Egg is one of the 9 common allergy foods, and getting the timing and method right can feel confusing. Here’s what the research and clinical experience actually tell us.
When to introduce egg
Egg should be introduced around 4 to 6 months, and as early as possible within that window. The right time isn’t just about age, it’s about readiness: your baby should be eager to eat, able to sit up with good head control, before starting solids.
The best way to introduce egg is via hard-boiled egg or well-cooked scrambled egg, hard-boiled is currently the more preferred method.
🎥 Watch or Listen FirstÂ
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You can also keep reading below for a clear written breakdown
Watch or Listen FirstÂ
If you prefer to listen, you can start here:
Listen to the podcast here below:
You can also keep reading below for a clear written breakdown
How common is egg allergy?
Around 1 in 10 babies now has a diagnosed food allergy, and egg is one of the most common allergens. The reassuring part: 80% of children with an egg allergy will grow out of it before school age, the same is true for milk allergy.
Recognising a reaction
Severe reaction (anaphylaxis) signs include:
- Trouble breathing
- Persistent cough (often the first noticeable sign, even in very young babies)
- Dizziness
- Pale and floppy, or collapse (in very young babies who can’t verbalise dizziness)
- An audible wheeze
If you see any of these while feeding egg, call an ambulance immediately, stop feeding, remove the food, and keep a close eye on your baby.
Mild to moderate reaction signs include:
- Hives
- Swollen lips or eyes
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
For these, stop giving egg, see your doctor as soon as possible, and monitor closely for at least 2 hours.
Keeping egg in the diet
Once introduced, keep egg in the diet for 3 consecutive days, then at least once a week ongoing. There’s no hard research on exactly how long to continue this, but the longer, the better, ideally for at least the first couple of years. Egg, milk and peanut are all easy to keep in a regular rotation since they work across breakfast, lunch or dinner.
If your child has a diagnosed egg allergy
Egg ladders exist to help gradually build tolerance, but only ever use one if your doctor has specifically advised it. Don’t attempt this independently. Some clinics use a baked egg challenge in hospital to confirm it’s safe to begin.
The reason the ladder progresses the way it does comes down to protein structure. Cooking, especially prolonged or diluted cooking (like in a muffin), breaks down the protein your child’s immune system reacts to. That’s why the ladder typically starts with muffins, moves to pancakes (less cooked), then scrambled or hard-boiled egg, and finally to raw egg forms like meringue or mayonnaise.
Important: homemade muffins are recommended over store-bought ones initially, since store-bought versions often use egg powder rather than real egg. Once a child has passed the homemade muffin stage, store-bought is usually fine.
After a successful food challenge, a typical pathway looks like: scrambled egg at home for 3 days in a row, then weekly, followed by grading up toward mayonnaise over 6-9 months if there are no further reactions.
Why we don’t separate yolk and white
There’s no clinical reason to only give the yolk or the white. Protein exists in both, gram for gram, the yolk actually contains more protein than the white (the white just contains more total volume). Cross-contamination between yolk and white inside an eggshell is unavoidable, so separating them serves no real purpose. In 10 years of clinical allergy work, this has never been a recommended approach outside of rare exceptions.
Does your child have an egg allergy, or are you yet to introduce egg? Let us know in the comments, and check the link below for all of our free resources on introducing common allergy foods and navigating childhood allergy.
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Looking for more practical support?
If you’re looking for simple, evidence-based resources to help you navigate food allergies, introducing allergenic foods, egg ladders, choking first aid, I’ve created a growing collection of practical guides & allergy toolkits for busy parents.
Every resource has been designed to save you time, reduce the mental load and help you feel more confident caring for your child.
FREE: Allergic Reactions in Babies & Toddlers
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