Is Salt-Brined Food Dangerous for Babies?

I’ve read what you’ve published on salt with babies but just want to make sure a salt-brined turkey passes the test. It feels like a lot of salt! (But I’m also very unwilling to prepare a not-brined turkey this year.)
—Ready for Thanksgiving

I am a fan of the buttermilk-and-salt brine myself, so I hear where you are coming from. For those who missed it, here is a much longer piece on salt and babies, arguing that there isn’t any reason to make your baby separate, unsalted food. And this includes Thanksgiving.

There are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t be worried about your salty turkey.

First: brined turkey doesn’t actually have that much salt. The estimates I found suggested that after 24 hours of brining, there were 220 milligrams of salt in four ounces of white meat, and 260 milligrams in four ounces of dark meat. This is about the same as one serving of Cheetos (don’t give your baby Cheetos! It’s just an example). It’s probably much less than in many of the Thanksgiving sides.

Second: when we worry about salt, we worry about continuous, long-term exposure (this is true for adults also). A single salty meal isn’t a main concern. In principle, eating too much salt can make you sick, but this requires levels far beyond what you’d get in food.

Third: if food is extremely salty, babies will generally reject it. This may mean that your baby doesn’t like your turkey as much as you hope, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. More for you!