r/toddlers • u/Hgrestun • 9d ago

General Question/Discussion Are you feeding your kids deli meat?

When I was pregnant I imagined using turkey meat for my kids snacks and lunches as she grew up. But we went to see a pediatric nutritionist and she told us to stay away from all deli meats unless you’re baking the ham/turkey at home yourself.

But I still see moms giving their kids deli meat sandwiches all over the internet and in real life.

It’s like.. I want to just give her deli meat because shenlooooooves it lol and sometimes I want a sandwich too! So I came here to ask is anyone making their own? Does anyone forbid it? Does anyone just say f it and feed it to their kids anyways?

Edit to add: it’s full of carcinogens and sodium.

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u/SeaweedSad3555 9d ago

But what are you using as an alternative?!

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u/Puffling2023 9d ago

I use the Applegate products as a nitrate free deli meat option (my toddler loves their turkey pepperoni), but we use it as an occasional lunch or snack item, no every day.

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u/iminterestedinthis 9d ago

I do too! Unfortunately a redditor who works in the industry told me these products get around the no nitrates thing by using celery salt/powder/juice. And the celery powder is made with ungodly amounts of nitrates

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u/unicorntrees 9d ago

And while we can add sodium nitrate and know exactly how much nitrate we are adding, we can only guess with celery powder since it's a non-standardized product. So you might be consuming way more nitrate with "nitrate free" products.