Our list of 20 Nigerian food for babies from six months to eat
These are 20 Nigerian food for babies 6 months on.
The list is given with links to recipes in case one needs to learn how to cook these foods. They are good foods to introduce to a six-month-old. From six months, we are encouraged to start giving our babies solids even though I start earlier though.
Watch me prepare homemade baby food for my little one.
You can watch the banana baby food preparation on Youtube to enable you to subscribe to our new post notifications or watch below.
There are so many Nigerian foods for babies that can be fed 6-month-olds, loaded with nutrition. New parents sometimes think that processed canned foods are the best. yes, they are the best when you cannot find another alternative.
Here is a video of me making soya bean baby food at home. You can watch and use it if you like the recipe.
Also, learn how to make soya beans baby food from scratch with few ingredients.
If you have a kitchen, with pots and foodstuff, then there is no need for struggling with semi-solid canned foods. Canned baby foods have saved lives since and before we were born but they are not the best because to increase shelf life, sometimes preservatives are added, and to make them appealing to babies and parents or caregivers, artificial colors are also added most times.
I cannot sit here and condemn canned baby food. Nor judge you for feeding your six-month-old processed foods because they are not poison. They are food but not the best when compared with fresh foods. If you can, cook for your six-month-old or reduce the hotness.
PEPPER OR NO PEPPER IN BABY FOOD
Nigerians love spicy hot foods and these and that’s not bad but bad when you feed them to a six-month-old.
What I did when my kids got to that age was make my pepper sauce that’s already well cooked and store in the freezer. When cooking, the pepper container is brought out and kept to wait.
No pepper or very little is added during cooking. Once the food is almost ready, all ingredients have been added, we scoop out a small quantity into another cooking pot before adding more peppers to the general pot.
That way, the baby eats the same food everyone is eating without problems. It helps save money when at six months, babies are given solid foods served the whole family.
If you have more than one kid, you’d probably have observed that some children prefer cooked foods to the ones labeled baby food at stores. Some babies are just that way and there’s nothing anyone can do. MANY BABIES IN NIGERIA ENJOY HOMEMADE BABY FOOD
HOME COOKED MEALS?
We once had a neighbor who didn’t want her baby to eat local foods, wanted to try her best to make baby love foreign but for where.
can of pureed this and pureed that she bought remained opened and wasted while the little baby cried for local foods like yam, plantain, and even fufu swallows every time sweet baby sighted an adult eating.
This lovely privileged baby is ready to kick her can of food away and rush to the person eating ordinary low-cost Nigerian food.
At a point, mom got tired and gave up. Baby won as she starts getting the freedom to eat what other members of the family enjoy. There are babies who love these posh things kind of and can take feeders for up to three years if they are given.
There are also some like my boy who preferred cooked baby food to breast milk and weaned himself at nine months in preference for food served on the dining table. Moms like me would even love it when kids prefer breast milk and quick-mix foods because that saves time.
Cooking can be time-consuming sha but what can we do? Feed the little babies well and enjoy their happy company. At this age, the baby is still fed breast milk and cereals while being introduced to these solid foods.
SOLID NIGERIAN FOOD FOR BABIES IN NIGERIA
- Unripe banana ikokore wrapped with ugu leaves.
- Water Yam ikokore wrapped with green vegetables but not uziza.
- Boiled and mashed unripe plantain with stew.
- Mashed yam porridge>
- Irish potato porridge>
- Beans and sweet potato porridge.
- Boiled ripe plantain with beans.
- Boiled ripe plantain with stew.
- Bread and beverage. Dip tiny pieces of bread in a beverage (Nigerian tea) and feed the baby.
- Coconut milk moi moi.
- Semo with okra soup.
- Eba with ogbono soup.
- Wheat with vegetable ogbono soup is great for babies in Nigeria.
- Coconut rice cooked soft.
- Fried rice cooked soft or mashed after cooking.
- Jollof rice cooked soft with little or no pepper.
- Noodles for babies parboiled before cooking (Parboil and throw away the water before stir-frying with vegetables).
- Macaroni Jollof.
- Spaghetti Jollof.
Palm oil rice and beans one pot cooked soft.
HOW TO MAKE BABY FOOD WITH FAIRLY RIPE PLANTAIN
INGREDIENTS FOR BABY FOOD PLANTAIN:
- 2 fairly ripe plantains
- salt to taste
- Ground dried fish. You can debone your dried fish and grind yourself using the blender in your kitchen.
Water for blending and that is all.
The only items needed to make these baby food are A blender for the plantains, a non-stick pot, or a heavy-based cooking pot so that it doesn’t start to burn. A stirring spoon or spatula, Your gas cooker or stove, and some clean water
To MAKE BABY FOOD WITH PLANTAIN, Use fairly ripe plantain. You can use unripe plantain but they enjoy the fairly ripe ones more.
Please know that very ripe plantains are still ok but the fairly ripe ones taste better as they are not too sweet.
- First, wash and peel the plantains.
- Chop into tiny pieces and blend and pour into a clean bowl.
- Next, add a little oil and salt, stir very well.
- Add some ground dried catfish and mix. Check for salt and add a little if needed.
- Finally, wrap the blended fairly ripe plantain in broad leaves also known as moi moi leaves and steam. To steam this plantain meal for babies, you need to place some stones or gauze. You can place anything that prevents the blended plantain wraps from sitting directly on the water.
- Finally, place the pot on the stove, add some boiling water to the bottom of the pot and cover to cook. The water shouldn’t touch your plantain wraps.
Another method of making this baby food with plantains is to drop a little oil in the pot.
- Add the blended plantains, salt, and ground dried fish.
- Then stir continuously until it’s done.
- Blended fairly ripe plantain cooks really fast. You can break for a couple of seconds while stirring, and then resume and break again just like that until it quickly cooks. Wash your hands and feed the little ones.
If you make this meal and your baby doesn’t ask for more, please tell us below. This baby food is loved by every Nigerian baby that has tried it. No parent has given any feedback that their baby did not enjoy this delicious plantain baby food.
Homemade baby food is the best for your baby if you have the time. Making baby food yourself, helps you experiment with variety, and come up with a list of the foods your child enjoys eating and the ones he doesn’t like.
When you create time for homemade baby food, it’s easier to identify what ingredient your child reacts to if he has any food allergies.
Because you are adding the baby food ingredients yourself, in the case that there is an allergy to food, you quickly start withdrawing some ingredients until you discover the ones to completely delete from the recipe and another important thing about homemade baby food is that you can come up with your own customized baby food exclusively for your little one due to what he loves to eat.
Every child is different. Making baby food for your child gives that cute baby the opportunity to enjoy special meals that other kids may not be privileged to eat.
CONCLUSION ON NIGERIAN FOOD FOR BABIES:
Our list of homemade Nigerian food for babies is very organic. The food is not processed, cooked without artificial colors. When we make baby food colorful, we blend sweet red bell peppers or use palm oil to create bright colours. We also add color with tomatoes. Not forgetting that these tomatoes, palm oil, or tatashey (sweet red bell peppers) don’t go well with all foods.
We add only to recipes that taste better with them. Homemade Nigerian baby food is the best for any baby. Organic foods are the best baby foods anywhere right now. If you cannot find the time to cook homemade baby food always, you can just include them whenever it’s ok but, make sure that from time to time, your baby is fed with homemade (home-cooked) baby food.
This 20 Nigerian food for babies from 6 months on is loaded with variety to take your baby for as long as you want.
SEE ALSO: Naming ceremony outfits in Nigeria
Can you think of any other Nigerian foods good for six-month-olds? Please share by leaving a comment below. If you find this post useful, kindly share to enable more people to find it.
Try these recipes
- Foods to eat during pregnancy in Nigeria
- Can I add sugar to pap for my baby?
- Health benefits of moi moi and pap
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