Egg Yolk for Baby

Cooked Egg Yolk

Feeding your baby eggs may not be a food that you think of when it comes to introducing solids to your baby. Eggs are on the first year no-no list. This is true for the egg whites; egg yolks are fine for baby to eat before the 1-year mark. Egg yolk provides complex animal proteins and minerals that are essential to the growth of your little one. Just proceed with caution as you would any other new food your introducing to baby. I always have some Benadryl in my cupboard just in case.

Here is the recipe for this nutrient packed food:

Ingredients:

1. 1 organic free range egg  (When buying eggs please try to buy organic. Regular eggs come from chickens who are fed genetically modified corn. The GMOs can pass into the egg then into your baby)
2. 1 pot of boiling water

Directions:

1. Boil a pot of water
2. Place the egg into the boiling water
3. Boil the egg for 6-7 minutes (The yolk should be soft and warm, not runny or dried and chalky)
4. Run the egg under cold water and begin peeling the shell off
5. Now separate the egg yolk from the egg white (Be careful during this process, you do not want to contaminate the yolk with the white. I just poked the egg with a sharp knife and drained the yolk out)
6. Enjoy by spoonful or mix in with another food

Dairy Free Chocolate Cake

Having allergies can be very frustrating at times. As previously mentioned in my Breastfeeding and Food Allergies post, I had to eliminate dairy, soy and tomatoes from my diet. One huge challenge is getting your sweet tooth fix when most sweets contain things like milk and/or soy. We can’t just run into the store and pick up a sweet little treat anymore. Don’t think though that you can never enjoy a little sweet treat here and then again.

Curing my chocolate craving has been the biggest challenge though. Finding pure cocoa powder is almost non-existent. I did however mange to find the brand Wilderness Family Naturals at Whole Foods. With my new find I was now ready to bake my first ever dairy and soy free chocolate cake.

I found and adapted a rich, moist and delicious chocolate cake recipe from Ashley Adams. I made this cake for Easter and everyone loved it. Now I would love to share this amazing recipe with you to get your chocolate fix covered!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups white flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 ½ cups Earth Balance “Buttery” Spread

2 ½ cups raw sugar

4 large eggs

1 ½ cup almond milk

¼ cup maple syrup

2 tbsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a cake pan.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the “butter” and sugar. Mix on high speed until fluffy.
4. Add the eggs into the stand mixer one at a time.
5. Next add the almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla.  
6. With a wooden spoon stir in the dry ingredients until both wet and dry are combined.
7. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 60 minutes.
8. Allow the cake to cool completely.
9. Enjoy!

Teething Tips and Tricks

So the average time for baby’s first tooth to appear is between 5 – 7 months. However, my little man started teething at 3.5 months. My son’s two lower teeth came in first at the exact same time. These two teeth cut through my son’s gum very quickly but were very painful. After his first two teeth erupted they just kept coming, coming, and coming. At 5 months old he had 5 teeth. Although teething definitely caused my son discomfort during the cutting process I was very fortunate that he did not get a fever or have loose stools.

I decided to create my first mood board to share with you 5 teething tools that I used to treat some of the soreness associated with teething.

1. Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder – Now that my son is 6 months and has started eating  solids I am super excited to use this as a teether. I freeze his excess food in ice cube trays so they will be ready to pop into the mesh feeder once his next tooth decides to make an appearance.

2. Ringly Natural Teething Toys – My favourite thing about these teethers is that they are made out of 100% organic cotton and untreated maple wood. Another bonus is that they can be washed in the washing machine once your little one is done gnawing away at it (which my son loves doing).

3. SoPure Sophie la girafe Teething Ring – I love love love how this teether is perfect for those tiny little hands to hold. This was the first toy that my son picked up and mouthed on his own. We barley leave the house without Sophie. A bonus is that this teether is made out of 100% natural rubber.

4. Green Sprouts Fruit CoolSoothing Teether – Providing cool things to chew on is such an effective way to treat teething. My son absolutely loves chewing on cools things as way of soothing his sore little gums. This teether is also BPA PVC and nitrosamine free.

5. Baltic Amber Necklace – It is believed that this necklace helps with various teething symptoms such as pain, fever and drooling because of the succinic acid. One thing that I do know for sure though, is that my son seems much calmer when he is wearing his amber necklace. Although retailers say these necklaces are safe and do not pose a chocking risk, my son wears it on his ankle for my own piece of mind. 

Seeing your baby in discomfort is so difficult for all mothers. I am hoping that one of these tips help soothe your little teething baby too. Do you have any other tips that you’d like to share?

Homemade Organic Chicken Puree

Don’t be afraid to serve your baby meat. Chicken is an amazing food for iron and is one of the easiest digested meats. Make sure you offer dark meat, as it’s higher in iron. If your baby isn’t sure of the taste, try mixing it with a vegetable.

Ingredients:

1. 3 organic boneless/skinless chicken thighs 
2. Avocado oil (I choose avocado oil since my son tried avocado as his first food)
3. Plain boiled water or cooking juice if mixing with a vegetable (save the juices that you cooked the vegetable in)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease the baking dish with avocado oil
3. Add the chicken thighs to the baking dish
4. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes (until the juices run clear)
5. Once the chicken is ready chop the thighs into 1 inch pieces
6. Place chicken chunks into a blender or food processer and puree
7. Slowly add the water or cooking juice and puree until you have reached the desired consistency
8. Makes about 1 baby bullet short cup

Guest Post: Fight Against TCA with a Positive Attitude

Guest Post: Written by Sneha

Zenith is the reach for the Medical field in discovering new solutions to different diseases. But this has failed to bring out something for the new mom’s grief mainly in the case of Total Colonic Aganglionosis (TCA). TCA is generally occurred in the newborn and its occurrence is almost from 2% to 13%. The reasons for this are not clearly known until now. Many scientists are still on their way in finding out medicine. Toddlers who are found with this are generally operated on to remove their large intestine completely. But for this they should weigh at least five kilos. As a known fact, most babies with TCA will be underweight, so the doctors will perform another small surgery called Ileostomy. This is something very painful both for the mothers in taking care and for babies. Here, there will be no control in the motion and besides that most important aspect is that, Ileum (which come from the stomach) will eat the skin. This rash is something horrible and baby cries a lot every time as they pass motion.

Of course there are ointments, pastes, powders of many prestigious companies for this, but things won’t be completely in our control even though we can afford them. In other words, care of parents and doctors’ advice can do nothing to help the kid in gaining weight other than our fate.

This is a serious problem even though it occurs in very rare cases. Let’s wish the research goes well and within no time there comes to light some sort of panacea that helps the nerve cells in the large intestine to work. So that there won’t be any surgeries in the future generations like this. The simple thing that protects your baby from ileum is egg whites, for those who cannot afford to buy the creams in the market. One needs to just apply this very liberally and often on the affected area for the baby.

Like Sneha's guest post? To connect with Sneha follow her on Twitter.