Speaking of schools, how do schools now deal with child with peanut allergy?

[padams]

DSs attended a private elementary school that is peanut free and accommodates all food allergies. Consequently, the school has a far greater number of kids with food allergies than the real world because the families with food allergies flock to this school. Interestingly, none of the area middle and high schools, of which I am aware, accommodate any food allergies.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

When I was in elementary school we all went home for lunch (I graduated HS in 2002 so it was not that long ago, obviously children who could not go home went to the gym and tables were set up and hot lunch was served) maybe we should go back to having that option. Heck, I would gladly pick DD up at school (she has a peanut allergy) and bring her home and serve her lunch. I'd have no problems with that lol.

 

[CandyMandy]

Peanuts (PB, nuts themselves) have been a HUGE part of the American diet for a couple of generations now. They are finding that this long term exposure is actually part of the cause in the increase in allergies. We weren't meant to be exposed too much.

Ah, the infamous "they".....

First, significant levels of peanut consumption started much earlier than "a couple of generations" ago. That particular legume first took off during the Civil War, when it became an inexpensive, readily available battlefield staple. It picked up a little more after the turn of the century when automated harvesting increased production and George Washington Carver began research into peanuts at the Tuskeegee Institute.

Secondly, if large consumption of peanuts is a precursor to the development of allergies (the "we weren't meant to be exposed too much" thing), why does China -- where peanuts have been a "HUGE" part of the diet for centuries -- have a very low rate of allergies?

We weren't told who "they" are, but sources for what I just shared are below:

http://www.goodearthpeanuts.com/historyworld.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut

 

[Christine]

Ah, the infamous "they".....

First, significant levels of peanut consumption started much earlier than "a couple of generations" ago. That particular legume first took off during the Civil War, when it became an inexpensive, readily available battlefield staple. It picked up a little more after the turn of the century when automated harvesting increased production and George Washington Carver began research into peanuts at the Tuskeegee Institute.

Secondly, if large consumption of peanuts is a precursor to the development of allergies (the "we weren't meant to be exposed too much" thing), why does China -- where peanuts have been a "HUGE" part of the diet for centuries -- have a very low rate of allergies?

We weren't told who "they" are, but sources for what I just shared are below:

http://www.goodearthpeanuts.com/historyworld.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut

Exposure has something to do with it:

Rice allergy

Rice allergy is common in countries in Eastern Asia, such as Japan, where rice is commonly eaten, but it isn't common in the UK. People who are allergic to rice can react when they eat it or when they inhale its pollen. Rice can cause hayfever symptoms in areas where it's grown commercially.

People who are allergic to rice can sometimes react to a number of other foods from the same botanical family, such as barley, maize, wheat, oats and rye, as well as other foods such as peach and apple.

Sesame allergy

We don't know how many people in the UK suffer from sesame allergy, but it's quite common in countries such as Australia and Israel. We think that sesame allergy is increasing, possibly because it's now more commonly used.

And from another site:

Almost any food can cause an allergy, though the foods most commonly associated with an allergic reaction are those frequently consumed by a population. For example, an allergy to rice is common in Southeast Asia, while fish allergy is a problem in the Scandinavian countries, where fish is frequently consumed (even at breakfast).

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

Wow Christine, that was very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

 

[maps]

My son has a peanut allergy and we taught him from a very young age how to manage his allergy.

His school does not ban peanuts but all the kids are aware that if they have pb that they need to sit at the peanut table or far enough away that they won't touch him and then they wash their hands and wipe down the tables.

I send in safe snacks for his teacher to hold on to so if someone brings in questionable treats, she gives him one of his safe snacks.

Death from someone inhaling peanuts from across the room is extremely rare and typically associated with other severe medical issues. So if my son were that allergic, he wouldn't be in school or I guess anywhere else in public where he may come in contact with it since I couldn't control everybody, right?

 

[golfgal]

Exposure has something to do with it:

:

True, exposure has something to do with it but rates don't spike all of the sudden like they have in the past 5 years or so. Many of the 'allergies' are just not real.

Heck, I know someone who claims all 7 of her kids are allergic to wood--it's amazing that they are still alive living in a wooden house with wood floors and trim .

 

[Doe]

My daughter has several food allergies and is currently in jr. high. When she was in elementary school the policy was a peanut/tree nut free classroom. We were okay with "manufactured on same equipment" etc. because she didn't eat food brought in by anyone else. In the lunchroom there was a peanut/tree nut free table. She was allowed to keep an epi on her and there was one in the office, teacher had one and recess aides had one. Now that she is in jr. high we didn't request a special table at lunch and classroom treats isn't an issue anymore. She has an epi and the office has 2. She's very good about her allergies and takes the precautions she needs to stay safe.

I do agree with some that there are unfortunately parents who just assume their child has an allergy without ever testing for one. I've met two parents who told me their child had peanut allergies but after talking to them about it, it turned out they had never been tested and just assumed they were allergic to peanuts because they "didn't feel good" after eating a peanut butter sandwich in one case and a granola bar in another. Unfortunately for my daughter she really is allergic to peanuts/some tree nuts, fish, shellfish and kiwi (yes, life threatening allergy to freaking kiwi). She has had a couple very serious reactions so we continue to see her allergist about every 2 years to be retested and test for anything new.

 

[luvmy3]

Not flaming, but I have multiple fruit allergies. I never mention them to most people because at 23 I can monitor my own food, but I really am allergic to fruits such as apples, bananas, cantelope, watermelon, etc. It is very strange even to me and people often don't believe me because they have never heard of it, but I promise I am really allergic.

There are peanut free tables in the cafeteria and some nut free classrooms throughout the school. We have no airborne allergies so students can bring in whatever snack they want as long as they don't share. Unfortunately, the school wellness director sends notes that ban any products from classrooms that a student is allergic too and the school nurse spends the first few weeks of school clearing it up and letting parents know anything is fine - just don't share.

Basically when registering your child, you are asked if they have any allergies. That's when the ban notes go out. I know several moms that wish they never let the school know because they didn't intend for other children to limit their choices. Personally, I'd like for the school to require doctors notices about allergies because some are getting out of hand. Over the years, I've had notes about hardboiled eggs, strawberries, peaches, nuts, carrots, peanuts, pear juice products, dairy, wheat - everything almost! This all comes at a time the school is pushing healthy whole foods. I'm going to get flamed, but when it comes to certain fruit allergies I wonder if the kid is really allergic or just hates it that much.

There are true fruit allergies and there is also something called oral allergy syndrome, which my ds has. He cannot eat certain raw fruits and veggies because they make his mouth and throat itch, it has to do with the protein being similiar to some tree allergies he has. It is not life threatening, he can eat those fruits but it is uncomfortable for him. I assume most people whose kids claim a food allergy go and get tested, so it wouldn't be too difficult to weed out the fakers.
I know a girl who is allergic to strawberries, she swells up and breaks out into a rash, she is definitely allergic. She is also allergic to peanuts, dairy and bees.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

My son has a peanut allergy and we taught him from a very young age how to manage his allergy.

His school does not ban peanuts but all the kids are aware that if they have pb that they need to sit at the peanut table or far enough away that they won't touch him and then they wash their hands and wipe down the tables.

I send in safe snacks for his teacher to hold on to so if someone brings in questionable treats, she gives him one of his safe snacks.

Death from someone inhaling peanuts from across the room is extremely rare and typically associated with other severe medical issues. So if my son were that allergic, he wouldn't be in school or I guess anywhere else in public where he may come in contact with it since I couldn't control everybody, right?

Great post. I've often wondered that too, the stories you hear about a child whose allergy is so severe that if he breaths in particles of dust, he'll literally go into anaphalactic shock. I don't know how a parent could safely send a child to school like that and not be worried all day long. That would frighten me to no end.

 

[CandyMandy]

Exposure has something to do with it:

Maybe, maybe not. The examples you gave (seemingly direct quotes but no links to wherever "they" came from) are interesting but selective and don't specifically have a peanut example (ergo, don't explain the documented China phenomenon I provided).

Again, credible science is still debating whether true severe peanut allergies are as common as some argue, whether their incidence has been increasing and if so what the basis for that is. The reigning hypothesis for the latter isn't "exposure" but rather "increased hygiene leading to reduced base immunity."

Whatever, this issue has been actively debated for over a decade with no resolution. What we do know is the level of sensitivity to the risk has increased and led to major restrictions that impact large populations. That has led to related friction from those who feel the restrictions have sometimes gotten out of control, a classic example being the insane "50 page book of banned substances for every lunch making mother" mentioned earlier.

 

[skw444]

My dd has a nut allergy. My dd had a severe reaction at her last school and needed an epi administered to her, so I'm always nervous about sending her to school. Her school has a peanut free table in the cafeteria. Individual classrooms are nut free if there is a student in the class with an allergy. At her last school anything that was sent in for parties or birthdays had to be store bought and I really liked this because the teacher could read to see if it was safe. Since her school now does not have this policy, I have sent a box of safe snacks for her to have in place of anything that is brought in that is not store bought since labels can't be read. At her school, epipens are kept in the office, however, a note from doctor can allow the student to keep the epipen on them.

 

[C.Ann]

Your'e correct about "something not being right." But there's a vociferous scientific debate about what that is. The theories basically break into two camps:

1. Nut allergies are becoming more common because children are being reared in increasingly cloistered, antiseptic conditions and hence sometimes don't develop the "natural immunity" their farm-reared, tree-climbing, worm-eating predecessors had. Best evidence for this is some research that suggests the statistical likelihood of having a nut allergy has gone up over the last few decades.

2. The actual incidence of true nut allergies is low (around 4% as opposed to the 25% claimed by some sources), i.e. most of the diagnosed sensitivity is mild (not all allergies are life threatening) and most of the current hysteria is driven by hypersensitive, smothering Yuppie parents . Strongest evidence for this is the fact that genes can't mutate fast enough to have caused an 18% increase in serious childhood food allergies between the mid 90s and the end of the last decade.

I've read several articles in the waiting room of my doctor's office that pretty much say the same thing..

I'm 60 yrs. old and I know one person with a true allergy to peanuts.. He's 27 now - and a teacher.. His allergy has always been pretty severe, but from day one of Kindergarten, his parents taught him how to manage his own health issue in a way that would be the least intrusive to those who did not share his allergy..

There were never any rules regarding peanut butter when I was in school - nor when my children were in school.. At one of DGD's schools, there was a classroom restriction one year, but that's it..

If I had a child that was so allergic to peanut butter, peanut oils, or even the smell of it across a room that it truly endangered his or her life, that child would be home schooled..

Regardless of what policies a school has put in place, it's virtually impossible to insure that a child will never come in contact with a particular allergen.. To state that a school is "peanut free" is providing a false sense of security for both the child and the parents.. The bigger emphasis should be on the parents educating their child on how to manage his or her allergy.. Obviously the child is going to spend time in other places as well - restaurants; stores; amusement parks; etc. - and they won't be able to assume they're in a "safe zone"..

Also, once a child has been tested and proven to have a true allergy, those tests should be repeated periodically as children often outgrow these allergies..

 

[mumom95]

I think what happens in a decent amount of cases:

a toddler has peanut butter and breaks out in a rash. Parent takes child to pediatrician, pediatrician says child probably has a peanut allergy and to avoid peanuts. 10 years later parent is still claiming child has peanut allergy when in reality the child grew out of it years ago and is fine but parent is too worried to ever try it again.

Not saying that there aren't kids with allergies. One of my ds's close friends has a deadly peanut allergy (only if he ingests it, no problem with touching it), they take him and have him tested every year. But a few people I know when I asked how often the child is tested, they say never and when I ask how they know he has an allergy they always say something like he broke out in a rash when he was 2.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I had heard (don't shoot me--simply inquiring )....

That a theory on the peanut issue--mold in the peanuts?

Anyone know about that. I heard it a while ago and not sure the context or the background information...so was just curious if anyone knew anything.

******

Also--what is the relationship between a "peanut" allergy--which is a legume and a tree nut allergy. Since a peanut is not a nut that is.

*****

I'm all about reasonable access--but some of the extreme bans that some schools have in place, truly make me wonder what happens when the child goes with mom and dad to a grocery store or a restaurant or the gas station or wherever.....places that you have no way to make 100% peanut free.

What does mom or dad do in that situation?

******
My peanut allergy story--my dds took piano and for several months, there was another child who played after us. My kids traditional lunch was pb&j and sometimes almond butter subbed for the pb.

One day--I didn't notice that one of the girls had some of the nut butter on them somewhere. The mom saw it and FREAKED out.

From then on, the piano instructor had to sanitize the piano before her dd's lesson each and every time.

Fast Forward 6 months and we now go to the same gym. Where they sell "peanut" snacks in the snackroom. Stuff made with or made in factories that made peanut products.

Kids were not scrubbing hands before using the gym equipment. They weren't santizing the equipment in the gym prior to this young lady using it.

So I don't get it. If the allergy was so bad--you would have thought that they would have told the piano teacher.....and you would think that it if it was so bad--she would have asked for similar accomodations at the gym.

While I don't question the reality of the existence of an allergy in her dd--I just don't get her very relaxed attitude about it followed by her very militant expectations of a sanitized environment at one place, but not at the other.

 

[luvmy3]

I had heard (don't shoot me--simply inquiring )....

That a theory on the peanut issue--mold in the peanuts?

Anyone know about that. I heard it a while ago and not sure the context or the background information...so was just curious if anyone knew anything.

******

Also--what is the relationship between a "peanut" allergy--which is a legume and a tree nut allergy. Since a peanut is not a nut that is.

*****

My ds is allergic to almonds, but no other tree nut and he is not allergic to peanuts.

 

[Disneyadore]

I've read several articles in the waiting room of my doctor's office that pretty much say the same thing..

I'm 60 yrs. old and I know one person with a true allergy to peanuts.. He's 27 now - and a teacher.. His allergy has always been pretty severe, but from day one of Kindergarten, his parents taught him how to manage his own health issue in a way that would be the least intrusive to those who did not share his allergy..

There were never any rules regarding peanut butter when I was in school - nor when my children were in school.. At one of DGD's schools, there was a classroom restriction one year, but that's it..

If I had a child that was so allergic to peanut butter, peanut oils, or even the smell of it across a room that it truly endangered his or her life, that child would be home schooled..

Regardless of what policies a school has put in place, it's virtually impossible to insure that a child will never come in contact with a particular allergen.. To state that a school is "peanut free" is providing a false sense of security for both the child and the parents.. The bigger emphasis should be on the parents educating their child on how to manage his or her allergy.. Obviously the child is going to spend time in other places as well - restaurants; stores; amusement parks; etc. - and they won't be able to assume they're in a "safe zone"..

Also, once a child has been tested and proven to have a true allergy, those tests should be repeated periodically as children often outgrow these allergies..

A while ago we had a mom here who's child was getting a peanut sniff dog. She was taking the dog to WDW. I really wonder how this will work out. If the dog sniffs a peanut in the waiting lines, do they track down the "guilty one", does the party with the peanuts have to leave and what if the peanut party says go ****** yourself?
Even if they get a GAC there still will be thousands of people eating peanuts in the park.

Further more I ask myself how this will work out in the future? If so many children do have this problem how will they be able to function in the world outside that is not going to accommodate them? There will be a time they have to get work and stand on there own feet.

 

[Christine]

True, exposure has something to do with it but rates don't spike all of the sudden like they have in the past 5 years or so. Many of the 'allergies' are just not real.

Actually, the "spike" started in the early 80s. And the spike is backed up only by documented cases and not "oh I think I'm allergic cases." I agree that some allergies are "made up"; however, when the infamous "they" reports the numbers and the spike rates, it is based on tested cases.

Now, we can argue all day about statistics. I don't believe that the spike is as much as they say. I believe there actually were more peanut allergies back in the day, but I think our peanut product consumption was much lower than it it today, so the rates of exposure were much less.

For instance, I am 46 years old, went to elementary school in 60s. While we had peanut butter and jelly back then, it was not eaten everyday. We mainly had tuna, bologna, ham, etc. PB&J was almost a considered a treat at that time because it was sweet. My friends and I rarely had PB&J, althought that did pick up in the 70s. By the 70s, there was somewhat of a mini-explosion of peanut products entering the processed food market. It went big-time in candy and cereals. This entrance into the processed food market continued to expand well into the 80s and 90s. This is the time we saw the spike. So, were the allergic people always there and now their exposure levels were more dramatic or did the massive amounts of processed peanut snacks contribute? Who knows.

What I do know is that a peanut allergy and cross contamination issues are much harder to manage in this decade than they were in the 60s due to so many peanut-containing foods and, IMO, the high use of PB in lunches. It is a daily thing now versus a once-in-awhile treat. I'm not saying PB&J is bad and shouldn't be put in lunches--just that it is much more widely used than it was in the 60s when allergy rates were way down.

 

[Christine]

Not saying that there aren't kids with allergies. One of my ds's close friends has a deadly peanut allergy (only if he ingests it, no problem with touching it), they take him and have him tested every year. But a few people I know when I asked how often the child is tested, they say never and when I ask how they know he has an allergy they always say something like he broke out in a rash when he was 2.

I agree but my son's school system would not let me get away with it. I have to have testing on a regular basis in order to "claim" the allergy. I have to send in a signed statement from a doctor and they do ask for dates of testing.

 

[mickeylove2]

I'm very curious about this too. I never knew so many children had peanut allergies until I started lurking on the DIS. I don't remember any kids having one or even any bans on what food we could take to school.



What is the reasoning for that? I don't have experience with epi pens or inhalers but I assume the person who needs one will need it immediately. Why does a teacher have to hold on to it?

Well, my DD is only 9 so I guess they think that she's too young to administer it by herself. She does fine at home and in sports with it, but it's the school rule so we have to follow it. Then as they get older I guess they feel like the kid would pass off that kind of stuff to their friends, so they can't even have Tylenol on their person, has to be in the nurses' office.