Restrictions due to other children's allergies

Pugins

Am based in Australia and my children go to kinder here(kinda like Montessori). Anyway due to allergies of other children in the centre they are not allowed to bring the following for lunch: nuts or anything containing nuts, egg (including baked goods with eggs!) fish. There is also a child with severe gluten allergy ( not coeliac but actually allergic to gluten) and the teacher said ' we're not banning gluten containing food, for now'!

I know they have to ensure safety for all children and if it was my child with the allergy I'd want these foods banned too. But soon we'll run out of lunchtime options!

Just makes me wonder if it is the same in Ireland?

liliq

When I was checking out local schools here to put down my sons name, I had a quick glance at the "healthy eating" policies on a few of the websites.
It seems pretty common for nuts to be on the list of foods not allowed, along with popcorn...
If there's a (pea)nut allergy, I can understand not allowing peanuts in a certain classroom, or for them to be thrown around the playground (I think most schools don't allow eating in the playground anyway), but a blanket ban is a bit OTT in my opinion.

January

Most schools over here will review on a case by case basis. I know my daughter's school has a total nut ban but as far as I'm aware it's actually the principal that's allergic to nuts and it's a severe allergy hence the total nut ban.

Other schools will ban the item the child is allergic to in the classroom only and some secondary schools won't ban anything at all leaving it up to the child to be aware of what they eat and what is around them.

pwurple

It's not the same in ours anyway. My daughter has allergies. None are severe (thank goodness!). We asked the creche to make sure she didn't eat any other childrens food, and showed them what to do if there is a reaction, but that's it. If it was a severe allergy though, something that could kill her, I probably would have asked for more precautions.

RH149

Some allergies cause a rash or itching or maybe an upset tummy if the allergic child comes into contact with them.....all bad but not life threatening.
Nuts can cause anaphyllactic shock....where a childs airways close up and they can die within minutes of coming into contact with the nuts/nut traces. By contact I don't mean just eating a food containing nuts or nut traces, I mean touching off the table where another child has just been eating peanut butter or nutella and left a smear of it on the table (as they do with jam, mayo etc).....bumping into another child in sports or rough play where one child who just ate a Snickers or peanuts breathes all over the allergic child etc etc. Some children have severe nut allergies where they are affected by air born nut particles whereas others have to eat a nut before they are affected. Would you like to take a chance with your child if they had the allergy just so as not to inconvenience other parents when making lunches...I doubt it!

RH149

liliq wrote: »

When I was checking out local schools here to put down my sons name, I had a quick glance at the "healthy eating" policies on a few of the websites.
It seems pretty common for nuts to be on the list of foods not allowed, along with popcorn...
If there's a (pea)nut allergy, I can understand not allowing peanuts in a certain classroom, or for them to be thrown around the playground (I think most schools don't allow eating in the playground anyway), but a blanket ban is a bit OTT in my opinion.

Would you think it was OTT if it was a ban on poisonous substances being left around? Sure the kids know not to touch them!! I don't think its OTT to safeguard the lives of children, even if its only one child in a school of 500 -unfortunately the numbers of children with allergies, some life threatening is far greater than that and the number is growing all the time.

Go to www.irishanaphylaxis.org for further informaton.

liliq

RH149 wrote: »

Would you think it was OTT if it was a ban on poisonous substances being left around? Sure the kids know not to touch them!! I don't think its OTT to safeguard the lives of children, even if its only one child in a school of 500 -unfortunately the numbers of children with allergies, some life threatening is far greater than that and the number is growing all the time.

Go to www.irishanaphylaxis.org for further informaton.

Would you think it wasn't OTT if it was a ban on grapes?
If there is a blanket ban on nuts, why not on other allergens that cause anaphylaxis?
Or on gluten, or on sugar?
If there is no one in the school that is allergic, why should the ban still apply?

I'm not disagreeing with banning foods when there is someone with a severe allergy, just disagreeing with the blanket ban whereby nuts are not allowed regardless.

wolfpawnat

Nuts is a common one, but where does it start and stop. I mean banning nut products such as peanut butter from the classroom because a child in another classroom has an allergy could be argued as unfair. But how long before you are dealing with the entire "cannot bring in anything that is manufactured in the same factory as nuts products" dilemma. Many foods are labelled with the warning "does not contain nuts but manufactured in a factory where nuts are present in other foods" so does that mean for the tiniest percentage of a chance, that all those products should also be banned?

I understand that the parents of children with allergies wish to keep them safe (and why shouldn't they?) but should all parents have to accept that? Just playing devil's advocate here, not trying to say any child's needs are above or below another's! After all what one parent decides for their child could negatively impact the health of others, I know this personally.

Pugins

[Quote Would you like to take a chance with your child if they had the allergy just so as not to inconvenience other parents when making lunches...I doubt it![/Quote]

Of course I was not suggesting that parents should be allowed to pack anything in a lunchbox just for their convenience, even it knowingly endanger a child with allergies.

I guess what I'm wondering about the scientific/medical basis behind total bans for all allegens. For example-fine ban nuts if a child has an allergy as it can be airborne, but banning baked products containing eggs seems excessive to me?

lynski

afaik irish schools can only ask you not to bring in the items as a ban implies enforcement which implies liability - the old irish bugbear.
in my sons school they ask not to send in nuts or nut products or kiwi - as one child is so allergic that they would need an epi pen if they come into any contact with someone who has had a kiwi. i will face a challenge when my daughter starts in sept as she loves them, but i would want y child to be as carefully treated if it were them.
If there was a life-threatening allergy i imagine that a full school wide request is appropriate.

lazygal

Popcorn is not allowed in most preschool/creche services because a child choked to death on a kernal that wasn't swept up after a party. Due to allergies, jelly rather than cake is now served for parties. Small children shouldn't really have nuts anyway, as they are a choking hazard.

That said, I'm often left wondering how workplaces accommodate allergies. Are people ever told not to bring in a Walnut Whip or a milky latte because so and so has an allergy? I know someone who's allergic to a lot of things (shellfish, nuts, gluten etc) but she just gets on with it, no fuss made.

implausible

lazygal wrote: »

That said, I'm often left wondering how workplaces accommodate allergies. Are people ever told not to bring in a Walnut Whip or a milky latte because so and so has an allergy? I know someone who's allergic to a lot of things (shellfish, nuts, gluten etc) but she just gets on with it, no fuss made.

It's the same in secondary schools; the student informs the school of the allergy, has an epi pen or whatever and has to watch out for him or herself. It's the years when the child may not have the sense to avoid the allergen or may be unaware of the allergen being present that are crucial i.e. primary school or créche. Primary schools are legally in loco parentis and have to take the same care that a parent would.

miss no stars

I think it's perfectly reasonable. If someone can die due to airborne particles from a particular food, why take the risk? It's not going to kill anyone to NOT have a bag of peanuts with their lunch, but it could well kill the kid they then tag playing chasing(/swap a football card with/whatever else kids are trading/playing with) who is severely allergic to nuts. I know a kid who is that allergic to nuts (used to babysit a few times) and the whole day in advance I would check everything I ate to make sure I wasn't eating ANYTHING with nuts or traces of nuts in it. It's a risk that just does not need to be taken, end of. I also know a girl who is severely coeliac. If someone puts a sandwich down on a plate/surface/whatever, picks it up, dusts off the crumbs and wanders off, then if her food comes into contact with that area it WILL make her sick. Sometimes there only has to be a trace. Kids are messy eaters and maul things and tend to be in a lot of physical contact with each other. School wide bans are reasonable for primary school kids cos they can't be trusted not to spread a trace of the allergen, so just don't allow the allergen to be present.

If someone has a severe food allergy and they're flying, for example, there's an airplane-wide ban on the allergen and the air doesn't get recycled at all.

guppy

miss no stars wrote: »

I also know a girl who is severely coeliac. If someone puts a sandwich down on a plate/surface/whatever, picks it up, dusts off the crumbs and wanders off, then if her food comes into contact with that area it WILL make her sick. Sometimes there only has to be a trace. Kids are messy eaters and maul things and tend to be in a lot of physical contact with each other.

Does that mean you think a blanket ban on bread is ok? I don't.

I have a nut allergy, and when I was young, it was unheard of, and there was no information about it. I'm lucky in that I'm not (so far) air borne allergic, so it wasn't an issue for me. However, I do see bans on some things as ridiculous. Egg containing products that won't affect a child unless consumed are a lazy way out. All it takes is for the child with the allergy to be educated not to eat other peoples food. There's no need for a ban on them, at all.

A friend of mine has a child with PKU. It's vital that he only eats what his mother provides for him based on his allowance of protein intake (it's not immediately fatal, but him eating too much protein can cause severe mental impairment for life). He's been taught from birth not to eat anything he's not allowed to. He knows not to share food. For non-airborne allergies, why can't those kids be taught the same?*

* I'm assuming these kids aren't also contact sensitive to a serious degree. Hand washing/wipes provided by parents are a solution for non-messy foods though.

pwurple

guppy wrote: »

Egg containing products that won't affect a child unless consumed are a lazy way out. All it takes is for the child with the allergy to be educated not to eat other peoples food. There's no need for a ban on them, at all.

I agree there is no need for a ban, but your suggestion teaching an 11 month old not to eat egg or cashew products is tricky! Every time there is a birthday in crèche kids bring in cake or similar and they have a party. She knows *now*, at two years old, that she can't eat it.... But she was mobile and grabbing stuff off tables and other children much younger.

Like I said, we just tell the crèche staff to keep an eye in her and show them what to do, and that is fine.

There have been 4 reactions in crèche though. A kid shared a sandwich with her... Crèche thought it was ok... Sandwich contained mayo.
I pay them to provide hot dinners at lunchtime. One was a fresh pasta that contained egg ( dry pasta usually doesn't). Another was a chicken with pesto thing... She reacts to cashews. Another one was fish fingers... Batter contained egg.

She has epi pen etc for if her breathing gets restricted, but I still worry about it. She can't figure out ingredients lists yet! If her reaction or sensitivity was more severe, I would consider asking for a ban.

guppy

Obviously that's different! Sorry, I had school-going age kids in mind, I missed the crèche part