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When is the right age to start introducing spices in the baby food?

Background: I know some of you feed the baby the same stuff you are eating – we don't because we were told that baby food should not contain salt nor spices or sugar. Currently, we are breastfeeding and giving additional solid foods, mostly vegetable but also some chicken and soon other meat, plus additional fruits (apple, banana, …) as afternoon snack.

Getting to the point where our son can have the same stuff as we do would be nice, but what is the recommended age?

flag	asked Jan 30 at 9:17 brandstaetter 2,040●2●10

+1 Good question. – Emi Jan 30 at 9:56

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Just an FYI - even those who do "baby led weaning" where we feed the babies what we are eating, also avoid sugar, salt, and spices for a time (I think until around 8 months). – Fun2Dream Jan 30 at 16:05

As Fun2Dream said even though our daughter eats the food we eat (although I wouldn't say we did baby led weaning), we avoid salt and sugar. It's a good thing to avoid in our diet anyway, we all eat healthier now. – Tammy♦ Jan 30 at 21:44

Phil Seller · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-30 12:17:44Z UTC

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This site recommends introducing spices at around 8 months http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipspices.htm and using the 4 day rule to eliminate reactions.

answered Jan 30 at 12:17

Phil Seller
2,229●2●11

+1 good recommendations. – Emi Jan 30 at 13:51

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We followed the advice above. I often give my baby a version of what we're eating but still separate it from the main dish before I add salt or sugar (spices don't concern me as much). I also often use dried beans instead of canned so you have more control over the sodium level. – Kiesa♦ Jan 30 at 14:32

Emi · Answer 2 · 2010-01-30 14:11:40Z UTC

We never used spices in her food, but instead started giving her bits of what we were eating... with our daughter we discovered that if we offered her something we were eating, she was more likely to like it, rather than feeding her something on her own. We started solids at around 6 months and became more experimental between 8-9 months. We particularly were and are fond of curries, and mildly spicy food so we would let her try or taste bits of our food.

In my experience I think offering bland vegetables (just steamed and served with a touch of olive oil) and more spiced up bits of meat is very healthy, as it can train their taste buds for all sorts of dishes.

Introducing spices

2 Answers