Monday, January 31, 2011
Raw Egg Yolk for Babies?
So this was supposed to be a post about toddler smoothies, but as I started typing, it digressed into a post about raw eggs. So here you go: a post about why raw eggs are very important to your young child's diet.
Last night my husband and I got into an all out brawl, because he noticed me putting raw egg yolk into the blender and he was all: "um, are you putting raw egg yolk in her smoothie?" To which, I replied, "um, what does it look like?!" Imagine the sarcasm dripping from my lips, because I have been putting egg yolk in her smoothie for almost 6 months. 6 MONTHS! He has seen me make it, many a time, and he is JUST now realizing I put raw egg yolk in it?
Oh, Lord Jesus, save me now, I just might kill him.
Anyway, so then he looses his mind and says that I should have talked him about putting raw egg in her smoothie before doing it and that he doesn't think its a good idea because she can get salmonella, blah, blah, BLAH.
So then I loose my mind, because he is essentially saying I am putting her in harms way, and here I am busting my ass to give Penelope 100% perfection, in regards to her nutrition, AND I can't freaking STAND IT, when people make fear based decisions and have not done any research whatsoever to back up their purely emotional reaction. The argument ends with me stamping me feet (seriously) and yelling, "I am RIGHT and you are WRONG!"
I know, I'm so mature, right?
Once I calmed down, I apologize and say I should have known that he would like to have a say in what goes in her smoothie (I love him, but good grief, the man has to have a say about EVERYTHING) and that he needs to do his research and back up his statements and then we can have a civilized conversation about what is best for Penelope later.
So now I have to gather my research and present my argument to Peter and all of you get to come along for the ride.
First off. Know your eggs. I would never in a million years give Penelope conventional, industrial raw eggs from the grocery store. Not even regular organic, "free range" eggs. I only give her eggs that I go and pick up myself from the farmer. In a pinch, I will buy farmer eggs from New Leaf, but that rarely happens anymore.
Here's a quote one of my favorite blogs, Nourished Kitchen:
"Raw egg yolk tends to get a bad rap – and it’s unfortunate that consumers have become so fearful of their food. While everyone recognizes potential dangers of food borne illnesses, like salmonella from raw eggs, what they don’t consider is that only about one in every thirty thousand conventional eggs is infected and the incidence is even less among pastured eggs in which hens are kept in optimally healthy conditions: on grass with free access to consume the foods most natural for them. Raw egg yolk, are a potently rich source for two nutrients critical to health: biotin and choline. They are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, lecithin and enzymes."
Here are a couple of links from the Weston A Price Foundation website:
This one has some information about egg allergies (usually kids are allergic to the egg white, not the yolk) and how many eggs to give a child per day (as many as they want!).
This one talks about how egg yolk supplies cholesterol needed for mental development as well as important sulphur-containing amino acids. Egg yolks from pasture-fed hens or hens raised on flax meal, fish meal or insects are also rich in the omega-3 long-chain fatty acids These fatty acids are essential for the development of the brain. Parents who institute the practice of feeding egg yolk to baby will be rewarded with children who speak and take directions at an early age. The white, which contains difficult-to-digest proteins, should not be given before the age of one year.
This one says that eggs have been a highly valued foods since the beginning of time—eggs from chickens, ducks, geese, turtles and fish. Egg yolks are the richest source of two superstar carotenoids—lutein and zeaxanthin. Not only are bright yellow yolks loaded with these fat-soluble antioxidant nutrients, they are more bioavailable than those found in vegetables, corn and most supplements. While these nutrients have a reputation of combating macular degeneration and cataracts and supporting overall healthy vision, they have a long list of other benefits, including protecting the skin from sun damage and even reducing one’s risk of colon and breast cancer.
Another quote from of one my favorite blogs, The Healthy Home Economist, from her post about The Right Way To Feed Babies, she says:
"Children who receive sufficient omega 3 fats in their diet tend to speak clearly and understand verbal direction from the parents at a very early age. I just went back and looked at my children’s baby books and all 3 of them (even the boys) spoke short sentences by 15-17 months of age (with first words at around 7 months). While these sentences were very simple (“Get that”, “Don’t want that”, “More of this”) I have no doubt that getting ample omega 3′s from their diet played a big part in their ease of communicating at an early age with clear enough diction to be understood by even those outside the family."
This is a quote from a local personal trainer and nutritionist: "raw eggs are soooooooooooooooooooooooo good for you!"
I mean really, do I need to say anything more after that?
Penelope is right on par with her verbal skills, which is pretty awesome, considering almost everyone (professionals we worked with when trying to get her to nurse) told me she would have speech problems from her tongue tie and TMJ. And she astounds me by how much she understands. Pretty much everything I say to her she understands completely. Her perception of what I am saying is 100% right on. Now, I do spend a fair amount of time talking to her, reading to her, doing baby sign language and other things to build her verbal skills, but I really think the egg yolks play a huge part in how smart she is.
I feel that good nutrition is so important in general, but even more so, the first 3 years. What she is eating now is setting her up for the rest of her life. Maybe its a little fanatical, but I think egg yolks are going to make a major difference in her mental success later in life. I have no doubt in my mind that Penelope will be smarter and more emotionally balanced because she got enough omega- 3's in her diet early on.
Ok, ok, but why RAW EGGS you ask?
Heating the yolks destroys some enzymes, reduces certain nutrients and destroys cysteine (amino acid) which helps make glutathione, which is the master antioxidant (and p.s. Protandim also increases glutathione). They are also just plain easier to digest raw. Raw egg yolk is the perfect complete protein. Notice I said PERFECT, nothing comes close.
I found this analogy on another blog and I think it explains the difference between raw egg yolk and cooked well:
"Imagine a delicate crystal vase. Now imagine someone smashes it with a hammer and then tries to convince you that it is the exact same vase as before they destroyed it because, hey, all the pieces are still there. Well, obviously it's not the same. It not only looks different, but it can't perform the important function of holding fluids or displaying the beauty it had prior to being smashed with the hammer.
Well, an unheated egg yolk may seem similar to a cooked egg yolk, but it is far more complex and precise. We just don't appreciate that as we can't see it at the molecular level. If we could, the picture would be just as clear as with the vase."
So, to my dear husband, while I appreciate your concern for our daughter's health, and yes I should have asked you first, please stop acting like I was putting a rice krispy treat and some goldfish in her smoothie. I have this area of her life under control. Not only do I have under control, what Penelope is eating is very close to absolute perfection. You can thank me now, or thank me later, as in, when she has a full ride to Standford Medical school.
And Mama's, if anyone gives you shit, just print this out and stamp your feet!!
Or on Facebook!
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Great post! We eat a ton of farm fresh eggs around here and have been trying to feed them to my 9 month old. He just started eating solids in the last month and eats only what he can old in a big chunk and take bites of. Even then, he's still interested in a limited number of foods. I'm exposing him to a variety of foods regularly but I believe strongly in how important farm fresh pasture eggs are. Any ideas on how I can introduce them in a form he would be likely to eat? I've even tried cooking them just a little to hold form but he still won't touch them.
ReplyDeleteHi Acacia! I started giving Penelope slightly cooked egg at 6 months. I boil water and then put the egg in for about three minutes. Then I put it under cool water to cool it down enough to touch, then crack it open and sort of prick the yolk and the liquid pours out into a bowl. Then I add some salt and spoon fed it to her. She LOVED it! It was the only thing I spoon fed her, because we do Baby Led Weaning. She ate her eggs like this till about 10 or 11 months old and then she started to prefer it hard boiled. At 8 months I started making her smoothies with raw egg yolk and she sipped it from a straw. She just now getting to the point where she will eat a fried egg yolk,so that might be an option too.
ReplyDelete@Cassandra..so glad you are following along! I so much want to get information out there to help Mama's and I am glad somebody is reading!!
I am Cassandra's mother. Logic may be the new thing with mothers but love is an emotion and not in any way, shape, or form logical. I read your blog today because Cassandra "liked" it on Facebook. It was interesting and full of good information. As she stated, I am trying to read and research things she is doing with my granddaughter before reacting. She is a great mom, I tell her so often, and I don't think she thought I would read what she wrote here today. :)
ReplyDeleteMy 10 month old gets egg scrambled egg yolk almost every morning! He wasn't really that into it until I started adding just a little bit of cheese. The first time I added cheese he said "Mmm Mmm" the whole time he was eating it. I also love that it's something he can pretty much feed himself.
ReplyDeleteI can't quite bring myself to give it to him raw though... could you give us some "starter" smoothie recipes... maybe it won't bother me so much in a smoothie.
My baby is 4 months old and I read an article by dr. Mercola about starting your baby on egg yolk instead of baby cereal because it turns to sugar. So I was doing research and came across this blog. How do I start my child on egg yolk? I am still breast feeding too.
ReplyDeleteHi Kraci! Welcome! Glad you found us.
ReplyDeleteCereal is bad, because not only does it turn to sugar, it is hard for babies under age 2 to digest because they do not have enough of the amalazye (digestive enzyme that breaks down carbs).
To give your baby egg yolk, you boil water. Then put the egg (pastured, organic, etc) in the boiling water for three minutes. Take it out, run it under cool water to cool it down enough to handle it. Break it open, pierce the yolk and let the liquid drain out into a bowl. Add a little salt, and spoon feed to your baby.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you soo much for this post. I am currently pregnant and my husband is constantly fighting with me about what I eat - it seriously is a nightmare and makes eating UN-enjoyable for me. I only eat local, organic produce from our local farmers including raw milk. I did stop drinking it because he won't let me. Well at least I did it the first 8 weeks of my pregnancy, so I know the baby got some of the good stuff. As long as you know where your food is coming from you are fine. What they sell in supermarkets is more an issue for me since it is all mass production and you never know where it is coming from.
ReplyDeleteThis is hysterical! And this bit I love:
ReplyDelete"he is essentially saying I am putting her in harms way... AND I can't freaking STAND IT when people make fear-based decisions and have not done any research whatsoever to back up their purely emotional reaction."
Not only do I eat a primal diet and am trying to get my kid to (mostly ) too - for 100% researched reasons - I'm a first-time mom living in my husband's country and/so raising a bilingual child. Where do you want me to START about the b*llsh*t "advice" and thinly-veiled criticisms I get over how I raise my kid?
My SIL actually told me that too many eggs would give a person a "soft brain" (I kid you not) and ... oh, I won't start on the language stuff. Let's put it this way: at least with food, you have a reasonable expectation that the other person eats and that's the source of their advice, however wonky, but bilingualism? EEEEEEEEverybody has something to say about that. IN THEIR ONE LANGUAGE.
**pant pant** breeeeeathe.
Cassandra's mom is right: these are knee-jerk reactions made out of love. I'm just a bit tired of having to be the bigger person who remembers that and reacts in love to tell them to ... go away. Lovingly.
Also, I don't see any of the links to the Weston A. Price Foundation that you mention in your post?
ReplyDeleteI posted another comment but, don't think I completed the process correctly. So here is my take 2:
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your post! I referred to it in a post of mine on Facebook today: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150336886690172
We are big fans or raw egg yolks from pastured eggs!
Sandrine Hahn
Nourishing Our Children, Executive and Creative Director
http://www.nourishingourchildren.org
how do the smoothies taste?
ReplyDeleteHaha I love what you said to your husband while stamped your feet. Thanks for the additional reading, too. I put raw egg yolk in my boy's smoothies, but I didn't start that until recently, and he's three. I wish I had known more about how to feed babies when he was a baby!
ReplyDelete@Analena..so sorry to hear that! I hope you can start drinking raw milk again. Maybe show your husband this post??
ReplyDelete@Lauren..so glad you enjoyed the post! I love making people laugh! And oh man, your situation does not sound fun. We almost moved to Chile last summer and I was terrified about not having access to good food or mom friends that would not think I was a nut case for our lifestyle.
@Sandrine Hahn...I just highlighted them in black and bold, sorry about that. And thanks so much for posting this on your facebook page. Thank YOU for all your hard work, you are doing amazing things!
@Anonymous...they taste the same to me. Sometimes I can get a slurp that has a little bit different texture, because I didn't mix the egg up well enough. I can only handle one egg in mine, but my daughter gets two and still slurps it down.
My son is 23 now but I cringe at the way his very tradtitional father and I fought over food...I can't bear to think about it. Fighting over it wasn't so great either, nothing was accomplished until we treated each others point of view very respectfully, but I digress...Did I miss the recipes for raw yolks? Maybe they are just incorporated into other rescipes?
ReplyDelete@Lore..I didn't have a recipe in this post, but I put raw egg yolks into her fruit smoothies. I know other people put it in milk and make a type of shake, with vanilla.
ReplyDeleteI commend all you women who have to put up with men who are finicky about nutrition and food. My husband gives me free reign and then washes the dishes after! But I've found I'm very lucky.
ReplyDeleteA caution on the egg yolks, I tried that with my third baby as I was just starting to experiment with "new" nutrition and it did not work for her. I tried it twice and she vomited repeatedly both times. I think she was around 7 months so maybe it was too early for her. I soft boiled the egg and fed her the soft yolk. Anyhow, I don't know why she reacted like that but I didn't do it again. So, while it may be great for most babies, it may not work for all. Later, after a year old she was able to eat scrambled eggs just fine.
just loved your blog, my daughter cara is 6 months now n i wz confused abt the egg myths around, glad i found you
ReplyDelete. . . . .