When Is It Safe to Feed Your Baby Eggs?
Updated June 18, 2014.
Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.
Question: When Is It Safe to Feed Your Baby Eggs?
When is it safe to feed your baby eggs? Do you need to wait until he is a year old? What if you have a history of food allergies in your family?
Answer:
In the past, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended a lengthy delay in introducing potentially allergenic foods, such as eggs, to babies. However, new research suggests that delaying introduction to foods may actually increase the potential for developing an allergy to that food.
The AAP and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology no longer recommend delaying the introduction of eggs to babies. They recommend that babies be exclusively breastfed for 4 to 6 months, and that foods be introduced gradually after that time. Infants at high risk for developing food allergies who cannot be breastfed should be fed a hypoallergenic formula.
A study of 2,500 Australian infants found that delayed introduction to egg increased the rate of egg allergy. Compared with babies who were first given eggs between 4 and 6 months, babies who were first given eggs at 10–12 months were 1.6 times more likely to have an egg allergy. Babies first given egg after the age of 12 months were 3.4 times more likely to develop an egg allergy. This was true even for babies who were not considered high risk for developing food allergies. (High-risk babies include those with a history of eczema or with food-allergic siblings.)
The same study found that babies who were first given cooked eggs (such as scrambled or boiled eggs) rather than eggs baked in a baked good had slightly lower rates of egg allergies.
The lowest level of egg allergy was among babies who were given cooked eggs between 4 and 6 months of age.
Another study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that some children with egg allergies are able to tolerate “extensively heated” eggs –- eggs that have been baked into waffles or muffins. Children who were able to eat baked eggs in the doctor’s office, and who then did so over a period of time, were more likely to develop a tolerance for eggs in other forms.
Sources:
Greer FR, Sicherer SH, Burks AW; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition; American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Allergy and Immunology.Effects of early nutritional interventions on the development of atopic disease in infants and children: the role of maternal dietary restriction, breastfeeding, timing of introduction of complementary foods, and hydrolyzed formulas. Pediatrics. 2008 Jan;121(1):183-91.
Koplin, J, et al. Can early introduction of egg prevent egg allergy in infants? A population-based study.The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Volume 126, Issue 4. October 2010
Lemon-Mulé, H., et al. Immunologic changes in children with egg allergy ingesting extensively heated egg. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Volume 122, Issue 5, November 2008
Savage , J. et al. The natural history of egg allergy Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Volume 120, Issue 6, December 2007, Pages 1413-1417
Thygarajan A, Burks AW. American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations on the effects of early nutritional interventions on the development of atopic disease. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2008 Dec;20(6):698-702.
Source...