baby led weaning recipes

Ragi Pancakes: Ragi Recipes For Babies And Toddlers

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Ragi Pancakes - Baby led weaning Indian food recipes

Ragi (Finger Millet) is a revered first food for babies in India. Our food culture has many ragi recipes for babies. From ragi porridge to ragi malt-based drinks, this nutritious millet can be incorporated in a variety of ways into the baby’s diet. Among the many ragi flour recipes for babies are these ragi pancakes.

Even if you follow baby-led weaning you can still include the goodness of ragi nutrition through pancakes. These pancakes are easy baby-led weaning finger foods that can be made for breakfast or packed for travel.

CAN RAGI BE GIVEN TO BABIES DAILY?

Ragi (finger millet) is ideally suited for babies because it is easy to digest, and rich in iron and calcium.

Yes, you can give ragi to baby daily, even so, it is best to avoid too much of one food and instead create exposures to a wide variety of foods early on and ensure that the child is getting nutrients from varied sources of foods.

You can include ragi based first foods 2-3 times a week in varied dishes like porridge, dosa, idli, pancake and other times include other nutritious foods.

Related reading:

Baby-led weaning breakfast ideas

Why millets are good for baby

RAGI PANCAKES: RAGI RECIPE FOR BABY

I love experimenting with ragi flour recipes, be it in different types of ragi porridges or quick meals like pancakes.

Recently I paired ragi flour with jav flour (barley flour) to make these delicious pancakes. This ragi pancake combination is rich in both iron and calcium and super healthy for growing children.

When serving these ragi pancakes to babies under 1,  steer clear of adding any maple syrup or other sweetening agents like honey and jaggery.

Additionally, I serve with some type of natural nut butter like almond butter or cashew butter to boost the healthy fats on the child’s plate.

This ragi pancake is ideal as:

Breakfast

Snack

Travel-friendly snack for toddlers

Baby-led weaning finger food

It is extremely easy to build pancakes using whole grain flours and children love them too.

In my new ebook – The Easy Toddler Snack Book I show you how to build pancakes using ragi flour, oat flour, whole wheat flour, and amaranth flour.

The ebook contains these pancake recipes plus many more easy and healthy snacks like energy bars, energy balls, puddings, smoothies, and patties. 

These are recipes we enjoy together with our son as a family and have helped us shift to a more Whole Foods focussed diet at home. 

Ragi Pancake - baby led weaning finger foods

RAGI PANCAKES: BABY LED WEANING INDIAN RECIPES

This pancake is one of the more easily accepted ragi recipes for kids. Young or old most kids won’t notice any difference in the taste and enjoy the combination of the wholesome pancake teamed with honey and creamy nut butter.

If you are wondering how to make ragi pancakes for babies, read on.

Ragi pancakes - weaning foods for Indian babies

Ragi Pancake

Ragi pancake recipe without egg. Vegan
5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Indian
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 4 tbsp Ragi flour
  • 2 tbsp Jav (barley) flour
  • 1/2 cup Coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp Almond flour
  • 1 tsp Flaxseed powder

Instructions
 

  • Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the coconut milk (just enough to cover the ingredients)
  • Mix well to remove all lumps.
  • Set the batter aside for 20 minutes. (The flaxseed powder works as an egg replacement and helps the pancake rise.)
  • On a hot pan add oil evenly to cover the surface. Then scoop out small circle shaped batter on the pan and let each side cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Serve with maple syrup and cashew butter.

Notes

Substitutions: 
  1. You can replace the barley flour with wheat or oat flour.
  2. Use any milk you like. We liked the flavor of these pancakes with coconut milk and almond milk the best.
  3. You can pair the pancakes with any nut butter you have on hand – peanut butter, almond butter, or homemade Nutella. 
Keyword baby led weaning foods, baby led weaning snacks, first foods, toddler snack ideas

Have you tried adding ragi flour to a pancake mix?

Do you have other interesting ragi flour recipes of your own? Do leave us a comment below with your ragi recipes for kids. All of us can learn and try something new.

For more ragi recipes for babies, follow me on Instagram where I post about healthy meals for kids and family regularly. Until next time, Ciao!

Baby Led Weaning Food Ideas For Busy Moms

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baby led weaning food ideas

As busy moms, there may not be enough time to make meals from scratch every single day. At the same time, you don’t want to be serving up processed food from tins and jars just to keep the baby fed. These baby led weaning food ideas are meant for moms like you, who don’t want to compromise on nutrition even on those busy days.

Sometimes you are too tired or lazy to cook an entire meal. That’s okay, you deserve a break too. Or maybe you want to enjoy some takeout from your favorite restaurant. Whatever the reason, your baby can still have a good home cooked meal without you taking too much trouble.

All of these ideas are suited for babies 6 to 12 months of age. For similar inspiration, on toddler meal ideas you can check my post on weekly meals my toddler eats.

Before I get into the baby food ideas, I want to add here that your house needs to be stocked with basic groceries in order to quickly whip up some of these meals. A few basic items to always stock in your pantry are;

  1. Lentils (Dals)
  2. Rice
  3. Pasta
  4. Onions, tomatoes, potatoes
  5. Quinoa
  6. Foods to help boost nutrition on any plate and easy for baby to eat–bananas, avocados, nut butter, and eggs.

baby led weaning food ideas

BABY LED WEANING FOOD IDEAS FOR BUSY MOMS

Healthy baby food Idea 1

Dal rice khichdi: Served as fist-sized balls for 6-12-month-olds. To add more color to the plate you can quickly steam whatever vegetables are available in your fridge. Pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower. This won’t take more than 30 minutes to whip up, even lesser if you already batch cooked dal and stored in the fridge.

Healthy baby food Idea 2

Breakfast for lunch: No time to cook, no worry just make a yummy breakfast porridge for lunch. A mommy trick to make plain old boring porridge yummy and nutritious is by adding your child’s favorite fruits, like berries, mango, figs. And to make it healthy add nut butter, roasted flaxseed powder, and hemp seeds.

Some of the porridge flavors that are favorites in our home;

  1. Oats Porridge cooked with berries and topped with almond butter, and flaxseed powder.
  2.  Oats Porridge cooked with bananas and topped with hemp seeds, peanut butter, and flaxseed powder.
  3. Oats porridge with apple, cinnamon, and flaxseed powder.

Get more oats porridge recipes for babies here.

Healthy baby food  Idea 3

Baby led weaning-friendly pasta: Sautee onions and tomatoes in butter or oil. Then add cooked pasta to this and mix well. Season with salt-free oregano flakes.

Pasta is best suited for babies 8 – 9 months and up, and one of the easiest finger foods you can offer.

Healthy baby food  Idea 4

Pancakes for baby: Pancakes are easy to offer the baby when in a rush. I keep a wheat and ragi flour mix ready in an airtight container and add a banana to the pancake batter as a natural sweetener. For more pancake recipes you can check my post on baby led weaning breakfast ideas. Serve with nut butter or regular salt-free butter.

Ragi pancakes for baby led weaning.

Healthy baby food Idea 5

Quinoa egg omelet: If you have leftover cooked quinoa give these quinoa fingers a try. These are an amazing finger food for babies. Best suited for babies 9 months and up.

Start by whisking 1-2 egg yolks in a bowl. Pour this egg yolk mixture in a pan and let it cook for a half a minute. Quickly follow this step by adding cooked quinoa and mixing it evenly in the egg mixture. Once the quinoa is coated, cover the pan and let this cook for 5 minutes. The end result should look like a quinoa and egg omelet. Cut into finger sized pieces and serve. It’s a complete meal that doesn’t compromise much on the nutrients and tastes yummy.

Healthy baby food Idea 6

Build a plate with Leftovers: There have been days when we are running out of groceries and I literally use whatever I find in my fridge and pantry to make a meal.

Examples of how to prepare these individual elements to help build a plate.

Eggs – make scrambled eggs, boiled egg, egg omelette add veggies like spinach to the omelette.

Avocado – slice into pieces, make a guacamole, or baked avocado fingers.

Pasta – plain boiled pasta, drizzle a little olive oil or coconut oil.

Fruit – to be served on the side

Sweet potato – bake or boil

Taro root– bake or boil

Cooked beans – smush and serve as a side

Leftover boiled dal – Dal can be cooked in batches and stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. Use this boiled dal to make dal balls.

Veggies – any leftover veggies can be steamed or roasted in the oven and offered as a side.

Leftover boiled chicken or fish pieces – can be shredded and served as a side on the baby plate.

Boiled potato – can be stored in the fridge and can be used as a side or to make a quick potato chicken patty or potato salad for lunch.

Homemade yogurt – as a side

Here are a few examples of “build a plate” lunches made out of random ingredients from the pantry or leftovers.

  1. Brocolli florets, rice, sweet potato
  2. Sweet potato and avocado
  3. Dalia (sprouted/broken wheat porridge and sweet potato)
  4. Beans (cooked until soft and mushy) and rice
  5. Scrambled egg yolk, the fruit of the day,
  6. Slices of avocado, boiled egg (egg yolks for babies under 1), cooked quinoa.

So the next time you are wondering what food to offer your baby on a lazy/busy day head to this post for ideas. Even better, jot down these ideas on a piece of paper and stick it up on the fridge. No matter how simple these baby-led weaning food ideas sound, I know from experience there are days you are staring at the fridge which does contain options to use and yet you think you have nothing to feed the baby.

What are some of your lazy day go-to baby-led weaning food ideas to offer your baby? Do comment below.

6 Healthy Baby Led Weaning Lunch Ideas

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Read time: 6 minutes
baby led weaning lunch ideas

When we first started baby led weaning, I felt a little lost coming up with baby-friendly baby led weaning lunch ideas every day.

Like any new mother starting the weaning process I too was concerned about how to introduce a wide variety of flavors and foods to the baby and serve up a nutritious meal every time.

Over a period of time with some trial and error, both my husband and I were able to have a consistent set of nutritious meals for lunch (these ideas are suited for dinner too). All of these ideas are baby led weaning friendly and healthy.

As a family, we now have a healthier diet, compared to before. Even snacks are now cleaner versions of some of our favorites.

Isn’t it amazing how much our children teach us? If it weren’t for the baby led weaning rule – baby eats what family eats we would have never put so much thought into what we eat. This modification of family diet to healthier meals is an added benefit of baby led weaning.

These are ideas for 6 months until 12 months. 12 months onwards you can modify the spice level in the food (based on your toddler’s preference) and add more variety and textures of food.

Baby led weaning lunch ideas

BABY LED WEANING LUNCH IDEAS

1. Indian Meals

A typical Indian lunch plate consists of;

A) rice and dal – made into balls for baby to easily hold in palms and self-feed.

B) A vegetarian dish – When making vegetables the Indian way, use milder spices for baby like turmeric, cumin powder, and coriander powder. Add a tadka in ghee and chop the vegetable into bigger chunks so that baby can easily pick the individual pieces and self-feed. Note: Always check that the cooked vegetable is soft enough to be smushed between two fingers. Do not offer raw vegetables to babies.

C) Chapati (whole wheat Indian flatbread) – spread some ghee/coconut oil and serve in long finger size strips. Ensure that you serve soft phulka like chappati to babies with no teeth. Check my post on baby led weaning first foods for picture depictions of Indian meals for baby led weaning.

2. Pasta

Whole wheat pasta, quinoa pasta, chickpea pasta are all great options for a baby led weaning friendly family meal. You can make any pasta sauce of your choice modified for no salt and no sugar for babies under 12 months. When making pasta in a cheese sauce, choose cheeses that are natural and contain lower salt content.

We personally steered clear of cheese based dishes for the first year as it was harder to find options that contained minimal salt.

Here are 3 easy baby led weaning friendly pasta meals

  1. Pesto pasta: To make the Pesto sauce, blitz 1 handful of soaked almonds, 7-10 basil leaves, 1- 2 garlic pods until the sauce is nice and smooth adding a little olive oil and water to help make it smoother. Once ready mix this sauce with cooked pasta. Pesto pasta for baby is ready.
  2. Pasta in tomato sauce: I use this recipe to add our favorite veggies like peas and broccoli to a pasta dish. In the early months of baby led weaning smush the peas for baby when you serve. To make the tomato sauce sautee 2 garlic pods in olive oil, add 4 finely chopped tomatoes and cook until they release the juices and become soft in texture. Add in the steamed veggies and combine everything until the veggies are coated in the tomato sauce. Once done add the cooked pasta, mix and serve.
  3. Avocado pasta: This is so easy to make its almost cheating to call it cooking a meal. All I do is mash a ripe avocado until it’s a smooth sauce like consistency and mix cooked fusilli pasta with this sauce. That’s it, simple and nutritious pasta for a baby to self-feed.

3. Paratha

This stuffed Indian flatbread is an amazing finger food option. Increase the ratio of potatoes to wheat flour in order to make the paratha soft for baby’s gums. You can even stuff the paratha with vegetables like spinach, broccoli or cottage cheese to increase the nutrient density and make it a more complete meal.

4. Dal Khichdi

This rice and lentil dish is ideal for babies. It’s easy to digest and highly nutritious. Add finely chopped veggies like bottle gourd, peas, and grated carrot to add some flavor and extra nutrients to the meal. Cook the khichdi to a thick texture so that you can make balls of khichdi and offer the baby to self-feed.

5. Patties

One easy recipe that I used a lot in the beginning months was to make different types of patties.

You can use the vegetables you will be making lunch with and steam them along with boiled potatoes. Patties are also a great way to repurpose leftovers into a new dish.

For flavoring stick to turmeric and coriander powder. Add freshly chopped coriander to the patty mix.

For coating, use corn flour or roasted semolina flour to coat the patties.

Easy combinations to try are spinach and bean patties, pumpkin and cauliflower patties, potatoes and peas, fish patties, meat mince patty.

Pair your patties with a lentil dal, this yummy combination is super healthy and flavorsome for babies.
babyled weaning lunch ideas

6. Quinoa Bowl

Quinoa is a great food to start early on. It’s rich in protein and digests easily. Best to begin around 8-10 months of age.

Ideas:

1. Adding a mashed avocado to the quinoa makes it easy and a non-spill option for the baby to self-feed with a spoon.

2. Add grated veggies when cooking the quinoa like beetroot and carrots. Serve with homemade guacamole and call it a meal.

3. Another way to serve quinoa is to pair with hearty soups like broccoli and potato or lentil soups. This combination of quinoa and veggie soup helps cover a lot of vitamins and minerals in one meal. One of our favorites is a quinoa bowl paired with broccoli and potato soup. It’s a filling and tasty combination.

Check these recent posts for some baby led weaning lunch ideas.

What my toddler eats in a week

Healthy toddler meal ideas

Though these meals were documented when my son was a toddler, most of these ideas can be offered to babies too with minor modifications to shape of cut vegetables and staying away from any sweeteners like sugar and honey.

There may also be days when you are eating something that’s not appropriate for the baby or are having a lazy day, but still, want to build a healthy plate for your baby. I got you covered with lazy day baby led weaning lunch ideas too. Read here for quick food ideas for busy moms.

I hope this post served as an inspiration as you plan your family meals. For more baby led weaning lunch ideas follow me on Instagram where I post pictures of my sons meals along with tips on how to deal with the fussy eating toddler years.

Do let me know what else you would like me to cover on the baby led weaning topic in the comment section below.

Baby Led Weaning First Foods : What To Offer?

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baby led weaning first foods

Baby led weaning is catching on in India. More and more millennial parents are practicing this new style of weaning baby.  One of the first questions any new parent on the baby led weaning journey asks is “What are the baby led weaning first foods?” How can I offer family food to my child?

In this post, I will take you through the different baby led weaning first foods you can offer the baby. All these ideas are suited for 6-9 months of age. At this stage, the baby is learning how to hold food, bring it to mouth, chew and swallow. Can you imagine the kind of skills and development that needs to take place? Therefore these first three months are crucial to success with baby led weaning.

For a brief introduction to baby led weaning and what it entails you can read my post on baby led weaning guide for Indian mothers.

Points to note before you start:

  1. There will be messes. Massive messes!!
  2. There will be gagging, lots of gagging. Watch this video to see what gagging looks like.
  3. It will look like the baby is not able to swallow anything. Their feeding style looks sloppy and you will feel like jumping in and helping. Don’t!! They are figuring it out. Sit back and observe, maybe even eat with them to model the skills instead of jumping in and feeding.
  4. Stay patient, its called baby led weaning because baby figures it out. You are a guide, cheerleader, and provider of nutritious food that’s it. The figuring out to eat part is to be done by baby only. It’s similar to any other skill baby learns, like crawling, walking etc. it takes time.

The approach:

I have read of families who took a slower and more traditional approach to introducing foods which includes offering a new food a day and waiting three days to check for reactions if any and others who jumped right in and offered all family foods modified for no salt, no sugar, and minimal spices from the beginning.

Choose what suits your family and baby. The important point to check here is that baby is 6 months of age at the time of start and readiness signs for starting baby led weaning. I will be adding an article on the readiness signs for solids in another upcoming article this week.

baby led weaning first foods

BABY LED WEANING FIRST FOODS

Baby Led weaning first foods examples – Fruit

At 6 months of age, it is advised to cut all fruits in long strips or wedges such that it is easy for baby to hold in his palms and eat. Great first food examples (6-9 months) are:

Steamed Apple Slices

Steamed Pear Slices

Ripe Papaya

Watermelon

Mango

Chikoo

Banana

Muskmelon

Oranges (cleaned off the stringy bits and seeds)

Sweet lime (cleaned off the stringy bits and seeds)

Avocadoes

Baby Led weaning first foods examples – Vegetables

Cut vegetables in long strips such that the baby can hold in palms. Steaming vegetables is a great way to start on solids. Check that the vegetables are soft enough to turn to mush between two fingers.

Steamed pumpkin strips

Steamed broccoli florets

Steamed cauliflower florets

Boiled or baked sweet potato wedges

Boiled or baked regular potatoes

Cooked bottle gourd (cut into long large pieces)

Boiled root vegetables like taro (best to start closer to 9 months of age)

Baby Led weaning first foods examples – Cooked food 

Pancakes made with oats flour, wheat flour, ragi flour. [Mom tip: Use a ripe banana to sweeten the pancake batter].

Baby-friendly muffins

Dosa (Indian breakfast pancake made of rice and lentils) serve with a non-spicy coconut chutney.

Idli (Indian steamed rice cakes)

Rice and Dal balls (cook tur dal in a thick consistency and use this thick dal to make rice and dal balls)

Thick dal with mixed veggies like bottle gourd, and potatoes (easy to offer in a preloaded spoon or in tiny fist shaped balls)

Parathas cut into strips. Keep the ratio of potatoes more compared to the wheat flour for toothless babies.

[Mom tip: You can use parathas as a way to add a variety of stuffings like broccoli, spinach, paneer, bottle gourd etc.

I don’t recommend hiding vegetables, as a rule, to get babies to eat vegetables.  But early on when the baby is just starting to eat and not yet skilled this is a great way to introduce a variety of veggies in their food.

Remember to also introduce the same vegetables as a side in order to get the baby accustomed to eating vegetables on their own too. Don’t just stick to using vegetables in parathas. The baby needs to see what whole food looks like.]

Patty of all types vegetarian and non-vegetarian:  Add more potatoes to make it soft mix with soft cooked vegetables of your choice or tender mincemeat.

Baby Led weaning first foods examples – Family style meals

Many families jump right into offering baby family foods appropriately modified for baby. And this is easy to follow too.

Baby led weaning Indian meals

A typical Indian Family Meal consists of  dal, rice, chappati, and vegetables (Sabzi of the day)

Baby’s Indian meal plate: Dal and Rice balls, Chappati smeared with ghee/butter/coconut oil cut in long finger length strips, Vegetable cut appropriately for baby to hold in palms and cooked with minimum spices.

Mom tip: 1. Baby led weaning Indian recipes – Use a light tadka of mustard seeds, cumin seeds with spices like turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder. No chilly and garam masala at this stage. Can slowly introduce garam masala by 9 months and red chilly powder by 16 -18 months and see how your baby accepts it and modify as per their preference.

  1. Indian vegetables: Tinda cut in long strips, Baigan or aubergine cut in rectangular strips, cauliflower, and broccoli in florets. Make these sabzi’s in light spices like the ones mentioned above.

Other Family meal styles

Offer the baby a deconstructed version of the main family meal.

Mom tip: 1. If you are making a taco or burrito for yourself, you can use the components from these meals to make a baby plate. Offer the avocados, beans that are mushed and soft, tomatoes cut into wedges, plain rice made into balls or shredded meat pieces.

2. If you are having pasta made in a sauce that’s not baby friendly. Offer baby boiled pasta as a finger food option. Or make a separate baby friendly pasta sauce from tomatoes without salt.  Serve along with a few sides like steamed veggies, avocados and you have a complete baby meal.

baby led weaning first foods

Do’s and Don’ts

  1. No honey until the first birthday.
  2. No added salt and sugar until the first birthday. [read here to know how added sugars contribute to childhood obesity]
  3. It is also advisable to practice caution with certain highly allergenic foods like shellfish, and nuts like walnuts. If you have a known family history of allergies it is best to talk with your doctor before trying these foods.
  4. Stay away from offering heavily processed foods to babies in the name of offering family foods for example; bread, biscuits, chips, french fries etc.
  5. Offer nutritious home-cooked meals.
  6. Foods like eggs and meats should be cooked well.
  7. Check all offered foods to see if they are soft enough to be mushed between two fingers and do not pose a choking risk in any way.[list of choking risk foods] So, if you eat beans, cook them until very soft, smush them between fingers and offer the baby.
  8. Offer water after every meal. If the baby is still consuming adequate formula or breast milk they don’t need more than 2 to 4 ounces of water per day. [source]

Once pincer grasp comes in around 8-9 months of age the baby gets more skilled at eating a variety of foods. And if all these strategies have been followed properly giving baby complete independence to eat, by 12 months of age most baby led weaning babies are eating the same family foods expect (maybe spicy foods) and also beginning to use cutlery to self-feed.

Once again, I will remind parents do not consider the age limit of 12 months for no sugar as the opening of the floodgates to sugary foods. Keeping processed junk foods to a minimum is extremely important for the long-term health of your child. Exercise caution about how much of these foods they are exposed to even after the first year. Home cooked nutritious foods first the rest can be introduced slowly in time.

I hope this article gives you a complete idea of some baby led weaning starter foods. Babies are quick learners once given the independence.

Stay tuned for more in the baby led weaning series. How did you manage baby led weaning with your baby? What was your babies first food? Let’s leave some ideas for new moms.

Disclaimer: This is a parenting blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and do not replace any professional medical advice. Consult your pediatrician and nutritionist for any concerns you may have.

Baby Led Weaning Breakfast Ideas

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Read time: 9 minutes
Baby led weaning breakfast ideas

When we first started baby led weaning, I have to confess I spent hours on the Internet researching baby led weaning breakfast ideas, easy recipes for baby led weaning etc.

Baby led weaning is a method of weaning a baby where the baby is allowed to eat family foods from the beginning. No purees and soups! That said, being a first-time mom I had a lot of doubts about what exactly to offer baby and how to prepare it for him. It takes a while to get used to cooking appropriate meals that the entire family and baby can enjoy together. Nutrition has to be your biggest focus when planning meals for your family.

If you are just starting out with baby led weaning, read my post, baby led weaning guide for Indian mothers. This post will help you get a background on baby led weaning before you start.

Let’s address some concerns

Breakfast can easily become the most sugar-laden meal of the day. With ready-made packet mixes of idli, upma, instant ready masala oats, cornflakes etc. in the market, it is important to remember anything that comes in a packet has added sugars that act as a preservative not to mention artificial flavoring and coloring agents.

I feel it is important to address this issue of ready meals when we speak about baby led weaning babies being able to eat what family eats. Try and steer clear of offering your little one ready meals or packeted foods on a regular basis (do understand I mean daily basis, not once in a while) under the guise of eating family meals or adult like foods.

This is where I feel baby led weaning proponents need to focus on a clear discussion of what a healthy looking meal for baby looks like. It is best to start the day with a well thought out meal so that baby gets a healthy start.

Dosa and Idli batters can be prepared the night before and when in a hurry simple porridge recipes can be made at home from scratch. If you want to know how I manage to give my child healthy food everyday read my post on this topic.

We stick to easy recipes for breakfast on busy weekday mornings like oats, dalia, pancakes, along with fruits and eggs. On weekends we plan Dosa and Idli as breakfast options since these require prior fermentation.

Depending on your baby’s age you can modify these options; meaning when they are just starting out you can stick to finger sized portions that they can grab in their palms and as they become more skilled at eating you can move to porridge-like consistency foods that can be eaten with a spoon.

We offered our son same food as ours at breakfast sans salt and sugar and with less spice until he was 12 months of age. This can be done by taking out a small portion of baby’s food before adding spices and salt or simultaneously cooking his version along with the family’s breakfast.

At 18 months most of his meals have the same level of spice and salt as the family. You can start increasing spices slowly post 12-months of age, taking cues from your child on how they like it. For salt, our preference has reduced to low salt as a family post-baby.

Baby led weaning breakfast ideas

Baby Led Weaning Breakfast Ideas

Fruits

The easiest option to offer especially when they are just starting out and still getting nutrition from breastmilk. Fruits can easily be cut into finger-shaped strips making it easier for them to hold and practice eating. Add a dollop of plain yogurt on the side to offer variation from time to time.

Most appropriate options [6-9 month]: Banana, Mango, Muskmelon, Watermelon, Papaya, Oranges, and Sweet lime.

Once the pincer grasp comes in [around 9 months] Blueberries, grapes, raspberries.

Note: Always check that fruit is ripe. Remove any pits and seeds before offering a baby. It is advisable to squish/ vertically cut fruits into half that are tiny ball shaped like blueberries, raspberries, and grapes until the baby develops teeth to chew on them.

In the image below I have shown examples of how round fruits should be cut and offered. And how I offered fruits like the  banana to my son when we first started baby led weaning.

Baby led weaning breakfast ideas- how to serve fruits

Porridge

An oats porridge or sprouted wheat/ jowar (dalia) porridge is easy to make.

  • Oats porridge: Add some fruit blueberries/ mangoes/ plums/ chikoo either when boiling or chopped up over the porridge. To make the oats porridge extra healthy and delicious. I also add a dollop of almond butter or peanut butter and some roasted flaxseed powder. This way you can ensure every bite the baby takes is nutrient dense. Get more ideas of oats porridge for babies here.
  • Sprouted wheat porridge (Dalia): I usually roast the sprouted wheat in a pan, then transfer to pot of water and let it cook for about 15-20 mins. It’s cooked when it is a thick consistency and all the water has been absorbed. While serving I add a tsp of ghee (clarified butter) and cardamom powder.

Poha

This Maharashtrian dish is a staple in my house. Squeeze lemon and sprinkle some coriander over it to add more flavor. Pohe requires more advanced feeding skills; I started offering him a spoon with his pohe since 10 months. It was amazing how quickly he learned to feed himself with the spoon, albeit the mess!

Upma

If you make the upma extra sticky it’s quite easy for baby to pick it up. My son used his pincer grasp to pick up small lumps of upma since 9 months. You can even make oats upma when you want to add something different to baby’s routine. This is one of his favorite breakfasts.

Baby led weaning breakfast ideas-baby led weaning India

Thalipeeth

Another Maharashtrian savory pan cake dish made of multiple grains.The dough is prepared from a mixture of flours like roasted Rajgira (Amaranth), wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, ragi, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Onion, fresh coriander and other ground spices like turmeric, garam masala are added when kneading the dough.

My Cheat Version: You can make the thalipeeth flour (rajgira, rice, jowar, bajra etc.) mixture and store in air tight container. On busy mornings all you have to do is make a pancake batter adding the thalipeeth mix, onions, tomatoes, coriander and water to a bowl. Mix and use this to make mini thalipeeth pancakes. Super quick, easy and healthy!

Parathas

Paratha is a thick Indian bread made with a stuffing of potatoes, vegetables like spinach, carrots or cottage cheese. It’s easy to make a paratha into finger sized strips and offer as finger food to the baby. If your baby is just starting out on baby led weaning or has no teeth, you can increase the content of potato stuffing in the dough. This will ensure soft parathas that are suited to those soft gums.

Eggs

These are easiest to prepare and kids love them. You can offer scrambled egg yolk or hardboiled egg yolk from 9 months. Once they are 1 year old you can introduce whole egg omelet with veggies and cheese. I usually pair scrambled egg with some fruit like watermelon or grapes on the side.

Chapati

Whole wheat chapati can be offered in strips at 6-7 month stage and later in small bite size pieces once pincer grasp comes in. At 18 months my toddler now eats chapati rolled up like a wrap. I put some ghee or almond butter on his chapati. Can be served just as with the nut butter or ghee or with stir fried vegetables as finger foods.

Pancakes

You can make a pancake out of many flours like oats flour, wheat flour, and ragi flour. I sometimes mix a few of them or just make a plain oats pancake.

I have given a simple recipe I use below with oats, but you can use other flours of your choice.

You can even add fruits like blueberries, banana or raw cacao nibs to the pancake mix to make it interesting. Serve with a dollop of almond butter. Yum Yum!

Related reading : Ragi pancakes for babies

Idli

Idli is a steamed rice cake made from a combination of rice and lentils that have been soaked, ground, and fermented into a smooth dough. This fermented rice cake is easy to digest for the baby.

Add a few vegetables to the batter like peas, carrots, spinach and make it even more nutritious. Serve with coconut chutney or sambar. Though it takes some time to prepare this dish, the kids love Idli. Worth the effort in my books.

Dosa

Dosa is an Indian pancake made of fermented batter containing, rice and urad dal (lentils). It is accompanied with sambar and coconut chutney. Very easy to offer as a baby led weaning breakfast idea. Add flours like ragi or semolina to increase nutrition for baby and offer variety in taste. Get recipe for ragi dosa for babies here.

MORE BABY LED WEANING IDEAS

Baby led weaning first foods: What to offer?

7 Baby Led Weaning Benefits No One Tells You About

Baby Led Weaning Finger Foods On The Go

5 Baby Led Weaning Tips For Success

6 Healthy Baby Led Weaning Lunch Ideas

Baby Led Weaning Food Ideas For Busy Moms

Baby-led Weaning On Vacation (Part 1)

Baby-led Weaning On Vacation (Part 2)

I hope these baby led weaning breakfast ideas get you excited and inspired. In fact, the amazing part about baby led weaning is that you can serve baby anything you prepare only modifying for salt and sugar. What is your favorite breakfast as a family? Do leave me a comment below.