The Egg Trial Begins

Tuesday I picked up a dozen eggs from my parents.

Yesterday morning I cooked the first egg that’s been cooked in our house in over a year.

I was trying to make a custard-type egg dish for Zac, for a few reasons. For starters, it would be a relatively new texture for him, and that’s a good thing considering his diet is so limited. Secondly, baking eggs apparently makes them less IgE reactive – just in case. Third, there seems to be a theme that lots of FPIES kids can handle well-cooked foods, but not raw foods, so longer cooking time on an egg might make it better for Zac in terms of FPIES tolerance.

Like I say, I tried, but it didn’t quite work out right. I don’t think I added enough liquid.

What I got was more of a baked scrambled egg. Okay, but not the goal.

It’s a shame, too, because I’d taken some really good pictures to share the step-by-step instructions of how to make a custard egg without dairy or sugar. See?

Oh, well. Maybe next time I can get it right!

I served it to Zac at breakfast yesterday morning, and he flat turned up his nose at it.

Seriously – look at this face!

He played with it a bit but didn’t really eat any of it. I chalked it up to the fact that he’d already eaten quinoa and bacon (pork belly) and probably just wasn’t hungry.

So I tried again at lunch.

The same thing happened! In fact, this time, it was worse; he requested quinoa be added to the bowl of eggs, and started picking out the quinoa!

I took video of this because it was SO unbelievable to me.

After I took the video, I grabbed his bowl and chopped up the egg pieces as small as I could possibly make them so they would just blend in to the quinoa and he would be unable to pick them out.

As soon as he got the bowl back from me, he put down his fork and refused to eat a single bite.

Seriously.

I was getting a little frustrated; the child doesn’t realize that the egg before him represents $246.00 in corn and soy free chicken feed, but I certainly do! How am I going to get him to eat this gourmet-priced egg?

I started thinking of all the ways I could make an egg that would be appealing to a 22 month old kiddo, just in case I had to whip up an alternative at dinner.

Turns out, I needn’t have worried.

Darrel came home from work, I called out “Dinner!”, Jed came running, food was added to plates, and Zac was plopped in the high chair. His breakfast/lunch/and-now-dinner bowl was placed in front of him (again) and AGAIN he refused it!

So Darrel said “Maybe if I feed him the first bite he’ll like it.”

To which I responded “I tried to feed him earlier. He pinched his lips closed and turned his head. But go ahead and try if you like!”

He tried.

And my stubborn, willful son opened his mouth, took that bite, and then proceeded to feed himself the rest of the bowl!

ARGH!!

Picky kids are enough to drive a mama insane, amiright?

Well, it’s only been one day of egg, so not much to report yet. No acute reactions, though, so that’s good. We’ll keep plodding along, trying to convince Zac to eat a little more egg each day until we’re up to a full egg per day. (Today’s serving was 1 T. only.)

If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask for any prayers you could send our way; both for eggs to be safe for Zac…and also that he’ll willingly eat them throughout the trial! 

Two little interesting things before I go, though.

First, I picked up a second nifty thing on Tuesday, in addition to the eggs: a bike chain for our fridge door.

We wrapped packing tape around it because the cord wanted to spring loose every time we unlatched it. Attractive, I know. Necessary, though, because Jed has already opened the fridge (when I had it unlocked and was standing right next to him) and informed me that “I want those eggs right there!”

Heart don’t fail me now! 

I’m a nervous wreck having eggs around Jed!

After all three meals yesterday, I swept AND mopped the floor around Zac’s high chair as soon as he finished eating. Jed is allowed free rein to play in the dining room, and the last thing I need is for him to pick up a stray bit of egg and wind up in the ER in anaphylaxis!

It feels weird, by the way, to be taking such extreme cross-contamination precautions for Jed instead of Zac. By keeping eggs out of the house, we’d reached the point where there really isn’t anything in the house that Jed could be damaged by, food-wise.

So while the egg trial is good for me and Zac, it’s bad for me and Jed.

Some days I just kind of hate food, you know?

Anyway, the second tidbit I wanted to share was for any of you who raise your own chickens.

My Dad reports that his “girls” have increased egg production from about 20-22 eggs per week to almost 35 eggs per week since going on the GMO-free, soy-free, corn-free food!

He says they’re also showing a TON more energy; they run full speed all over the property now and are much more active than they used to be.

He thinks they look healthier, too. Dad thinks their feathers look shinier and fluffier.

So that’s something to consider as anecdotal evidence that the old maxim “You are what you eat” applies to animals, too, and you may want to consider switching feed if you haven’t already.

And in case you have never seen photos like this, here’s a little peek at what eggs SHOULD look like:

And here’s the insides:

I love that our eggs still have bits of feather stuck to the outside of the shell when I get them, and that the yolks are bright orange and so rich looking. 

If my parents weren’t raising chickens already, I’d have to start keeping my own flock after seeing this! (And assuming eggs prove to be safe, of course!)

Have you trialed egg for your FPIES kiddo? How did it go? And how did you trial it – baked, fried, baked in something?