When Can Babies Have Salt?

Last Updated on June 26, 2026 by Jordyn Koveleski Gorman

Starting solids with your baby usually comes with a lot of questions. One common thing many parents ask: can my baby have salt?

For parents doing any form of baby led weaning, it can feel like the answer to that question impacts the whole family. A quick Google search may leave you terrified to let a single grain of salt touch your baby’s lips. Suddenly, it feels like you have to throw away all the salt in the kitchen.

But there’s good news! The fears around giving babies salted whole foods (or homemade purees) are based on poor research. Led by the Eat Play Say Registered Dietitian, let’s shed some light on this controversial topic.

Salt and infants: Can my baby have salt?

Pretty much anywhere you look, you’re going to find recommendations that tell parents not to add any salt to complementary baby foods and to avoid giving babies food with salt. Basically, the recommendation is to keep their sodium intake as low as possible. The World Health Organization states that “salt and sugars should not be added to complementary foods.” (1) But, is there any research to actually back up this recommendation?

A recent study surveyed published research from the last 100+ years to identify why babies 6–12 months are recommended to have almost no salt. (2) Historically, three of the main rationales that often accompany the “no salt” rule are:

1. Infants’ kidneys are too immature to properly process sodium.  

2. Salt intake during infancy can lead to high blood pressure in adulthood. 

3. Babies will have a preference for salty food in adulthood if fed salt in infancy. (2)

While all these arguments may sound reasonable, the research review found that the claims lacked legitimate evidence to back them up. (2) Understanding current research about each of these reasons may help you feel more confident about handling salt when starting solids with your baby.

Is it true that infants’ kidneys are unable to properly process sodium?

There is no data or research to support this claim.

The idea that salt is harmful to infants originated from studies on babies less than 3 months old in the early 1900s. (2) Today, infants less than 3 months old are exclusively fed breast milk and/or formula. Complementary foods are not added until well after 3 months, which means the particular risks of high salt intake from that outdated study are no longer relevant. (2)

Research has continued to support that newborns have a lower capacity to process sodium appropriately. In fact, preterm infants often require sodium supplementation because their kidneys tend to remove too much sodium from the bloodstream. (3)

Remember, too, that babies starting solids (around 6 months) are vastly different from babies in their first few weeks of life. A lot of growth and development occurs from day one to six months! Ultimately, there isn’t enough evidence to support the claim that baby’s kidneys are unable to handle a small amount of sodium added to their food. 

Is it true that salt intake during infancy can lead to high blood pressure in adulthood?

Again, there are no valid studies to date that legitimately support claims about future hypertension. The research presently available is flawed for a number of reasons, including that:

• It primarily involves introducing solids too early
• Studies have significant methodological flaws
• The research also does not follow infants into adulthood, which would be required to imply correlation or causation. (4)

On the other hand, one study compared two groups of 27 infants between 3 and 8 months of age. The groups were fed identical foods, except one group had salt added to their food and one did not. There was a fivefold difference in sodium content. The children were followed until 8 years old, and the study concluded that “a salt intake representing the 99th percentile of sodium intake by U.S. infants in 1969 had no hypertensive effect in infancy or at 8 years of age.” (5)

Of course, this doesn’t mean that these children didn’t eventually have high blood pressure as adults, but it is helpful to see that the group of infants with a higher salt diet did not develop high blood pressure later in childhood. 

If you are starting your baby on solids around 6 months, there is no evidence that completely restricting sodium will prevent future hypertension.

Is it true that babies will have a preference for salty food in adulthood if they are fed salt in infancy?

Just like the first two claims, this one also lacks sufficient evidence. The study we just discussed above also noted that the infants fed a high salt diet for 5 months did not have a preference for salt by the conclusion of the study, at 8 years old. (5)

Interestingly, there is data that actually suggests the opposite of this claim is true. There is research showing that infants with exposure to low salt intake, including while in utero, may be predisposed to higher salt intake later on. (4) 

Babies need salt, but how much is okay?

Despite all the vilifying of sodium for babies, it is actually an essential mineral that babies need in small amounts.

Sodium is an electrolyte important for many bodily functions, most notably for maintaining fluid balance and pH levels, regulating blood pressure, and influencing stomach acid, which is important for digestion. It also promotes cell growth and protein synthesis. Hyponatremia, or low sodium levels, is actually far more common and more serious than high blood sodium levels in infants. (3, 6)

Infant sodium intake guidelines have been set by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). An Adequate Intake (AI) amount has been given at 370 mg sodium per day for infants 7–12 months old. This is the equivalent of about ⅛ teaspoon, a very small amount! This amount was set by estimating sodium levels in breast milk and solid foods. (7)

However, the amount of sodium in breast milk can vary widely, especially between different locations and ethnicities of mothers. (6) Additionally, it is impossible to know exactly how much breastmilk a nursing baby is consuming. Having an AI range would be more reasonable in this case. 

An interesting comparison is that in the UK, the NHS recommends that babies under 1 year old consume less than 1000 mg sodium per day. (8)

While having the Dietary Reference Intake guidelines can be quite helpful for certain nutrients (like iron), the sodium recommendation in particular is not so useful. The research indicates that completely restricting sodium from complementary foods is not necessary and could actually lead to sodium levels that are too low. 

Additionally, whether your baby is breastfed, bottle-fed, formula-fed, or a mixture of these, tracking how much sodium your baby consumes would be incredibly difficult and is usually unnecessary.

Salt at home is okay

If you are mostly preparing meals for your baby from scratch and seasoning them yourself, it is okay to add a pinch of salt to baby’s food! In general, you can salt meals as normal and feel good about giving that same food to your baby.

Salting food makes it taste better. It can also help with better acceptance of the food and reduce picky eating. (Truly, would you eat plain smashed peas without any seasoning? Probably not! So why should we expect baby to?)

If your baby is eating a lot of processed foods, which are best to limit or avoid in infancy, then it is more necessary to pay attention to the sodium in these foods. Typically, overconsumption of sodium comes from eating too many processed foods. According to the FDA, over 70% of dietary sodium intake comes from packaged and prepared foods. (9)

Salt in processed foods

Let’s look at some examples of processed baby foods, processed “kid foods,” and some other items.

Salt content examples in baby foods

• My Serenity Kids Squashes Pouch – 0 mg per pouch
• Gerber Rice Cereal – 5 mg per ¼ cup serving
• Gerber Carrot Baby Food Puree – 40 mg per 1 serving 
• My Serenity Kids Roots Pouch – 40 mg per pouch

Salt content examples in “kid foods”

• Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies – 200 mg per 1 packet
• Annie’s Organic Cheddar Cheese Puffs – 220 mg per serving 
• Applegate Organic Chicken Nuggets – 410 mg per serving

Salt content examples in other processed foods

• Thrive Market Sweet Potato Chips – 125 mg per 1 oz serving 
• Annie’s Organic Ketchup – 130 mg per 1 Tbsp serving
• Kettle & Fire Classic Chicken Bone Broth – 155 mg per 4 oz serving
• Applegate Genoa Salami – 420 mg per 1 oz serving 
• Amy’s Organic Canned Vegetable Barley Soup – 750 mg per 1 cup
• Thrive Market Organic Tamari – 890 mg per 1 Tbsp serving

As you can see, the “baby foods” have minimal amounts of sodium. Processed foods marketed more towards children have increasing amounts of sodium. The foods highest in sodium tend to be condiments, canned soups, tamari/soy sauce, chips, deli meat/salami, etc. Being aware of sodium content is important when feeding littles processed foods and snacks.

More feeding support

Hopefully you can now put any worries about salt in your baby’s food aside. Instead, you can feed your baby with confidence, knowing that you’re doing the best you can!

If you’ve got a hundred other questions about starting solids and aren’t sure what to do next, we’ve got you covered. Our Starting Solids Handbook and Baby’s First 100 Foods bundle combines the expertise of feeding specialists and a pediatric registered dietitian to answer all of your most asked feeding questions.

Sources

1. World Health Organization. Healthy Diet Fact Sheet. Updated 26 January 2026. Accessed June 2026. 
2. Shuling Yang, Hai Wang, Avoidance of added salt for 6–12-month-old infants: A narrative review, Archives de Pédiatrie, Volume 30, Issue 8, 2023, Pages 595-599, ISSN 0929-693X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcped.2023.08.009.
3. Kosmeri C, Baltogianni M, Dermitzaki N, Tsiogka CM, Giapros V. The Changing Landscape of Sodium Needs in the Preterm Neonate for Optimizing Growth and Development. Nutrients. 2026 Jan 6;18(2):186. doi: 10.3390/nu18020186. PMID: 41599798; PMCID: PMC12845071.
4. Nichols, Lily. Don’t Add Salt to Baby Food: The Surprisingly Weak Evidence for Infant Sodium Requirements. Accessed June 2026. 
5. Whitten, Charles F., and Robert A. Stewart. “The effect of dietary sodium in infancy on blood pressure and related factors: studies of infants fed salted and unsalted diets for five months at eight months and eight years of age.” Acta Pædiatrica 69 (1980): 3-17.
6. Strazzullo P, Leclercq C. Sodium. Adv Nutr. 2014 Mar 1;5(2):188-90. doi: 10.3945/an.113.005215. PMID: 24618759; PMCID: PMC3951800.
7. Gowrishankar M, Blair B, Rieder MJ. Dietary intake of sodium by children: Why it matters. Paediatr Child Health. 2020 Feb;25(1):47-61. doi: 10.1093/pch/pxz153. Epub 2020 Feb 6. PMID: 32042243; PMCID: PMC7002818.
8. NHS. Salt in Your Diet. Updated 17 April 2023. Accessed June 2026.
9. Food & Drug Administration. Sodium in Your Diet. Updated 5 March 2024. Accessed June 2026.
10. Di Salvo E, Tardugno R, Nava V, Naccari C, Virga A, Salvo A, Corbo F, Clodoveo ML, Cicero N. Gourmet Table Salts: The Mineral Composition Showdown. Toxics. 2023 Aug 15;11(8):705. doi: 10.3390/toxics11080705. PMID: 37624210; PMCID: PMC10459412.