Baby tried egg yolks for first time!

Baby PP hit the lucky Chinese number 8 over the weekend! She is now 8 months old! How fast she has grown up...already I am thinking about kindergarten enrollment and..... her wedding. I know. Sad.

Considering she is now 8 months old, Baby PP is ready for something new in her diet. Something all parents introduce with caution and dread of the "what ifs". Baby PP tried egg yolks!

(Image from Photobucket)

And she loved it!

Why is it important?

The egg yolk contains the following:

• all of an egg’s vitamin A, D, and E;
• almost all the vitamin B12, choline, folic acid and vitamin B3;
• 76% of the biotin,
• 73% of the inositol,
• 50% of the niacin,
• 93% of the vitamin B6,
• 42% of the riboflavin,
• 90% of the thiamin
• 44% of the protein
  and substantial portions of the egg’s mineral content
  Source: The American Egg Board

Plus do not forget the all important Omega-3 impact!

"Research from Australia, published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,shows that omega-3 enriched egg yolks are suitable weaning foods for young children and make a useful contribution to their omega-3 and iron intakes.

Iron-rich weaning foods are important to avoid iron deficiency in young children. Iron stores in breast-fed infants become depleted after 6 months because breast milk is not a good source of iron.

Long chain omega-3s are vital components of the cells in the brain and nervous system. A regular supply in early life is important for the healthy development of a baby's brain, nervous system and retina. Although breast-fed babies are likely to get some omega-3s from breast milk, very few infant formulae are fortified with long chain omega-3s. Very few weaning foods contain omega-3s and experts are concerned that babies are not getting enough omega-3s for optimal brain development and function." 

-PRNewsLine, Fortified egg yolks boost omega-3 and iron intakes in infants during weaning

P.s: "There is no nutritional difference between eggs with brown shells and eggs with white shells. The nutrients come from the hen’s feed." MOMformation, BabyCenter

Experts advises parents to only introduce egg yolks at 8 months and egg whites at 1 year old mark. Eggs whites are never to be served before 1. Any early could result in an adverse reaction. Some other advise that baby can be introduced to egg yolks as early as 6 months old. But with eggs, i took my precautions. Even if Baby PP is fully breastfeeding baby, she have shown some skin reaction around her mouth to certain food. So i took my time.

A recent interview with Dr. Greer in Medscape Pediatrics notes that " "Now we can tell mothers: If you have exclusively breastfed for 4 months and your child is not at risk for allergy, you can introduce any food at 6 or 8 months or whatever." 

And as any introduction of new food, wait 3 days before introducing another new food to safely determine cause of allergy (if any occurs).

I was initially not sure how exactly to serve the egg yolks to her, other than...NOT RAW. I then contemplated aloud in the kitchen while preparing baby PP apple puree and rice porridge dinner and freezer stock. My maid answered, "bubuh butter, goreng telur, tambah nasik aja, pasti suka!" (add butter, add egg yolks and add rice! she (baby PP) will definitely love it). 

Hmmm not a bad idea. simple enough right? but since I was already making rice porridge with anchovies, carrots, peas and potatoes, i could just mix it in! Sure enough, i googled "egg yolk baby" and one of the search, Wholesome Baby Food (link below) have a recipe that basically said what my maid said. 

Veggie Eggs & Rice

1 or 2 hard boiled egg yolks
1 cup of cooked brown rice
1/4 cup of pureed or diced soft cooked veggies such as carrots, broccoli or even sweet potatoes

Combine all ingredients and mix well. If needed, puree or mash to your baby's preferred textures.

Variation: Warm a frying pan with a bit of olive oil, crack an egg and separate the white from the yolk. Scramble the yolk in a bowl with formula, breast milk, juice or whole milk and transfer to frying pan. Add the veggies and rice and scramble the mixture; cooking until the yolks are done.

My variation:

Since Baby PP hates brown rice. I never used that again. And it was scrambled eggs instead of hard boiled. and once egg yolks are truly scrambled and cooked, mixed with Baby PP's ready to be eaten and frozen rice porridge (half blended and half mashed). She loved it, finished the whole bowl ( a rare event for new recipes) and so far, no allergy signs! yay!

Then i had to research, how often do I feed Baby PP this all important egg yolks? Have you ever heard from your parents, not to eat eggs every day as it can be bad for your cholesterol level? Well I have. It is good to eat eggs but not everyday. So how about for babies? I found this website as a guide..simpy said "Egg Yolk: Every second day or 3-4 times per week" from Super Baby Food.

Tips for egg yolks/white separator challenged :

Place your eggs in the refrigerator before breaking them. The yolks will not break that easily this, easier to divide.

Use egg whites separator. I never used them before, i think it works but me knows how to separate eggs without them. Try them anyway, and if it works, let me know!

Useful links

Wholesome baby food "Eggs in baby food recipe" <--with useful recipes using egg yolks and more! Definitely going into my link sidebar.

BabyCenter "Age by age guide to feeding your baby"

MOMformation, BabyCenter "Eggs"
Super Baby Food "Feeding your super baby at 7 months (Sample chapter)"