Egg allergies can be severe and are most common in infants under 12 months of age. This page helps you decide when to include egg in your baby's diet.
Egg allergy in baby occurs when his body mistakenly treats the protein in egg as a harmful substance (see our main allergies page for general allergy information, including risk factors and prevention tips). Eggs are one of the most common causes of food allergy and those with an allergy to eggs tend to react to the proteins in the egg white - ovalbumin and ovomucoid. Some children, however, are allergic to the yolk protein, although this is far less common.
Many children outgrow their allergy to eggs by the age of 5.
Because of the fact that many children tend to be allergic to egg whites, doctors advise that you avoid egg whites altogether for the first year. If there is a family history of food allergy, then it might be worth excluding egg whites from your baby's diet for the first 2 years. Well cooked egg yolk, however, can be given to your baby from 6 months of age - although you may want to wait on egg yolk, too, if there is a family history of allergy. The easiest way to separate the yolk from the white is to hard boil the egg, then simply remove the yolk. Alternatively, you can crack a raw egg into two, then tip the yolk back and forth between the shell halves, allowing the white to drain into a cup. However, some traces of egg white may remain and even tiny traces can lead to a severe reaction in an allergic baby.
