From pap to shepherd's pie: family foods your baby can share
Nigerian and British family favourites can become safe, nourishing baby food with a few simple changes: less salt, no stock cubes, softer textures and careful cutting.
By PreggieLover 4 min read
Your kitchen already holds most of what your baby needs. Weaning does not have to mean jars and pouches, or a separate menu every night. From around six months, many of the foods your family loves can be shared with your baby, with a few changes to keep them safe and suitable.
The golden rules for baby's portion
- No added salt. Babies' kidneys cannot cope with much salt. Take your baby's portion out before you add seasoning, and leave out stock cubes, seasoning cubes, gravy granules and salty sauces.
- No added sugar. Let your baby learn the real taste of food.
- No honey before 12 months, even in cooking, because of a rare but serious illness called infant botulism.
- Go gently with heat. Mild spices and herbs such as ginger, garlic, thyme, curry powder and nutmeg are fine. Hot pepper can wait or be added to the adults' plates.
- Soft enough to squash between your finger and thumb, mashed, or cut into finger-length strips your baby can hold.
- No whole nuts (smooth nut butters and ground nuts are fine once introduced), and cut small round foods such as grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways into quarters.
- Check fish carefully for bones, and avoid shark, swordfish and marlin. Dried, salted and heavily smoked fish are too salty for babies.
Nigerian favourites, adapted
- Pap (ogi, akamu): cook it smooth and enrich it with your baby's usual milk. Later, stir in mashed egg or a little smooth groundnut paste once peanut has been introduced safely.
- Yam, sweet potato and ripe plantain: boiled or steamed and mashed, or as soft fingers. Fried plantain (dodo) is better kept for later and offered only occasionally.
- Beans porridge (ewa): a brilliant source of iron. Cook it well, mash thoroughly, and leave out the seasoning cubes. A little palm oil is fine.
- Moi moi: steamed, soft and easy to hold. Make sure any egg inside is cooked through, and make baby's portion without seasoning cubes.
- Vegetable soups such as efo riro or egusi: cook baby's portion with no stock cube and little or no pepper, chop the greens finely, and serve with soft mashed yam or a small, soft piece of swallow.
- Swallows (eba, amala, pounded yam, fufu): these are sticky and can be hard for a new eater. Offer tiny, soft pieces and never large lumps.
- Rice dishes: plain or lightly flavoured rice with soft vegetables and shredded chicken works well. Party jollof is usually too salty and peppery for baby.
British favourites, adapted
- Porridge: oats cooked with your baby's usual milk, topped with mashed banana or stewed apple instead of sugar or syrup.
- Toast fingers: with unsalted butter, smooth nut butter (once introduced) or mashed avocado.
- Shepherd's pie or cottage pie: made without stock cubes or gravy granules, with lots of vegetables, and mashed for younger babies.
- Fish pie, lentil dahl and soft pasta dishes: all easy to share if you season the grown-ups' portions separately.
- Full-fat plain yoghurt rather than flavoured, sweetened ones.
- Go easy on ham, bacon, sausages, baked beans in sauce, crisps and ready meals, which are high in salt.
Feed with patience, never force
Some of us grew up seeing babies fed by having liquid poured into their mouths while they lay back, or their nose held so they would swallow. Please never do this. It can cause choking and can send food or liquid into the lungs. Always feed your baby sitting upright, let them open their mouth for the spoon, and accept "no" when they turn away. Babies may need to try a new food many times before they accept it, so keep offering without pressure.
A simple shared day
Breakfast could be porridge or pap enriched with milk. Lunch could be mashed beans with soft plantain. Supper could be a little of the family's efo riro or cottage pie, made before the salt went in. In between, breast milk or formula as usual.
Taste and see
There is something holy about a shared table. In Psalm 34:8 the psalmist invites us: "O taste and see that the LORD is good." Every new flavour on your baby's tongue is a small discovery of the goodness built into creation: the sweetness of plantain, the earthiness of beans, the comfort of warm oats. And when Jesus taught us to pray for daily bread (Matthew 6:11), he was teaching us that every meal, however simple, is received from a Father's hand.
A grace for baby's table
Thank you, Father, for the food on our table and the family around it. Bless these first tastes, keep my child safe as they learn to eat, and help me to be patient with the mess. Let our table always be a place where your goodness is tasted. Amen.
Frequently asked questions
Can my baby eat Nigerian soups and stews?
Yes, from around six months, if baby's portion is taken out before stock cubes and salt are added, pepper is kept mild or left out, and the food is soft and finely chopped. Always feed your baby sitting upright and supervised.
Why can't babies have stock cubes?
Stock and seasoning cubes are very high in salt, and babies' kidneys cannot cope with much salt. Season the adults' food separately instead.
When can my baby have honey?
Do not give honey before 12 months, even in cooking, because it can cause infant botulism, a rare but serious illness.
This article is for general information and encouragement, not medical advice. Please talk to your doctor or midwife about your own health and your baby's.
