Eat Your Egg Yolks!

This morning's random research topic was eggs, particularly the yolks. Here is a great article on their health benefits. We've recently switched over to pastured eggs for us, not just for Eowyn. While we were in Michigan, we stocked up at an Amish farm, where they were only $1.50/dozen! The yolks are such a rich orange and the flavor is actually egg-y!! And folks, if they look and taste that different, it's because they have different nutrients!

Why the interest in egg yolks? Eowyn just had her 9 month check up, and one concern they raised was anemia (low iron). Apparently it's common at her age, with a baby's from-birth supply of maternal hemoglobin (iron-rich mom's red blood cells) being used up by now, breast milk iron supply possibly waning, yet not a lot of consumption of iron-rich foods. Our pediatrician's office especially cautioned me because Eowyn doesn't eat any iron-fortified baby cereals. In my mind, there are WAY better sources of iron than artificially fortified rice cereal! So I've been reading up on natural iron sources, trying to make sure our little E gets plenty of iron. After my reading, I am not at all concerned! She's a little iron-eating machine! She clamors for most of my egg yolks every morning (eating about 1 1/2 yolks a day), loves beef & lamb, eats green peas fresh from our organic CSA, and gets creamed kale about once every 2 weeks (not too much since she's still so young). Her main food source is my milk, so I'm pushing the raw (frozen!!) liver, organic beef & lamb, eggs, and lots of fresh fruits & veggies, myself. Oh yeah, and my multi-vitamin has iron, too. I'm trying to be brave and cook some organ meats in the next few weeks. I have it, it's just sitting in my freezer...

Anyway, Eowyn is thriving at 29 1/4" tall (89%tile), 17.12 lbs (25%ile) and with a head circumference in the 90%ile. She charmed all the office staff, waving and grinning, grabbing, chewing on everything in sight, and babbling happily at the fish and sea creatures on the walls (one reason I LOVE our pediatrician's office!).

[She also got her first shot, dose 1 of the HiB vaccine. We are still reading up on the DTaP (the D and P components especially), Pc and the IPV, having come upon some disturbing new information on both of these vaccines, as well as reassuring info on fighting the actual diseases themselves (diptheria, pertussis & polio). See Make an Informed Vaccine Decision by Dr. Mayer Eisenstein (MD, JD & MPH). We got started with the HiB and are praying she has no reactions to it!

I'm also ordering Paul Offit's book Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases, to get a pro-vaccine look at things. He invented the rotavirus vaccine and is on the CDC's vaccination panel, so it's safe to say he's ardently pro-vaccine. We'll see what he has to say!]