Child Allergic to Eggs

Hi! I can relate to your friend's new found life with a child allergic to eggs. My son is now 5 1/2 and was diagnosed with a milk & egg allergy at his 12 month check-up. So... we've been dealing with these allergies for 4 1/2 years and it really isn't too bad. I always think oft he parents with children allergic to peanuts or spy products - they really have a hard time!! The egg allergy is quite do-able once your friend becomes familiar with the oodles of products out there that are egg-free. The two main breads in our household are Milton's (found at Sam's, Giant, Safeway, etc...) and now Arnold brand sandwich rounds. They are fantastic - nice small size and quite tasty. This is also found at Safeway & Giant stores. My three younger children do not have these food allergies but we all eat the same products so we don't have any mistakes. It's quite overwhelming and frightening but it is possible to find many ready-made products on the market to help ease the burden.

Please tell your friend it will get easier ~ there are some great support systems to get info from.

My 5 year old daughter has almost outgrown her egg allergy (her's however was caused by her father's ignorance in feeding her scrambled eggs when she was a couple of weeks old) but once she was able to digest table food she could eat things made with egg like bread, cakes, etc. just couldn't eat eggs alone or drink Egg Nog. Not sure of the particulars with your friend's son.

K. you're a great friend and are obviously concerned about her son, is there anyway you could make the bread for her for him?

Some bread makers I believe have timers so they hold the dough and don't start baking until a certain time; if hers is like that, or she can get one with a timer, she can set it so perhaps she puts the dough in the night before when she goes to bed and it starts to bake in the wee hours of the morning and is done in time for their breakfast (and the rest of the loaf is ready for the day).

Also, yes, do help her shop for the many egg-free alternatives now available as suggested below. If you can get to a Whole Foods Market and talk to the bakery manager there, they can steer you towards options, and so can the frozen foods manager (because some breads there are frozen/refrigerated ones).

Do find out if this is an all-eggs, all-the-time allergy or if it's really just to straight eggs like scrambled, fried, boiled etc. that cause problems. One kid in our child's class has an egg allergy but can easily eat them baked in any baked goods, just can't have eggs as a dish themselves. Sounds from what you're saying here like he cannot have eggs even in baked goods. One other important thought -- if her son is or will be in preschool, playgroups or kindergarten or school soon -- she needs to let teachers, room parents and the cafeteria (if applicable) know the exact nature of his allergy. Lots of foods come into preschools and schools as snacks, holiday treats, in goodie bags kids bring as gifts for classmates, etc., and if his allergy includes eggs in baked goods, candies, etc., she needs to put others on alert so he doesn't get a cookie or cupcake with egg in it etc. It's very, very easy to end up with a child eating something they shouldn't; pretty much everyone now leaves all nuts out of parent-baked classroom treats etc. at many schools, but I'd bet people will not think about leaving out eggs as that requires changing some recipes considerably. So she'll have to be vocal and proactive about that with others. You're a great friend to help her!

There are a bunch of recipes and support ideas on this website, I highly recommend: www.foodallergy.org