Starting solids is an intense subject in a world of parenting. There are so many articles about it that I got lost with my first baby. I thought I would never be able to do it. I felt it was so complicated. First you have to decide, how you’re going to do it. At the doctors they tell you one way, internet gives you many other choices. The more I read about starting solids, the more I got lost. So I just did it how I felt it would work somehow. My first son started solids at almost 6 months of age and the second one similar. With both it was a struggle for the first few months and they both started eating solids really well by the age of 10 – 12 months. I was always wondering if we really need all that literature about introducing solids to the baby. I guess we do. But there’s an easier way too. I actually knew about it before, but when I spoke to the owner of a small riad in Morocco, it all made sense.

Beautiful riad Casa Roja at N’kob where the owner told me, how people in Morocco introduce solids to their babies (May 2017)

Moroccan way of starting solids is so easy.

I’m sure not only in Morocco, there must be many other countries, where they introduce solids to the baby in a similar, easy way. Of course, there are variations everywhere and for sure not everyone in Morocco does the same. But what the owner of that really nice riad in the city of N’kob told me was so natural. It all started because he was amazed, how our one year old son ate his dinner. He held some food in his hands as he always do and I fed him by spoon so that he could eat a bit more. We had cous cous with vegetables and it was so delicious, cooked by the owner of riad. Once we finished the dinner, the owner asked me, how come that Oliver is eating solid food already? I told him we started at around 6 months of age and he was even more amazed. Of course I asked him, how do local people introduce solids to their babies.

Me and my boys feasting on the huge plate of cous cous, Moroccan traditional food (Essaouira – May 2017)

Children in Morocco start solids closer to one year of age!

The owner of riad told me that most babies in Morocco are breastfed and their mothers breastfeed until they’re about two years old. That is just normal here, he told me. What about solids? Well, they never look into books. When the baby starts showing interest in food, they just give them to try, whatever they’re eating (and they feel is right for the baby). They never weigh food, feed babies at a certain time, record what they ate, introduce different foods by a schedule. He told me that usually most babies there don’t eat much by the age of 1 or even later. They just eat when they show interest and when their parents eat. They eat whatever is ready for other family members too. Usually when they reach about two years of age, breastfeeding slowly stops and the children already eat exactly like parents. How easy is that?

Baby Oliver eating his veggies (well, mostly just making a mess)…

I believe this Moroccan way of starting solids is genious!

With my second child, I started solids very similar to this way that the kind riad owner told me about. Well, it’s not a special way, it’s a natural way we could say. Our baby Oliver didn’t show much interest to the typical baby food (vegetable and fruit purees, milk pap and similar). He ate more when he ate what we had. Starting by 9 months of age when we were traveling through Vietnam he ate a bit of what we all did. He actually always loved to hold the food he then ate (we could call that Baby lead weaning, but it’s not exactly, how we did it, because I really don’t like to throw away food) and loved to be fed by the spoon so that he was full. He is still breastfed. If we traveled to Morocco earlier, before starting solids with Oliver, I would most probably postpone it even more. It was just so relieving to hear that there are many, many people out there that introduce solids in such a natural, easy way.

Starting solids is an interesting subject and I’ll get into it (how it is around the world) more deeply when I get some answers from my friends around the world.

Thanks for reading!

Ajda