How to get toddler to eat eggs?

Question

A long while ago my 2 yr 9 mo old son decided he did not like eggs. He was good enough to taste them (and re-tasted them on a couple later occasions), but he made up his mind he just does not like them. If we even put a little on his plate he'll pick them up and put them on our plate, and remind us "I not like eggs!"

The problem is we frequently have eggs for breakfast, so he's missing out on half the protein (he'll eat sausage just fine so I'm not really worried). My 1 yr old daughter loves eggs and will gladly scarf down his share.

He's a picky eater in general, it's not just eggs. But I've read How To Feed A Picky Eater and some of the other questions on this site and it gives us some ideas. But I'd like to focus a question specifically on eggs since we eat them almost daily, which both makes them an important staple and a useful thing to experiment with.

Anyone have good tricks for getting their kids to eat eggs? Would fixing them differently be worth trying, or would continued pushing just turn him off eggs permanently? How common is it that kids don't like eggs, and then like them when they get older?

[Update] My son is now a 4 year-old, and still the most picky eater you can imagine. We've tried all the ideas people have suggested; mostly it just turns into a big power struggle (he's quite a strong-willed kid), so we don't bother. Eggs are the least of our concern now - anything we fix he'll look at and declare he doesn't like it, even though he's never tasted it. At Easter we did find that he likes the whites from hard boiled eggs, but only a nibble, and only if the shell's been dyed green.

We've instituted a rule that when we have dinner, we're all going to eat what's fixed, and if he doesn't want it, he can have something different only after mama's done eating. Unfortunately, he's fine with that; he just goes off and plays. But at least mama gets to eat with the rest of us rather than doing speciality catering.

This last weekend I started working on helping him learn about money, buying things, and earning money for doing jobs. On a whim I said I'd give him a nickel for each thing he tasted that he'd never eaten before.

And goodness, this has worked. The first time, he held his nose took a taste of my spoon and rushed to the sink to spit it out. Okay, well he tried it at least. But then he returned; "Daddy, can I taste that again? Mmm, can you put that in a bowl for me?" He learned he loves mama's stew. Last night he discovered that pot pie is actually quite yummy. Corn chips are great too, but not salsa. And... he voluntarily tasted scrambled eggs (twice!); just not his cup of tea. This whole other world of taste is opening up for him, at the low low cost of 35 cents. :-)

Answer 1

Let him help prepare the eggs with you. That way, he can be part of the process of making the food itself, and can see where everything comes from. He can also suggest ridiculous ingredients (Honey! Cheerios! etc) and see where those experiments take him.

We sat our toddler up on the counter and let him see the entire process of making the eggs. He was much more interested in both the preparation and the eating once he got involved in the process, rather than just having them appear in front of him. Yes, it's definitely messier-- especially now that he wants to crack the eggs himself-- but just have some towels and the like on hand to clean up, and you should be fine.

Answer 2

"Would fixing them differently be worth trying?"

Given the immense number of ways one can prepare eggs, I'd say 'yes'. Each of my kids like eggs in different ways. One loves them hard-boiled or 'runny'. The other likes them scrambled. Given that the way one prepares an egg can dramatically change the texture, I'm thinking it's definitely worth a shot at seeing if the issue your child has with the eggs is a particular texture.

Answer 3

Taken from this comment. It might work for some toddlers.

Answer 4

You mentioned that Green Eggs and Ham is one of his favorite stories. Have you tried serving him green eggs? A little drop of food coloring can go a long way.

I got both of my boys to drink milk regularly by offering it in different colors. I just add a single drop of food coloring to the cup. Now they ask for milk at every meal.

Answer 5

I get my 2 year old to eat eggs with this simple "pancake" recipe: Beat one egg in a little container, add 2-3 tablespoons of oats (1minute or 5minute, no problem!), a little dash of vanilla extract. Mix well and store covered in the fridge overnight so the oatmeal absorbs all the liquid. In the morning, heat a bit of butter in a pan and cook as you would a pancake. I serve it with blueberries or other frozen or fresh berries I have on hand and a little drizzle of maple syrup. She devours it!

Answer 6

Our solutions after much trial and error:

Texture: One egg scrambled and cooked in a large pan so that it comes out very thin. Can be folded into a sandwich or wrapped around a sausage.

Flavor: Hard boiled egg - sliced and served with salsa and cheese (egg nachos)

Disguise: Scrambled and stir fried with rice and veggies

Answer 7

After reading Ellen Sattyr's book "How to Get Your Kid to Eat but Not Too Much" our policy is: 1. One dinner is prepared, everyone (baby/toddler included) gets a plate with appropriate portions, and they don't have to eat any of it. We make no comments on what they eat, or why they need to eat it. 2. Some known neutral side is presented (bread, tortilla chips, naan) that they can eat if they can't find anything to eat from what we put out. 3. That is all

I learned from the book (based on studies - I don't own a copy so can't cite them) that bribing does not work (they know the food is "less desirable" and will eat it less later), it may take 20 presentations of a food before they'll try it, and that if you force them it will be a power struggle, and not about the food anyway. Also, "obstacle eating" - "you have to eat this before you can eat that" is the same result as bribing.

This has left us with a whole lot less haggling at all meal times, and I highly recommend it (been doing it 2 years with our now 4.5 year old).

Answer 8

I scrambled some eggs up and added them to some pancake batter for my son. He never knew! I'm also going to experiment adding breadcrumbs to eggs and see if the texture is different enough for him like that for days I don't want to make pancakes

Answer 9

For some reason, scrambled eggs are a lot more palatable than other preparations for MANY kids.

You could also try "soft boiled" dippers. Give toast cut into sticks to dip into soft-boiled egg. There is also something about finger foods and dipping kids really like.

There are also a lot of wonderful ideas that I would have added if they weren't already here, like @mmr's idea to include him in the prep and @KitFox and @Saied - My daughter's favorite has become a scrambled egg sandwich over the years.

Answer 10

You can pull my mom's renaming trick - she said, "Oh, this isn't London Broil (which my brother would NOT eat), it's London Chicago." He loved it. Similarly, my sister's tights were too tight, but her leotards (same exact object) were a great fit. Also, Bactine, when applied to my sister's knee, was always called knee-tine. Otherwise she objected...

Answer 11

My toddler isn't too fond of eggs either. One thing we do for him is make french toast since toast is often served when we have eggs for breakfast it really isn't that much extra work to make. Another thing we do is finely scramble them and add them to his oatmeal. It sounds weird but you can't taste it at all and the texture is very similar to the oats. Sometimes I make rice pudding for him or vanilla custard using eggs, milk and sugar and vanilla for a dessert.

When my pre-teen was little, he preferred his eggs scrambled or in omelettes. He'll also eat them hard-boiled now but any other way and he won't eat the yolks.

Answer 12

I'm 25, and I love eggs, but I hate the texture. My solution is I eat them in toast. I cook them over-easy so the yolk is still runny, and then I mash the whole thing to pieces with my fork. After that I put it on buttered toast and eat it like a little egg sandwich. When I have more time I put hash browns on my toast as well, and sometimes bacon or sausage if I have it. It really helps to disguise the texture of the eggs, which are in my opinion, pretty unpleasant! I've been eating my eggs this way for as long as I can remember!

Answer 13

Have you ever tried disguising the eggs (scrambled) in a small sandwich. We found this worked for our toddler as he was not fond of cheese too much, but he would eat it with a piece of toast. I was also going to mention add some food color to the eggs, but not sure how safe that is and then they probably would want you to color every egg every time :)

Answer 14

Before my 1 year and 11 month old son doesn't like to eat eggs, he is also a picky eater. But now, he loves eat only boiled eggs. There are several things that I am doing to make him like other foods aside from the regular stuff that he likes to eat.

1. I find creative ways to prepare foods, like when he sees it, he would say wow and he will be encourage to eat.
2. We all ate together, so he can see and follow what we are doing. More often than not, he actually does, what he sees.
3. It is also a good idea, if he sees children of similar age, eating a particular food together. Before my son doesn't like eating crackers, but when we visited my grandparents home, and he saw his cousins eating crackers, he was also very eager to eat crackers and he was able to consume 2 packs!

There are other techniques that you can use. Just look for the technique that will work for your child. Every kid is different, so it really takes a lot of patience and asking the experts so you can have an idea.

Answer 15

I've tried EVERYTHING! I have found 1 WAY to get my toddler to eat eggs. I take two eggs and blend it with one banana and plenty of cinnamon. I then pour and fry (on medium) like a pancake in coconut oil. I began making them when we went grain free for a pancake substitute and they've stuck ever since. I also add some grass-fed butter and OCCASIONALLY raw honey for a treat. :) Good Luck!

Answer 16

One system that seems to work is to put a tiny amount of egg (or whatever it is the child doesn't like) and then insist that it be eaten. Then increase slowly from there. The idea is to first get over the resistance to having any of it, and then work on quantity.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. With me it was tomatoes; I couldn't stand them, and every time we had a salad may parents would put two segments (total 1/3 of a tomato) on the plate and insist that they be eaten. I eventually learned to smother the taste with salad cream, and I still can't stand raw tomatoes (paste on a pizza or as an ingredient mixed with other stuff is fine). Probably a whole third of a tomato was too much: maybe a tiny piece would have worked.

Answer 17

My 2yr old is going through that a bit right now too. Things that she loved at first she pushes away now. I feel that it's partly just a phase, being picky, learning she can say no, and may also be just realizing their own likes and dislikes. Try preparing the eggs a different way. Scrambled, fried, poached with strips of toast to dip in it. Then there's always cutting a fun shape in the middle of a slice of bread, butter both sides, put it in the pan and fry the egg into the middle of the bread. Whenever she decides she doesn't like something I try preparing it a different way and call it something else.

Answer 18

If she likes cheese, add a lot of cheese and butter to hide the egg taste. My daughter will eat it with a side of ketchup.