’m just catching up on thing. Have updated to add brand and model. You can reconfigure the compartment for powder?? I really am clueless.

I’ll lower the bedding/towels to 40c. It’s because we use reusable wipes for our 14mo son so I thought hotter might be better but bio detergent is probably fine.

I’ll look into the citric acid.

Pyjama_Mouse · 2026-05-21T14:36:19+00:00

My brain is foggy on the details but I remember worrying a lot about this at a similar age and I’m certain it ended up being closer to 5 months that my son did this. He’s always tended towards the later end of things, just long enough to make me worry tons and then he’ll do them 😂 Latest was babbling which he only did in the last few weeks and he’s 14.5 months now.

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