Egg Allergies and Babies

Updated on January 18, 2011
C.H. asks from Ann Arbor, MI
9 answers

I just found out my 10 month old son has an egg allergy. I had to cut pretty much everything from his diet. I am trying to introduce him to new foods. I am having a hard time getting him away from baby food and onto "real" food. Anyone else dealing with this? Any suggestions? Also...for anyone else who has a child with egg allergies...did you cut out everything that may contain eggs...like artificial and natural flavoring?

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G.B.

answers from Detroit on

You'll have to see how sensitive he is. Give him finger foods and spoonable foods that are not baby food, a variety from the different food groups. He can get protein many ways besides eggs.

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J.H.

answers from Grand Rapids on

My son had an egg allergy until he was ten years old. We did total avoidance of anything labeled with eggs or egg whites. We did not cut out flavorings unless marked with egg, The allergist and we believe the total avoidance was the key to outgrowing the allergy.....but it took ten years. There is a product in health food stores made by Energy called egg replacer. It works great for pancakes, waffles, cookies. There are great recipes out there for eggless foods. It just takes more time and patience to make things. Watch the cross contamination especially in restaurants, they want to cook on same grill or pan they made eggs with. My son did not and still at 14 does not eat conventional breakfast items. If he wanted mac and cheese or pasta for breakfast I figured as long as it was nutritious it did not have to be egg related. My advice is to you is be an advocate especially in public or at family gathering people do not understand a little egg matters just as much as a lot of egg. You learn to read labels.
Good luck to you.....I pray for patience for you and your son. I taught my son to be his own advocate. As soon as he could talk I taught him to say, "Does it have egg in it? so I did not stress when I was not with him and he could tell people he had an allergy,.

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T.C.

answers from Colorado Springs on

My oldest had egg allergies as a baby. He seemed to react to raw egg (like in a frosting) and full egg things, like scrambled eggs, souffle, that sort of thing. But, he could eat baked goods that contained eggs just fine (as far as we could tell). We waited until he was 2 to introduce them again, and he did just fine. From what I understand, this is quite common. Now, just for your information, you will want to research this, some vaccines have the contraindication of egg allergies. In other words, it says in the package insert that if you have egg allergies you should not use the vaccine. These are vaccines made using chick embryos (all vaccines are made with some sort of animal/person embryo or part--there are some made with aborted human babies, and others used with monkey kidneys, and others with chick embryos, etc.). You will need to find out which ones are made with chick embryos and do not get those for your son. It is right on the package insert that you should not get it. It can be dangerous for your son. Hope he grows out of the allergy as well!
Blessings!

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A.A.

answers from Jackson on

My son has a severe allergy to eggs. He's a step down from anaphalatic (sp??) shock. So we have to avoid everything egg. I have not heard anything about artificial or natural flavorings...so I'm not totally sure what you're asking there. This is one of the allergies that is possible for kids to outgrow, so hopefully in a couple of years this won't be an issue for you.

My MIL works for an allergist and gave me a pamphlet that has been very helpful...heres some info from it...Non-food items that should be avoided: egg shampoo, photographic film, printed natural fabfics that have not been washed, fur garments, and vaccinations that might have the traces of egg (usually live vaccines).

It also transfers in your breastmilk so you might want to avoid eggs as well if you're breastfeeding.

There is a very long list of foods here that contain egg in them but most of them have egg listed in the ingredients, some that might not: ice cream, and ice cream cones, butter, instant oatmeal, macaroni, battered or breaded vegetables and meat, creamed and scalloped vegetables, lemon curd, glazed baked goods and deli meats, mayonnaise, ceaser dressing, candy, marshmallows, some pops like root beer, ovoglobulin (have no idea what this is), meat loves, and sausages.

This pamphlet also includeds ingredients to avoid that may contain the same protein found in eggs: albumin, binder, coagulant, globulin, lecithin, livetin, lysozyme, ovalbumin, ovamucin, ovamucoid, obobitellin, and vitellin.

finally there is a website that you can visit that might have more info. I have not checked out this website but after reading this pamphlet again I think I might do that...http://allallergy.net/recipes/recipes_egg.cfm

My MIL and Dr told us that nut allergies are commonly found with people with egg allergies and to avoid everything nut until he's 3 or has been tested for them.

I hope you feel that you're NOT alone in this. When I first found out about my son's allergy I didn't know anyone that was allergic to egg and felt like I was all on my own in this matter. I felt paranoid and I am VERY careful about the foods he eats. Right now I have a VERY VERY VERY hard time allowing him to eat food that someone else has prepared or that we find in a restaurant. The other moms that I've met with this allergy in their kids have expressed the same feelings...so it made me feel not quite so crazy.

I hope this helps..good luck!!

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M.W.

answers from Detroit on

Best to cut out everything with eggs, babies airways are tiny, so even a little inflammation could cause a restriction!

This means some cooking from scratch and lots of label reading! :) Health food stores carry egg free foods, if you're needing something not made from scratch.

As far as getting him to eat real foods, just start simple. If he prefers baby food it could be that it is a simple flavor, not just that its pureed. Cut up cooked vegetables and fruits are a great starting place. Beans too. Try tofu cubes, if he doesn't like the taste, try flavoring with some onion and garlic powder and tumeric, it looks and tastes like scrambled eggs if you crumble it and fry. Cubes of bread, cracker pieces, cooked shaped pasta... Hot and cold cereals...

My daughter didn't LOVE table food until after she was a year old. Before then its important that they get MOST of their nutrition from breast milk or formula, so as long as he's experimenting with solids, you shouldn't have any problems. After he's a year old, limit the milk to 12 oz./day and offer more and more table foods. Sometimes making a "soup" out of pureed veggies and milk is a great way to get them to eat it.

Best wishes!

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K.P.

answers from Washington DC on

My daughter has an egg allegy, but she wasn't diagnosed with it until age 2. We don't cut out foods that say, "artifical flavoring" or "natural flavoring" -- I had never assumed they would contain egg! (Maybe I should talk to our allergist about that?) We just look for egg in the ingredients. I was miserable when the allergy was first diagnosed -- but it's not so bad. We've found eggless mayo in the healthy/organic section of the grocery store, and we can make cake or muffin recipes if we substitute 1/4 cup applesauce for each egg. Works great!

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S.V.

answers from Los Angeles on

My son has and egg and peanut allergy-we found out at 1 year old. We eliminatined EVERYTHING that even contained egg for the first year-we went to health food stores-Like Trader Joes or Henrys and tried to get foods that were egg free-breads were the hardest. The brand Amy's has alot of stuff that is egg free-like their mac n cheese. We had him tested every year for allergies since-egg is almost gone, peanut tripled. We slowly started reintroducing egg products but I am still scared to give him whole egg or anything with a high content-like french toast. Just read read read the labels!!! We didnt cut out the artificial flavoring-just read the label and if it said it contained egg we didnt give it-I guess it depends on how severe the allergy.

A.F.

answers from Chicago on

My daughter has an egg allergy but only reacts to pure eggs or where eggs are the primary ingredient (she gets eczema NOT anaphylaxis from eggs). So, we did not cut everything from her diet but we already ate pretty much pure foods to starts with -- real fruits, real veggies, whole grain whole wheat breads, lean meats, etc. I make her a cake from scratch for parties (she is peanut allergic anaphylaxis so we do NOT buy bakery items). There are plenty of websites to help you find new recipes if your little one's egg allergy is really really bad and you need to eliminate it altogether. There is also an egg substitute that some moms use!

Best wishes!

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A.C.

answers from Columbus on

I don't have personal experience with egg allergies (though my son is severely allergic to peanuts), but I thought that I'd share this info, in case it helps:

One of the moms listed the ingredient "lethicin" as an ingredient to avoid (I'm not disputing that), but I believe the soy lethicin, which is a soy product, is probably safe.

Also, you can substitute 1 T soy flour + 1 T water for eggs in any baked recipe calling for eggs (mix together before adding it to the recipe).

Home cooking is really the safest way to go. And yes, most kids outgrow the egg allergy (but not peanuts, sadly), but that doesn't make one any less paranoid NOW, I'm sure.

One mom I know would put one of those name tag stickers on her kid's back when they went to any large family functions or social events like potlucks, and put on the tag "Allergy Alert! Allergic to ___. Check with parent(s) before offering ANY food." Until such time that he could be reliable enough to always be able to ask "Does it have any eggs?"

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