When to Introduce Eggs to Baby [ & Avocado Egg Salad Recipe for Baby] (2024)

This article was written in partnership with the Egg Nutrition Center. All opinions are my own.

If your little one is getting ready to start solids, you may be wondering when to introduce eggs to your baby. If you’re an egg lover like me, I have great news. The newly released 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) recommends eggs as a complementary first food when babies are developmentally ready (4 months or older)! Eggs provide eight essential nutrients that help build a healthy foundation for life and early introduction may help decrease the risk of developing an egg allergy.

Why are eggs a fundamental first food for baby?

As a mom of three, I will tell you that my family eats eggs as part of a meal multiple times per week. I love eggs because they are incredibly quick and easy to make (and so versatile), but also because of they’re loaded with nutrition. So, when the newest DGAs came out, I was so excited to see eggs recommended as a complementary first food. And there are a few reasons for this. First, eggs are a nutrient-dense food providing several nutrients babies need during a time in which their brains are rapidly developing. Eggs are one of nature’s most perfect proteins[1]. With one egg containing 6 grams of high-quality protein and allnine essential amino acids, eggs provide a high-quality protein that is oftenused as a standard for comparing other proteins[2].

But the benefits of eggs go beyond protein alone. Eggs are one of the most concentrated food sources of choline in the American diet.[3]^,[4] In fact, it isdifficult to achieve the daily Adequate Intake (AI) level for choline without eating eggs or taking a dietarysupplement[5].

Why is choline important?

Why does it matter if you consume enough choline? Choline plays a key role in brain development for infants and toddlers. In addition, new and emerging evidence suggests adequate maternal choline intake during pregnancy, and possiblylactation, has lasting beneficial neurocognitive effects that may extend into school-age years.[6]^,[7] But approximately 90% of Americans, including pregnant women, fail to meet the daily Adequate Intake (AI) levels forcholine.[8] Just one large egg provides the daily choline needs for babies and toddlers, and two large eggs provide more than half of the choline needs for pregnant moms.[9]^,[10]So, you can see how adding eggs to the diet can be a great way to boost overall choline intake. And offering eggs to your baby can ensure he consumes dietary choline each day, which may benefit cognition now and in the future.

Do I need to avoid eggs for baby because of potential allergen risks?

Another reason the DGAs recommend eggs as a first food is because research has shown that early introduction of eggs may actually help reduce the risk of developing an egg allergy. In addition, pregnant and nursing mothers should also make it a habit to add eggs to their diet as the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that potential food allergens should not be avoidedduring pregnancy or breastfeeding,[11] unless mom, herself, is allergic, of course.

Pretty amazing, right?

So what’s the best way to introduce eggs to baby? Honestly, there isn’t just one best way. For babies that are being spoon-fed first foods as purees, hard boiling an egg, then mashing the yolk with a bit of breast milk or formula into a puree can be an easy way to offer an egg as an introductory food.

If you practice baby-led weaning, hard-boiling and chopping an egg or scrambling one can be great ways to introduce eggs as well.

What’s my favorite way to serve my baby eggs? I’m so glad you asked! My go-to for my baby (and my whole family) is my simple 3-Ingredient Avocado Egg Salad. It couldn’t be easier to make and provides a good source of high-quality protein and healthy fats. It can also be made and served three ways, making it perfect for serving as a puree for a baby just starting solids, as a finger food for baby-led weaning, or even as a spread for the rest of the family to enjoy on toast, crackers, or as a sandwich on whole grain bread.

3-Ingredient Avocado Egg Salad Recipe

If you ask me to recommend my top two foods to offer as complementary first foods, my answer would be eggs and avocado. And that combination is exactly what inspired this simple recipe. This 3-ingredients avocado egg salad recipe is so easy to make, I know it will be your new go-to for meal prep. And beyond being incredibly simple, this avocado egg salad recipe can be made in three ways – pureed, mashed, or as a spread – meaning that every member of your family can enjoy it. So no need to be a short-order chef creating one meal for baby and one for yourself. This avocado egg salad recipe is the perfect choice for the whole family.

How to make Avocado Egg Salad

Now that I’ve got you excited about serving eggs to your baby, you are probably wondering how to make this avocado egg salad recipe – and hoping it really is as simple as I say it is. Here’s how you do it:

To start, you’ll want to hard boil your egg. You can do this in a number of ways, but I have a hack I think you will love. You can hard boil eggs in the oven! Yup … no need to babysit boiling water on the stove. You can hard boil eggs while you work on checking off all the other tasks on your to-do list. This is my step-by-step guide to making the perfect hard boiled egg in the oven. I like making hard boiled eggs this way because with three small kids running around, it takes the stress away from having to keep everyone away from the stove.

Once your eggs are hard boiled, grab your avocado and you are ready to make your egg salad.

Avocado Egg Salad Recipe Three Ways

Remember when I told you this recipe can be made to fit the needs of everyone in your house, well it’s true. First, I’m going to share with you how to make this avocado egg salad as a puree for baby.

Pureed Avocado Egg Salad Recipe for Baby

To create an avocado egg salad puree, start by peeling your hard-boiled egg and slicing in horizontally. Next, peel, slice, and dice your avocado. Add 1/3 of the avocado and the egg yolk (or whole egg) into a small bowl. Mash with a fork until you get a smooth texture. You can add in one to two tablespoons or water, breastmilk, or formula to this mash until you get the smooth, pureed texture that your baby enjoys. If you choose the mash the entire egg, you may want to blend in a small food processor to get a smoother texture. If desired, you can add in ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice for flavor as well as to prevent the avocado from browning.

Avocado Egg Salad Recipe for Baby Led Weaning

If you practice baby-led weaning, this version of the avocado egg salad recipe may be more your style. Here, you can easily create a bite-sized snack your baby can fed to himself while getting in the nutrition he needs.

To create this recipe, peel the hard-boiled egg and peel, slice, and dice one half of the avocado. Using a fork, mash together the egg and avocado along with ½ teaspoon lemon juice. Once mashed, spread the avocado egg salad over bite sized pieces of slightly crispy whole grain toast to allow baby to feed himself.

Avocado Egg Salad Recipe for the Whole Family

In this version of the avocado egg salad, create the recipe just as you would for baby-led weaning. Then, if desired, add a dash of salt and pepper to taste. Then spread the avocado egg salad on whole grain bread as a filling sandwich option or enjoy it as a spread with whole grain crackers.

How to store leftover avocado egg salad

Leftovers of this avocado egg salad recipe can be stored for one to two days in the refrigerator. To prevent the avocado from browning, drizzle lemon juice over the top of the egg salad, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap (or place in an air-tight container).

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Sources:

[1] Schaafsma, G., The protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score. J Nutr, 2000. 130(7): p. 1865s-7s.

[2] U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. 2019; Available from: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/index.html.

[3] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 2015; 8:[Available from:

http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/].

[4] U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA Database for the choline Content of Common Foods. 2008; Available from: https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/Choline/Choln02.pdf.

[5] Wallace, T.C. and V.L. Fulgoni, Usual Choline Intakes Are Associated with Egg and Protein Food Consumption in the United States. Nutrients, 2017. 9(8).

[6] audill, M.A., et al., Maternal choline supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy improves infant information processing speed: a randomized, double-blind, controlled feeding study. Faseb j, 2018. 32(4): p. 2172-2180.

[7] Bahnfleth, C., et al., Prenatal Choline Supplementation Improves Child Color-location Memory Task Performance at 7 Y of Age (FS05-01-19). Current Developments in Nutrition, 2019. 3(Supplement_1).

[8] Wallace, T.C. and V.L. Fulgoni, Usual Choline Intakes Are Associated with Egg and Protein Food Consumption in the United States. Nutrients, 2017. 9(8).

[9] U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. 2019; Available from: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/index.html.

[10] Food and Nutrition Board and Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. 1998;

[11] Greer, F.R., S.H. Sicherer, and A.W. Burks, The Effects of Early Nutritional Interventions on the Development of Atopic Disease in Infants and Children: The Role of Maternal Dietary Restriction, Breastfeeding, Hydrolyzed Formulas, and Timing of Introduction of Allergenic Complementary Foods. Pediatrics, 2019. 143(4).