Nigerian Foods For Weaning Babies

Nigerian foods for weaning babies are easy to combine and easy to cook. They do not require many ingredients. When I weaned my babies few years back, Getting Nigerian foods that are suitable for weaning wasn’t a problem at

all. I do not give seeds because babies can choke on that.

Aside seeds, like those in fruits, a baby who has reached the age of being weaned from breast milk should be able to eat other foods served the family at breakfast, lunch and dinner. We cook the baby’s meals with very little or no pepper. Sometimes we cook for the whole family and delay the addition of pepper until food is almost ready. That way, the baby’s portion is cooped out before adding pepper to the pot of family dinner.

Below is a list of Nigerian foods that are good for weaning babies:

 

10 NIGERIAN FOODS FOR WEANING BABIES FROM BREAST MILK:

1. UNRIPE Plantain;
   Unripe plantain or even fairly ripe ones can be used to wean a baby. Cook the plantain as soft plantain porridge. With no pepper or add sparingly. When porridge is ready, mash plantain in the sauce, that way it is not dry and is easy to swallow. Mash when cooked plantains are still hot because if you let them get cold, you may not be able to make smooth without lumps. Unripe plantains can also be boiled, mashed with some palm oil and salt added to make them yummy.What I do here is boil the plantains really soft, take out from the water, sprinkle some palm oil and salt on the plantain before immediately mashing with a spoon or tiny mortar and pestle kept for that purpose.
2. FAIRLY RIPE PLANTAINS;
   Fairly ripe plantains are very good Nigerian food to wean babies. They love them maybe because of the little bit of sweet taste in the plantains. How I make faily ripe plantain suitable for weaning babies is by boiling and mashing together with palm oil and some salt or with Pepperless Nigerian beans porridge.A little beans porridge is added to the hot boiled plantains and mashed. We feed the baby with fingers. Just wash hands clean and feed the baby. It’s easier to feed them this kind of feed with fingers than with cutlery. If you can’t use your fingers, then try using baby spoon to feed. Plantains are good for babies. Just make sure they are well cooked and mashed because baby hasn’t yet developed strong teeth to chew.Fairly ripe plantains can also be cooked as very soft plantain porridge, mashed and fed the baby. Babies love roasted fairly ripe plantain. You just have to mash with palm oil. The palm oil in these mashed carbs also helps them with toileting. Helps their poop not to be hard as their tiny systems are trying to get used to solid foods.
3. UNRIPE BANANA IKOKORE:
   I call this baby weaning meal unripe banana ikokore because it’s cooked the exact same way we make Ikokore but this time it’s unripe bananas that are grated and cooked with vegetables and proteins. The way babies love this food is out of this world. If this meal is well cooked with some deboned fish. The babies eat until you get scared of feeding them. The little big tummy tells you to stop because the baby just keeps collecting the food even when it’s clear they are full.
4. FAIRLY RIPE BANANAS:
   Some babies may not really love the grated banana meal cooked with unripe bananas but will enjoy the one made with fairly ripe bananas that are not yet soft. After grating, we wrap with green leafy vegetables, add boiling water and cook with deboned fish and just few ingredients. With little or no pepper at all. Fairly ripe Bananas are good for babies. Don’t worry.
5. BOILED YAM WITH PALM OIL:
   It’s easy to use boiled yam as baby weaning food in Nigeria. My method is simple. I boil yam till soft. Take out of the water into a small mortar kept for that purpose or into a bowl. Add palm oil and a pinch of salt. Mash hot as cold yam isn’t easy to mash. Feed baby and see how your sweet baby will struggle to feed herself if you are not giving fast enough. They love this local food I learnt from my small village.Boiled yam can also be mashed with beans, egg sauce (No pepper) or vegetable stew and served the baby. Tomato stew is good too. They love it with soft yam but not with pepper the way we cook our Nigerian tomato stews.

6. YAM PORRIDGE

   To wean a baby with Nigerian yam porridge. Make sure you don’t load pepper in the porridge because babies cannot stand pepper. Even when the love the meal, if it is peppery, you’ll wonder why the baby is eating and crying at the same time. When a baby love to eat a particular meal and it has pepper, you’ll pity that baby. When you try to take the food away, he cries and stretches his hand asking for that food. Yam porridge cooked
   and mashed very well is a good Nigerian food for weaning babies.

   When the food is brought, the baby opens his mouth, collects the food to eat but starts crying and sometimes sweating too. The soft proteins in the porridge should also be served baby. Mashed the fish or meat with your fingers and give… They love meats.

7. BOILED SWEET POTATO:
   No need for stews when you serve babies boiled sweet potatoes as weaning food. Boiled sweet potatoes are sweet. Just cook soft enough to mash and give to him. No need for palm oil as sweet potatoes are light and can easily be swallowed. You can add beans porridge while mashing. They love it that way too.Another Nigerian food for weaning babies is Nigerian sweet potato porridge. Remember not to adulterate it with pepper oh. Cook the sweet potato porridge nicely with some vegetables and proteins. You will be shocked how even your picky baby will love this meal and make weaning easier for you two.

8. BREAD AND BEVERAGE:

   This is my number one on the list of Nigerian foods for weaning babies. Babies love bread and beverage too much. They are ready to eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner but you can’t give only that the whole day because too much can purge your baby. You don’t want to manage a baby with an upset runny stomach.

   I cannot remember weaning any of my kids from breast milk without ensuring there is bread and beverage available at home. This is an old school method I learnt from my mother. Feed them the old school way of dipping bread in the cup or bowl of beverage. Make beverage with correct measurements of milk and your cacao. Don’t add too much milk. Don’t add too much milo, ovaltine or bournvita or whatever beverage you are using to wean the baby. Too much of everything is bad.

   It’s not one day that you’ll use to give baby all the needed proteins. Even adults, if you add too much milk or ovaltine to your tea cup, it hurts the stomach and may purge you. Just dip in there and put the tiny piece oin the baby’s cute little adorable mouth. Use a little hot water to mix then add more cold water to get it to warm beverage. Don’t feed that sweet baby any hot drink please.

   RICE AND STEW:
   When we wean our babies with rice and Nigerian tomato stew. We cook the rice very soft and even mushy so baby can digest easily. The stew is cooked delicious without pepper oh. Mash the soft rice with stew and feed your baby. She’ll love this meal.

9. Ogbono soup OR ANY DRAW SOUP WITH SWALLOW FUFU

   There is no baby being weaned with Nigerian foods that won’t love this. The ogbono soup or light okra soup makes it easy for them to swallow the tiny morsels of eba, semo, amala, wheat, or any fufu. Some kids naturally do not like any form of swallow fufu, even adults too. Some people just don’t like to swallow without chewing, that is the reason a baby may not like this. Aside that, they love ogbono soup with swallow.

   Make swallow fufu that a baby can digest not a rock or too soft. Cook the ogbono soup or okra without uziza. Without pepper or add just a pinch of pepper. A negligible quantity that won’t make the soup spicy at all.

 

There are so many other Nigerian foods for weaning babies but my title says 10, so, I beg to stop here and if you know other foods that can be used to help mothers wean their babies, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts with us.

You’ll love our easy recipe for beans and sweet potato porridge. Try it.