The best first food to feed baby around 4-6 months of age based on practices of healthy, traditional societies and not modern hype.
Many parents believe that baby cereals are the best first food, but these highly processed, refined powders are best avoided!
Traditional foods that are easier to digest and less likely to trigger allergies are much preferred to modern choices.
Grain-based foods are not a good idea for children only a few months old, so skip the rice cereal that might be suggested by the pediatrician (who never studied nutrition at medical school!).
Baby’s immature digestive system does not produce sufficient amylase, the enzyme required for digestion of carbohydrates, until at least a year old.
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.
While egg white should not be given to babies under a year old, the egg yolk supplies critical brain-building cholesterol, choline, and fatty acids that will reward you with a child who speaks at an early age.
All 3 of my children were speaking short, 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 wisely 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 a nourishing first food. Remember to skip the egg white until baby’s second year.
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.
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
- 1/10 tsp desiccated liver powder optional, alternative to fresh liver
Instructions
-
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). Alternatively, use 1/10 teaspoon organic desiccated liver powder.
-
Serve baby a taste or two at first, building slowly over days and weeks as tolerated. Feeding too much in the beginning risks vomiting as this is a very rich food!
As baby is building toward a whole yolk, add the remaining portion to your own breakfast, so none goes to waste 🙂
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
The organic raw liver should be frozen for at least 14 days to ensure safety.
Reference
Thanks for the recipe and video ! Just wondering what kind of animal liver you’re using ? chicken, lamb, beef, pig ?
Grassfed beef or chicken liver is the most easily sourced … although any quality, grassfed liver is fine. Don’t use pork liver though.
Should I only give them egg yolk until 7 months? No other food?
Other foods are fine such as ripe banana and avocado starting about 6 months. Here’s more on that. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/right-way-to-feed-babies/
Hi Sarah,
We have been feeding our 5 month old egg yolk for a couple of weeks now and he loves it. Just a few spoonfuls about every other day for now. Should this be increased to everyday at some point? I’m also wondering when we should introduce something else, like fruits or vegetables? I wasn’t sure what the next step would be, and when that should occur. Thank you!
Here are some ideas: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/right-way-to-feed-babies/
Hi Sarah, for how long do you recommend giving only the egg yolk cooked this way? What would be the best next food to introduce? I’ve got a 6months old and just started her on solids with first week on pumpkin purée plus chicken bone broth and we did the egg yolk today. Thanks.
I did it for as long as baby would eat it was at least several months. That was usually until enough other solid foods were being eaten everyday and baby began to develop preferences and would no longer eat some every day. You don’t have to feed the whole egg yolk. Some days especially early, the baby just has a taste or two.
Is cereal fine for 1yr old then? I assume but wanted to ask
Hi Sarah,
About the egg yolk being soft and not cooked through…how about salmonella issues? People think I am crazy when I tell them I started feeding my baby egg yolk not cooked through with raw liver…I get all kinds of comments including to be careful not to food poison my baby. Also, that liver being an organ who the main function is to detox the body that I should not feed my baby that…Can you please shed a light on these type of comments? Thank you!
If you get good quality organic, pastured, free range type eggs and wash them with warm soap and water before soft boiling, the risk is virtually nil. Do not use cheap supermarket eggs!
I tried poached egg yolk as a first food and my baby loved it. I was so excited that she liked such an easy to prepare nutritious food, but shortly after she had a bad reaction. About the third or fourth time I gave her some she turned her nose up at it. Then another time I put a little taste on her lip to lick and within 30 minutes she started vomiting. It was horrible! She threw up repeatedly throughout the day and refused to breastfeed. At that time I didn’t think it was the egg yolk. I mean how could that tiny taste cause this kind of reaction!? So a couple weeks later we’re eating poached eggs and gave her a little taste. She still didn’t want it so she only had a tiny taste. And the exact same thing happened again! Scariest thing I’ve ever seen. She was so sick and I felt so bad for her. I’m absolutely terrified to give her anything with egg in it again and haven’t yet. I don’t understand why this happened. She was about 6 or 7 months old when this happened and she really hadn’t had much else besides a taste of sweet potato. I waited to start her on solids since she had reflux issues.
The grass fed liver should come from cows? Or chicken? Thank you!
Either one is fine!
Hello, can I ask why we would use a soft boiled egg yolk and not a hard boiled yolk? Enzyme content? Also, you recommend when answering another question not to ‘overdo’ the yolk so baby does not develop an egg allergy. What other foods would you then recommend for a 7 month old?
Thanks!
Soft boiled egg yolk is warm and not hot, which retains the enzymes. A hard boiled egg yolk has no enzymes left as it has been completely cooked through.
Homemade soups made with bone broth and pureed veggies and meat is wonderful at 7 months. Also, fruits that are high in enzymes like avocados, bananas, papaya. Try to steer clear of grains at this young age.
Thank you for this! Quick question, are egg yolks (of the caliber you describe) okay for baby to have every morning for breakfast? I have mixed a yolk a couple of times with goat’s milk yogurt to replace the oatmeal we were feeding for breakfast every morning but, like eggs for adults are suggested 3x a week, for example, does the same apply for yolks for babies?
Be careful overdoing it. I’ve known some mothers who feed too much egg yolk because their babies love it and the baby develops an allergy to it. Also, the egg yolk should have a bit of raw liver grated in. This is much better than using yogurt. I actually rarely fed an entire egg yolk to my babies, I would simply give them some of the poached egg yolk from my own breakfast plate. Use your best judgment. Every baby is different.