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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.
Hi,
I am doing your egg yolk cooking technique and have a question– should I be concerned/cooking the egg longer if there is still some watery egg white when I crack open the egg? The part near the shell is white, but the part closer to the yolk is still liquidy, and oozes out when I crack it open. This has me worried that I am not cooking it long enough?? I don’t want to overcook the egg yolk– it is warm but runny. I am cooking 3 1/2 minutes in boiling water, but the egg is going straight from the refrigerator to the stove…are you giving your cooking time with a room temperature egg? Or is some runny egg white expected?
Also, is it okay if there is a teeny amount of white mixed in? I have a very hard time getting it all off before the egg yolk bursts and blends in with it.
Thank you!!
Sarah,
At what age can a baby’s digestive system handle cooked yolks?
Maybe this is a dumb question, but I’m new to the whole foods community and want whats best for baby. =] I didn’t think any part of a raw egg was safe to consume? Thanks in advance.
I am so grateful for you and for all of the great information you share about feeding an infant! I was about to buy a box of rice cereal for my 5-month-old daughter first food, but this blog/video stopped me in my tracks. As a result, I’ve already tracked down a local source of eggs from pastured hens and my daughter’s first food will be egg yolk. I do not have a local source for the liver, but will be purchasing the liver capsules from the link above. Would I simply add the powder from one capsule to one egg yolk?
If you are going to recommend that people feed their children raw liver and potentially undercooked eggs you really need to put some kind of disclaimer on your site to at least protect yourself legally. There is a really good chance of food-borne illness with raw and undercooked foods and what could make an adult merely very sick could kill a child. It doesn’t matter that the item is organic or it came from a friend’s farm and they take care of their animals. Cooking times, food prep practices, food sanitation, etc. have all come about because regular foods raised as traditionally and carefully as possible used to kill a lot of people.
Forgive me if I have skipped over comments already pertaining to my question.
My son is 4 months. Within the next few weeks I would like to slowly start giving him egg yolk. Once he is eating it regularly could I break open a capsule of Garden of Life Vitamin Code raw iron instead of the liver?
I may have missed this in the comments, but I am looking for specifics on liver prep. I can buy grassfed organic beef liver at my local natural food store but it comes frozen already and vacuum packaged. How can I preserve it frozen but use just a 1/2 tsp for my baby? Do I open the package and cute off a bit and grate it and refreeze it, or once it’s open do I need to thaw and cook it? I personally have never eaten/prepared liver before but want to be a good steward of what I purchase. Any help would be great!
Thanks!
OK i read on another site boil 4 min the set in warm water 4min then cool on counter and peal. My baby after 3 days just spit up all afternoon. she had not been doing that for awhile. I eat lots of eggs and have sense i found i was prego. She is 6 months and talks when she wants to. Says mom a lot. the most recent thing she said. I left her in her bed and went to put wood in wood stove before we were going to go out. She got upset well I was loading stove. I told her I’m coming. she said WHEN!. I told her right now as I stepped into hall to go to room where she was. She has asked where did daddy go when he had been playing with her then got up and went to other room. this was at 41/2 months. so eating the eggs yourself from the start works to. I will try the egg yoke again in a couple months. Maybe try the 31/2 min boil too. yes got right eggs too. we looked high and low at farms till we found what we were looking for. I eat them raw so i know they are safe for her
I don’t want to be the negative one here. This seems very interesting and I can understand how this is truley healthier for a baby but what about the risk of salmonella? I would be so nervious esecially with a little baby… their little bodies wouldn’t be able to handle salmonella poisoning.
Sarah, I fed my 6 month old soft boiled egg yolk with a tiny bit of frozen liver the other day and it gave her food poisoning. The poor thing threw up 15 times and couldn’t keep anything down for about 12 hours. I have feed her just egg yolk about 4 times before and she spit that up too.
Is her stomach not ready for it? Or is the liver bad? What would you suggest?
Anne – I actually just read your post after posting mine. Hope your litter one is feeling better.