Learning to Like: Eggs
A special thanks to The Egg Nutrition Center (ENC) for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own. For more information on ENC, the science and nutrition education division of the American Egg Board visit, EggNutritionCenter.org.
In this blog post, we will review some of the basics about exposing your child to yogurt, why it is important for helping them meet their growth and development needs, and what are some of the best ways to both help your child learn to like yogurt and add variety in the diet with yogurt.
You can jump to any of these#anchor1 sections using the outline below.
How to Help Your Child Learn to Like: Eggs
Are Eggs Good for Kids?
Eggs are a food that families will benefit from including in their diets early on in a child’s life, largely because of the essential nutrients eggs provide during a child’s first 1000 days.
Of the nutrients listed by the American Academy of Pediatrics as essential for brain development, eggs include varying amounts of them all. We will cover some of these below.
Should Kids Eat Eggs?
Eggs are a cost-effective, easy way to expose our children to several nutrients their growing bodies need. Let’s discuss just a few of the nutrients that eggs are best known for.
Choline in Eggs
When we look at foods that are valuable sources of nutrition in a child’s diet, we want to consider how we can make every bite count. Since children’s appetites can be erratic and food intake unpredictable, the more nutrition we can condense into a single bite makes a big difference. Fortunately, eggs are one of the most concentrated food sources of choline in the American diet, providing about 75% of a child’s choline needs (between ages 1-3 years old). The American Academy of Pediatrics identified choline as a key nutrient necessary for brain growth and development.
Protein in Eggs
As a simple estimate, children need approximately half their body weight (in pounds) as protein. This means a 24 pound two-year-old would need around 12 grams of protein per day. When we compare this to the 6 grams of protein that is packed into each egg, we can see how well eggs assist our kids in meeting their protein requirements. Additionally, eggs contain all 9 essential amino acids, making them one of the most cost-effective and efficient complete proteins you could offer.
Vitamin D in Eggs
As we reviewed in this post on learning to like yogurt, vitamin D is important from an infant’s first few days of life onward. And while dairy products are often touted for their vitamin D content, something many parents don’t realize is that eggs naturally have vitamin D, providing about 10% of an infant’s vitamin D needs.
Essential Nutrients
From lutein and zeaxanthin to iron and several B vitamins, eggs offer essential nutrients that not only improve our diet quality but also our ability to absorb nutrients from the other foods we eat. Regardless of which type you choose, eggs can benefit your family’s diet from infancy on.
Can Kids Eat Egg Yolks?
Now that we have unscrambled some of the individual nutrients in eggs and their nutritional value to your child’s growth and development, let’s address a misconception many of us moms may have heard over the years. That is, whether or not we can eat egg yolks or should stick to only the egg white?
My dietitian mom advice is - Don’t throw out the yolk! While egg whites contain some of an egg’s high-quality protein, riboflavin and selenium, the majority of an egg’s nutrition is found in the yolk. So while it is okay to offer eggs in a variety of ways (with and without the yolk), remember that you are missing out on the opportunity to offer several essential nutrients, including choline, when you offer your child only egg whites.
The thing to note, specifically with yolks, is if the egg is raw, it runs the risk of food poisoning. To minimize your child’s risk of salmonella, it is recommended that you fully cook any eggs before offering them to children. This means any dough or batter that might have raw egg in it or a soft-boiled or fried egg with a runny yolk should be offered at the discretion of a parent, as kids with weaker immune systems are more vulnerable to food poisoning. If you choose to expose your children to eggs with a runny yolk, be sure you are following other safe handling practices to minimize the risk.
Related: Check out this post for ideas on what to do with leftover egg yolk.
What Are The Best Kinds of Eggs to Buy?
Eggs are a staple in most homes not only for their nutrition, but also because of their affordability. Less expensive than most other sources of high-quality protein, eggs cost on average 15 cents an egg. Being an economical option for families of all sizes, there is an egg that fits every family and food budget.
Thankfully, families have a lot of choices when it comes to which eggs they purchase. However, it is important for parents as the nutritional gatekeepers to know that from a nutrition perspective, all eggs are nutrient-rich and can be part of healthy dietary patterns. Unless the packaging specifies that the egg has been nutritionally enhanced — which can be done with fortified feed — the nutrient content of eggs is pretty much the same regardless of shell color (white or brown), grade (AA, A or B) or how they are raised (organic, free-range or conventional). When in doubt, always check the Nutrition Facts label on the carton.
Related: For those wondering what the following terms mean on egg packaging, here is a visual to help you crack the code on each type of egg.
How Many Eggs Can Kids Eat in a Day?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 include eggs as a nutrient-dense food that fall under the protein food group (with other options like meat, seafood, beans, nuts and seeds). Being one of the least expensive of these protein options, eggs can help kids meet the 2-5 servings of protein they need per day. For reference, one whole egg equals one protein equivalent. So for a toddler, two eggs per day would help them to meet their protein requirements.
Many parents are accustomed to thinking that we need to limit the amount of eggs in our diets. However, there is no limit to the number of eggs kids should eat. Because of their nutritional benefits, there are many reasons to include eggs in your family’s diet. As part of an overall healthy, balanced diet though, we want to be sure we expose our children to a variety of foods, including different sources of proteins. With this, the real question becomes, how many eggs are okay and how often should you serve them? This depends on your child’s preference for eggs as much as anything.
What is the portion size of eggs for kids?
Depending on the age and appetite of your child, you may consider offering only ½ egg to a toddler or to a child who is still learning to like eggs. For older kids who have higher protein needs or a larger appetite, you may consider starting with one egg as a serving. As you will see below, suggested serving sizes should serve as a guide, rather than a rule. This helps support a Division of Responsibility in feeding where you provide what, when, and where eggs are offered and your child decides if/whether and how many eggs they eat.
How many eggs is too many?
If your child loves eggs, offer them an average portion alongside other preferred and non-preferred foods. Allow seconds, as desired and available. If a child eats multiple eggs in one sitting, that’s great! You can help them to diversify their diet by offering eggs less often the remainder of the day or week and instead incorporating other sources of protein. This helps kids who love eggs to enjoy them as part of a balanced diet without perpetuating picky eating tendencies or food jags for any one specific food (even one as awesome as eggs!). Instead, invite children to combine eggs with other foods to create a mixed dish or try offering eggs a variety of ways to continue to expand the ways your child enjoys eggs (see suggestions below).
Try this: Expand the ways your child learns to like eating eggs with added variety. Begin branching out from breakfast alone to offer eggs any time of day with meals or snacks. From letting them add a handful of spinach to the blender for scrambling up Hulk eggs in the morning, to creating their own “recipe” and adding leftover veggies or potatoes to a frittata for lunch, or letting them help add egg as a final touch to a veggie fried rice at dinner, the options for exposing your eager eater to eggs are endless.
Is it okay for my kids to eat eggs everyday?
If your child sometimes likes and eats eggs, it can be easy to want to offer them as a staple everyday. However, as part of a healthy diet, we want to try to not offer any food two days in a row. This may happen naturally at times, but in general this can be a helpful guideline to make sure that you as the parent are offering nutrient-dense options like eggs without offering so often that your child feels pressured to eat it as a learning it food or conversely, only eats eggs because they come to reply on it as a preferred food.
Instead, try offering an average portion of eggs with tongs for your child to use as a novelty tool to eat separately, with other preferred foods, or to build a breakfast taco. Continue to include eggs several days a week in a variety of ways to help your child find ways they best enjoy eggs.
Try this: Incorporate opportunities for them to touch and taste eggs, even if they aren’t yet eager about eating a lot of them. Some ideas might include letting them make their own mini egg pizza in an electric cooker, scramble eggs as is or for French Toast, safely make boiled eggs (in the Instant Pot), or peel and slice the boiled eggs for a snack or to add to a salad.
What if my kid doesn’t like eggs?
If your child is learning to like eggs, offer a small bite's worth in addition to other preferred and non-preferred foods. Serve eggs pre-loaded on a small fork, so that the child can pick it up, explore it, and potentially eat it! If your child is not yet eating eggs, don’t be discouraged. There are plenty of ways to help your child learn to like eggs before they ever eat them. Continue to serve them as a normal part of your family’s diet without any pressure to eat them.
Try this: Focus on helping your child tolerate eggs at the table or on their plate, using fun utensils to serve them family-style to themselves or others, and accepting the smell of them cooking in the kitchen and when offered at meals. This is a prerequisite for them to eat eggs, so welcome the time it takes to help them learn to like this nutrient-dense food early on.
Related: Want to help build your child’s list of preferred foods? Use my free Love it, Like it, Learning it list ® worksheet for a simple yet effective starting place.
How to Get Your Kids to Eat Eggs
The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include recommendations for birth to 24 months old and specifically recommend eggs as an important first food for infants and toddlers. Helping kids learn to like eggs early on in life helps set them up for nutritional success as their nutritional needs increase (and often food budgets don’t!).
When can I introduce eggs to my baby?
During a time when children’s brains are most rapidly developing, families want to begin offering eggs. Eggs can be offered as a first food as soon as a baby is developmentally ready (around 4 to 6 months old). Whether you choose to use a spoon-fed approach with purees, a baby-led weaning approach with finger foods, or a hybrid of the two, eggs can be safely incorporated into an infant’s diet. However families feel most comfortable offering them, the aim should be to introduce eggs early in order to help reduce the risk of developing an egg allergy.
Related: Unsure how to offer eggs to your infant? Check out these 4 Easy Recipes for Introducing Eggs and Peanut Butter to Infants.
How should I offer eggs for my toddlers and older kids?
As toddlers gain independence and seek autonomy, childhood becomes an excellent time to include kids in the kitchen and expose them to a wide range of foods, including eggs. Eggs are an economical option (for all of life’s messes with littles!) and one that is interesting to crack, scramble, fry, or boil for kids. This makes eggs intriguing to children even before they are on the table! Here are some ways to offer eggs at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Eggs are a high-quality protein to help your child learn to like any time of day!
How to offer eggs to prevent picky eating
Change the shape: Scramble an egg, then add to a hot round pan. Cook until edges firm then flip. Cut into wedges for "pizza egg"
Change the color: Add raw egg with spinach to a blender. Blend well, then cook scrambled eggs like usual for "Shrek eggs"
Change the texture: Fry an egg until the yolk is firm (for children). Or, bake egg muffins or a frittata to have ready on busy mornings.
Change the taste: Add broccoli sprinkles, leftover diced veggies, roasted sweet potatoes, or cheese to eggs or make this into an omelet.
Change the temperature: Hard boil eggs for a cold option when offering eggs. Let the child peel the egg, cut it into wedges, or use an egg slicer to prepare it.
How to offer eggs to promote nutrition
Add fruit: Serve with sliced avocado and tomato
Add veggies: Finely dice veggies or blend into eggs before scrambling
Add grains: Make an egg sandwich or breakfast taco on a whole wheat tortilla
Add protein: Add crumbled or shredded cheese
Add fat: cook in oil or butter
Can vegetarian kids eat eggs?
If a family is exclusively vegan, eggs will not be a part of their child’s diet. However, for plant-forward families who choose a lacto-ovo vegetarian lifestyle, eggs can help their children be consistent with healthy eating patterns recommended in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Eggs not only serve as a complete protein in a predominantly plant-based diet, but also help children to better absorb the nutrients found in plant foods such as vitamin E and carotenoids. Kids living a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet can benefit from eggs being included at any meal or snack over the week.
Related: Check out these plant-forward lunch packing ideas with eggs
Need More Ideas for Offering Your Kids Eggs?
For more ideas and insight on how to incorporate eggs in your family’s diet, visit EggNutritionCenter.org who we thank for partnering on this post.
You also may purchase a set of Ashley’s Combination Cards. In PDF or printed, waterproof copies, these are a must-have in every family’s kitchen!
