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Many parents believe that baby cereals are the best first food for babies, but doctors are increasingly suggesting otherwise with more traditional foods that are easier to digest and less likely to trigger allergies gaining favor such as soft boiled egg yolk.
What is the best baby first food? This is a question all parents inevitably ask and the answer given by most pediatricians is rice cereal.
Unfortunately, any grain-based food is not a good idea for children only a few months old as a baby’s immature digestive system does not produce sufficient amylase, the enzyme required for digestion of carbohydrates. The fact that rice cereal is gluten-free makes no difference whatsoever – rice is still a carbohydrate and therefore very difficult for babies to handle digestively.
Incomplete digestion of rice cereal guarantees putrefaction in the gut leading to an imbalance of digestive flora and the potential for allergies and other autoimmune illnesses to develop down the road. In addition, much of today’s rice is contaminated with arsenic! This includes brown rice syrups used in powdered organic baby formula (best to always make homemade formula instead).
If rice cereal is not ideal for a baby as a first food, then what?
In this video lesson, I show you how to prepare the perfect first food for your baby around 4-6 months of age: egg yolk.
While egg white should not be given to babies under a year old, the egg yolk supplies critical brain-building cholesterol and fatty acids that will reward you with a child who speaks at an early age.
All 3 of my children were speaking short, yet complete sentences by a year old. I attribute this not only to extended breastfeeding but also to the brain-building nutrients supplied by their early first foods as practiced by Traditional Societies.
The video along with the recipe below shows you how to properly make a soft boiled egg to use the warm, liquid yolk as baby’s first food. Do not use the white as it is allergenic until a baby is over a year old.
Just give baby a taste or two at first. Even if they love it, eating the whole thing too fast (it’s very rich!) risks vomiting. Go slow!
Hint: Try making this recipe using quail eggs, as they are tiny and the perfect size for baby’s appetite.
Egg Yolk For Baby
The simple recipe below takes 3 minutes to prepare and is the ideal first food for your baby!
Note that egg yolk is recommended over cereal grains by Health Canada. It is unfortunate that the USA is still behind on this important baby weaning step.
Baby First Food Recipe
Recipe to make the best first food for baby as practiced by healthy, traditional cultures to boost intelligence and encourage early speaking.
Ingredients
- 1 egg preferably pastured or free range
- 1/2 tsp organic liver optional, grated
Instructions
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Boil the egg for 3 1/2 minutes. Crack the egg open (no need to peel) and carefully place the soft egg yolk into a bowl. Discard the shell and the egg white.
Stir in the optional liver (grated while still frozen is the easiest method).
Serve baby a taste or two building slowly over days and weeks as tolerated.
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Stir in the optional liver (grated while still frozen is the easiest method). Or use organic desiccated liver powder.
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Serve baby a taste or two building slowly over days and weeks as tolerated. Feeding to much too quickly risks vomiting as this is a very rich food!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
The organic raw liver should be frozen for at least 14 days to ensure safety.
Alternatively, if a clean source for organ meats is not available, use desiccated liver pills and sprinkle 1/8 of a tsp into the warm yolk.
I use it for air tight storage of freshly baked breads, cookies, etc. I never use it for cooking or heating any food, that’s for sure!
Can I ask something funny? I have a microwave and really want to do away with it. I find your way of using it to be the best! Lol. I have a small kitchen so I love finding more space!
I just am clueless as to what the alternative re-heating methods are if I’m not using the micro wave. For instance, my husband will heat up all leftovers in the microwave. What’s the alternative? I recently got a teapot but for one cup of tea it’s kind of annoying to have to fill it up halfway with filtered water … (well if I didn’t have a 5 month old high needs son it would probably not bother me to take the time to do this) ….
Could you do a post on alternatives to the microwave? In our microwave obsessed society? Please! THank you 🙂
to heat left overs, add water or oil small amount and put on stove on med to low till warm.may want to cover too. or put in oven at 350 till warm. may need to stir either of these
A toaster oven is wonderful for reheating foods – that way you don’t have to heat up your giant oven every time you need to cook/reheat something. I have an Oster brand convection toaster oven that’s big enough to fit 4lb chicken even!
We did not start eating a traditional diet until after the birth of our 3rd child. Naturally we wanted to start our 4th child out with this approach. She had a terrible allergic reaction at 6 months to the egg yolk, and it was a very scary experience for us all! I later read in one of Jen Allbritton’s articles in Wise Traditions, that if Mom has food intolerances/allergies, caution should be given to giving baby egg yolk prior to 1 yr of age. I have celiac disease, so not sure if this was why she reacted so strongly. She is 3 now, and is fine with eggs. Just wanted to share my experience:)
Thank you for bringing up this important caveat, Miranda. Another good reason to just do a taste or even put a little egg yolk on the baby’s arm to see what happens. Food introduction should always be done very cautiously with babies.
Here is a link to the article for those who may want to go slow on the yolk introduction:
I know that most people (including 2 of my friends) have absolutely no problems with egg yolk intro. I guess my babies are the unfortunate few!
Thanks for all of the effort that you put into this website Sarah. Your video tutorials are fantastic!
Thank you so much for posting this! I also gave my 8 month old soft boiled egg yolk and she had to be rushed to the hospital! I know that this is rare, but it can happen…I hope she will be able to tolerate eggs when she is older!
Last week I gave my 10 month year old baby one raw egg yolk, from a better than organic farmer (no soy, Salatin principles). I mixed it with her yoghourt and she seemed to tolerate it well.
Unfortunately I got a little excited and when she didn’t eat her veggies at night, and I gave her one more egg yok, which concluded with her projectile vomiting, which she never did before. She had no allergic reactions days later, just the vomit. Yes, I know I did a shitty job as a parent and went way too fast.
I think one of the problems is that my daughter didn’t tolerate raw milk very well (didn’t like it and well she did like it, got eczema) and I’m a raw food eater and it bugs me that she can’t eat good (raw) food when there are blogs like this and everyone is feeding raw milk and egg yolk as young as 4 months. Sigh.
I guess she’s getting cod liver oil, raw butter, and advocado, so it’s not all bad, but still, she knows maybe 3 words (Up! Out! Dadda, lol), but no sentences yet.
So how should I proceed? It’s almost 11 months. I guess we should try again, first by putting some on her arm, then adding a little to her morning breakfast of yogourt and fruit? Or should I just wait until 1 years old.
Also, is it truly possible to get all of the egg white off the egg yolk if feeding it raw. Sure, I got 99% of it, but will that 1% bother the child.
Anyway advice is welcome.
Thank you,
Jason
I am actually allergic to eggs …
My reaction is to vomit if I eat an egg. It’s weird. I just throw up.
I have a 5 month old son and want to provide him with the best nutrition …. so I hope that if I test his arm with egg yolk he is also not allergic. I should add … I think I developed this allergy as I got older. I always have eaten eggs, but a blood allergy test showed I’m allergic.
It could also be a reaction if the chicken was fed soy, which is very allergenic, not to mention genetically modified. Another reason to talk to farmers and find out their practices.
Thank you Sarah so much for posting this! I am currently 8 weeks pregnant and am making sure to get lots of raw egg yolk and liver in my diet right now. Started GAPS 2 months beefore getting pregnant and at 41 on my third pregnancy I feel better this time around than ever before. No morning sickness and good energy which I attribute to GAPS. I am so looking forward to giving this baby and much healthier start than I was able to with my oher two. Once again thank you for your wonderful site!
Warmly,
Tracey
Excellent Tracey! Best to you on your joyous journey 🙂
@Nathalie The problem with the table food approach is that is not what Traditional Societies did. Traditional cultures actively fed nutrient dense foods to babies starting long before weaning and before the baby could feed his/herself.
I can attest to this. I tried the so-called “Baby led weaning” approach with my son and got sick of looking at his diapers full of undigested chunks of food. That is not health! I’m simply not buying that babies are supposed to have no help getting their food pre-chewed. Many animals including humans pre-chew food for their babies so I’d rather just follow that. My son’s diapers looked a lot less weird after we stopped giving him non-pureed solids so early. He’s just now getting chunks of food again at 14 months. I pretty much take the cue that if I see it whole in his potty or diaper it means I need to keep pureeing it for him or cut it out altogether, as I have with most grains.
I am currently using baby led weaning and my son’s diaper is full of undigested food. However, I have read somewhere that pureeing doesn’t make much difference. The food will still be undigested in the stool, it just won’t be so obvious as it will blend in.
On the other hand it just makes more sense that puree food should be absorbed better than chunks of food, so I am a bit confused. I love the fact that my son is being able to feed himself pieces of food (he is nine months now) but I want him to get as much nutrients as possible.
yah i see that in my kid diaper. i do sort of a mix of tridtional and baby lead. i do what I feel is my natuarel instict to do keeping in mind the alergy list. and no grains. I dont digest everything I eat. so stuff is just fiber. as my hubby said her boady will get use to is. ic eed her as that is a mom job. dont believe the baby lead thing of feed yourself. they are babies and relie on us!. I like some of all but med way of feeding. Rice white rice no way. I dodnt even eat that crap!I love all the good info on here. sprouting grains has been a search for me to understand. glad for this site and videos!!!
@Bambi Cooking the egg yolk eliminates enzymes and the baby will have trouble digesting a fully cooked egg yolk. Soft boiling retains all the enzymes and no nutrition is lost by cooking it.
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for this great video! You mentioned pureed vegetables as a common first food. What about fruits? I know that is very common. I work with women on preconception and pregnancy nutrition and would like to be able to share this information with them.
Thanks!
-Deena
Mashed banana is very high in enzymes and can be started about 6 months. I wouldn’t do the other ones .. particularly the jarred fruits as these are cooked and lack any enzymes to assist with digestion at all. Don’t sub banana for the egg yolk though. Banana would be a good second food .. not first. Egg yolk and grated raw liver are unsurpassed in what they will do for your child’s mental and physical development over the long term.
I always wonder why people don’t recommend papaya for a first fruit for babies. I’ve heard it has lots of enzymes.
What do you think?
I would worry about how acidic it is. I would wait until 8-9 months .. it is definitely loaded with enzymes though.
here, I just waited until my boy was able to pick food from my plate and breastfed for the rest. The parents eat healthy, so will the baby.
My Lily has been enjoying homemade foods since she was 6 months. She’s now 10 months and still loves just about everything. Carrots are a real trial though. I love making her food!
Great post, Sarah! I didn’t do this quite right for my first baby (now 11 months) but I will now know better for next time,
I have one question on the liver – how long is it good for frozen in your freezer?
My personal preference is 6 months … it would probably be ok longer than that but the taste would be probably a bit freezer burned.
Should the frozen liver be cooked?
No, it’s raw.
I have been giving my baby egg yolks since he was 6 months old. I wouldn’t even boil an egg, just crack it open and give him raw egg yolk. I add one tsp of cod liver oil in there and a pinch of ascorbic acid and he loved the mixture! I also make liver patties and those are a hit as well!
If you’re going to go that approach, make sure to wash the egg thoroughly in warm, soapy water before cracking. I’m sure you’re probably doing this already, just wanted to highlight this for those that are new to egg yolk as a first food.
For those uncomfortable with a raw egg yolk, though, soft boiling works well … ALL enzymes and nutrition are still intact using the soft boil method and it may give more peace of mind for new parents.
Wow, I can’t believe I have not thought of washing eggs! Shame on me! Thank you so much for drawing my intention to this. It did not even cross my mind. I guess, I just thought that being from pastured hens, eggs are safe enough and completely forgot about this simple precaution.
I have a question, what if baby was diagnosed with extreme acid reflux? Would egg yoke be too rich for her, now 7 months? She’s starting to get better but still has it. Her Pedi had me give her carrots as her first food. Her GI Dr pushed rice cereal on me unfortunately saying she couldn’t hold anything down. I even showed them what you said it does to the baby’s gut.. Any help you can provide is appreciated.