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Ingredients › Salt

Baby food · 0–36 months

Is salt safe for babies?

Salt in baby food

A baby's kidneys cannot yet deal with much salt. Under one year the whole day's ceiling is about 1 g of salt, and from one to three years it is 2 g. Pikabee flags any added salt in food for a baby under one, and salt that makes up a big share of the day in one serving for a toddler.

What Pikabee flags, by age

0–6 monthsRED FLAG

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Added salt is flagged too.

6–12 monthsRED FLAG

Any added salt is flagged. The ceiling under 12 months is about 1 g of salt a day from all food, and the AAP advises cooking a baby's food with no added salt.

12–36 monthsRED if salty

Flagged when salt is a main ingredient, or when one serving would use up a large share of a toddler's 2 g a day. A little salt low in a long ingredient list is not flagged at this age.

What it is

Salt is sodium chloride. Sodium is what the kidneys have to clear, and an infant's kidneys are still maturing. That is why the guidance on salt for babies is so much lower than for adults.

Packaged khichdi mixes, savoury puffs, namkeen, biscuits, cheese, soups and instant noodles marketed to toddlers often carry added salt. Rock salt and black salt are still salt.

Names it goes by on labels

Why Pikabee flags it

The UK's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition set the maximum at under 1 g of salt a day for babies up to 6 months, 1 g a day from 7 to 12 months, and 2 g a day from 1 to 3 years. WHO Europe's model limits sodium in food for children 6–36 months, and the AAP advises no added salt in a baby's food.

How often parents find it

4 of 12

different baby food labels parents have scanned with Pikabee had salt, as of 4 November 2026.

Questions parents ask

Is salt safe for a baby under 6 months?

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Added salt is flagged too.

Is salt safe for a 6 to 12 month old baby?

Any added salt is flagged. The ceiling under 12 months is about 1 g of salt a day from all food, and the AAP advises cooking a baby's food with no added salt.

Is salt safe for a 1 to 3 year old?

Flagged when salt is a main ingredient, or when one serving would use up a large share of a toddler's 2 g a day. A little salt low in a long ingredient list is not flagged at this age.

How much salt can a baby have under 1 year?

About 1 g a day at most, from all food — under 1 g up to 6 months, 1 g from 7 to 12 months (UK SACN). Pikabee flags any added salt in a packaged food for a baby under one.

Is rock salt or pink salt better for babies?

It is still sodium chloride, so it counts as salt. Pikabee flags it the same way.

How much salt for a 2 year old?

No more than 2 g a day from 1 to 3 years (UK SACN). Pikabee flags a toddler food when salt is a main ingredient or one serving takes a big share of that.

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Sources

  1. UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (2003). Salt and health.
  2. WHO Regional Office for Europe (2022). Nutrient and promotion profile model: supporting appropriate promotion of food products for infants and young children 6–36 months.
  3. American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org. Starting solid foods: cook with no added salt or seasoning.
  4. WHO. Infant and young child feeding (fact sheet): only breast milk for the first 6 months.

Last reviewed 6 November 2026.

Related ingredients

Talk to your pediatrician about anything concerning.