some may remember that one of odin’s very first foods was a soft egg yolk which we gave him since it’s well known that they are a great source of iron and dha (docosahexalnoic acid). we continued the occasional egg for a few weeks until he had what was either a very coincidental bout of stomach flu or a reaction to the egg. we never really knew for sure what caused him to throw up nearly continuously for over an hour, but eventually concluded that it might have because the egg was too rich a food for someone not quite used to anything other than breastmilk.

since he’s been doing so well with solid food lately we thought that we’d try an egg again. and unfortunately the result was quite similar. after a few hours, odin began vomiting for over an hour and didn’t stop until his stomach was completely empty.

it’s odd and a little worrysome that he didn’t even eat that much egg yolk – we simply mashed up a bit of hardboiled yolk in some breastmilk and gave him a few small baby spoons of the mixture and topped of his meal with plain old milk. but despite the small amount, it seems too fantastic a coincidence for the egg to not be the cause his of stomach woes. could the little bit of diluted egg be “richer” than the straight yogurt and sweet potatoes that he’s so increasingly fond of?

or are we perhaps witnessing the effects of a mild food allergy? although not common, it’s not unknown for infants to develop an allergy to egg whites, but everything we’ve read indicates that it’s far more unusual to see an allergy to egg yolks; who knows, maybe he’s also allergic to egg whites and we just don’t know it because we’ve never given him any. either way, hopefully there’s another explanation because egg products are in everything and i’ve heard that it can be insanely difficult to keep infants and toddlers from accidently injesting something with egg as an ingredient.