Egg Allergy

It is recommended that infants are exclusively breastfed up until the age of 6 months. For those infants that are not breast fed, commercial infant formulas should be used as an alternative. Around 6 months of age, infants are ready for the transition to solid foods as their nutritional needs cannot be met by milk alone. Iron rich foods are a priority for baby at this time as their stores start to deplete by their 6 month birthday.

Six months of age is an ideal window of opportunity to introduce the common allergenic foods including cow's milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, sesame, soy, fish, shellfish and wheat. There is no particular order to introduce foods, however it is a good idea to try these foods 1-2 days apart so a reaction is easy to identify. Allergic reactions usually occur within a few minutes but can be delayed to a few hours so be mindful of this. If there is a reaction, stop giving baby that food and seek medical advice. If there is a severe reaction (anaphylaxis), phone an ambulance immediately.

The current advice is to give baby cooked egg within with first 12 months of life, even if there is a family history of egg allergy or if baby has another food allergy. My daughter was diagnosed with egg allergy at 8 months of age when I introduced scrambled egg to her, the most allergenic form of egg (in comparison to baked egg in cake or biscuits). I tried again 3 weeks later with French toast, with much the same, if not, more severe symptoms. I removed all egg from her diet until I saw her paediatric allergist. I also removed all peanuts from her diet as it is known that those with egg allergy can also have 30% cross reactivity allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. She had already been exposed to cashew and almond with no reaction so I continued to include these with caution.

Egg allergy is one of the most common allergies in children but the good news is that around 85% outgrow their allergy by the age of 3-5 years. There is hope some children may tolerate baked egg so get advice from your allergist and dietitian about whether it’s worth trying an oral food challenge under medical supervision. I certainly am going to pursue this as an option for my daughter!

Nutritionally it’s hard to beat eggs, they are packed full of wonderful things. 2 eggs contain around 12g of protein, almost every vitamin and mineral, including B12 which isn’t in a lot of foods, they are low in calories and sodium and are delicious. Most Australian fridges contain a dozen of them at all times and my son looks forward to his weekly omelette.

Apart from being delicious and nutritious, eggs are unique among many of our food ingredients because of the functional role they play in food.

Eggs are important because of their ability to act as an emulsifier or binder due to the presence of lecithin in the yolk. In other words, they hold the ingredients together. E.g mayonnaise, cake batter, meatballs, rissoles
Eggs act as a thickening agent due to the changes that occur during heating when the proteins that are present in both the yolk and the egg white undergo denaturation and coagulation E.g. custards, cooked salad dressings
Eggs act as raising agents due to their ability to trap and hold air E.g cakes and souffles
Eggs are foaming agents due to proteins being denatured by beating E.g meringue

So if we remove egg from our ingredient list we must replace it. Nutritionally that’s a pretty easy thing to do, but functionally we need to replace it with an ingredient that is going to do the job right. I am a keen baker so when my daughter was diagnosed with egg allergy I had to get creative with both my savoury and sweet dishes because I soon realised egg was in a lot of dishes I was serving up.

Here are my eggy tips for the kitchen:

Alternatives to eggs for sweet baking - For 1 egg use

1 teaspoon Orgran egg replacer with 2 tablespoons of water
½ mashed banana
¼ unsweetened apple puree
¼ cup pureed prunes
3 tablespoon almond butter, peanut butter or cashew spread
1 tablespoon chia seeds with 80ml water + 15 minutes soaking time
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoon water + 2 minutes soaking time
1 teaspoon baking powder + 1 and ½ Tablespoon water + 1and ½ Tablespoon oil
The liquid of chickpeas can be used to make meringue and pavlova

Egg replacers for savoury dishes:

For rissoles/meatloaf/meatballs recipes you can soak a slice of wholegrain or wholemeal bread in ¼ cup milk and add to your mince, shape into balls and put into fridge to set
For schnitzel, soak in milk or buttermilk and press into fresh wholegrain breadcrumbs and put into fridge to set
Instead of 1 egg you can add ¼ cup mashed potato or mashed pumpkin, 1/3 cup cooked red lentils or rolled oats
25g grated tofu

Egg free rissoles with milk soaked bread as a binder

Egg hacks and other tips

Invest in a couple of good vegan cookbooks as you can be assured that they do not use any eggs
Follow known vegan personalities on social media for recipe inspiration. I follow Isa Chandra, Forks over knives, Deliciously Ella and Thug Kitchen (NB: contains expletives!)
If you are using baking powder as your egg replacer, you will have to work quickly. Once it fizzes up, quickly add your mix into your ingredients and stir. Add to the oven straight away so you can maximise your cake rising ability
Ring your local supermarket to see if they have the egg replacer in stock as many of them do not stock it
Think double with your allergy management plan. I got 2 copies of my daughters allergy plan. One for daycare/school and one to stick on the fridge. I got 2 boxes of her medicine - one for school and one that sits in our kitchen (close by where we need it in am emergency, not downstairs in the bathroom with all our other medications!)
Ask your doctor about traces of egg and whether they have to avoid exposures of this