Peanut Allergy issue - is this going too far in your opinion?

[YourMajesty]

We're saying the same thing. It is not "blame placing" to say that the trend of cleanliness may be part of the problem - it is blame placing to say that someone's kids are sick, have allergies, etc. because their parents are overzealous - which is what was I felt was inferred in the post I refered to.

This will really stir the pot but my kids allergist said they just don't know why some the these allergies are on the rise (food and asthma) but came right out and said immunizations were one area of concern (eek). I'm also seeing new information that infants with family hx of food allergies should not be given a regular cows milk formula. It will be interesting to see what the research is a few years from now. For my DS and his asthma it's considered "silent" (no wheezing just cough) so without some of the new lung function test that are more common he wouldn't have been dx with it. Some of the increase can just be from more awareness and better testing. I hope they can figure out a way to lessen the severity of food allergies like they do for environmental. There are people who have anaphylaxis from fresh cut grass...but you know people have to mow. I can feel the frustration when a child has this "severe" of a food allergy. My younger DS had several food allergies. I've been trying to figure out a way to get my oldest DS to eat something other than waffles with peanut butter for breakfast (almost everyday for three years) but I never thought about it being a danger issue at school. As this point I do not think they have any kids that have that much of a restriction but I would do what I could. It sure makes me think twice. We do have many kids at DS's soon with food allergies.

 

[disneysteve]

I understand that scientists believe that this could be an explanation for the increase of allergies and bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics, etc. However, they are not saying that it will cause problems to individuals in clean houses. They are saying that the general trend of cleanliness over the last 40 years is causing the problems - not blaming individuals.

I agree. It isn't necessarily specific households that are the problem but the overall trend. Antibacterial everything. Hermetically sealed homes.

Anal parents = less healthy kids, definately inferred here. I wouldn't have quoted it directly, but Steve seemed interested in why I felt he was "blame placing".

Now I see where the "blame placing" was coming from...Me - Oops! Sorry if it came across that way. I was just using anecdotal stuff from personal experience, not scientific data. I didn't mean to generalize to everyone with that comment.

 

[yeartolate]

Steve, I have to tell you I have had the same experience. Our home has never been squeaky clean. I don't mop or vacuum unless "I see stuff". We use usual products and only buy the antibacterial stuff for home in error or on sale. My son has been the healthiest in his group. He is 11 and hasn't been to the doctor "for cause" in about 7 years. Contrast that to my group of friends with "hermetically sealed homes" ( ) . Those are the ones with the allergic and sick kids. Just a personal observation, I am not sure how this tracks community or nationwide.

 

[froglady]

DS attended a peanut free school. Although it was originally a "request" and only applied to specific classrooms and common areas, it expanded to include the entire school, and peanut products a student brought in would be confiscated, bagged, and thrown in the trash! I consider that to be mandated. Fortunately, my peanut butter only picky eater learned to like yogurt, soup, etc and didn't starve to death. BUT, he did come home and eat a PB sandwich every day. Not sure how I and the other parents would react to being told that was forbidden, also.

He's in a MS/US now, and I've not heard anything about peanuts...yet. The highly allergic children in his former school are a few years younger.

 

[froglady]

I also wonder about the increased exposure to different allergens. As mentioned, peanuts weren't a common part of children's diets (although they were common in certain areas) until after WWII. I never ate a kiwi fruit or artichoke until I was an adult, but my children have eaten them for years. Fruits and vegetables were strictly seasonal, and foods with additives were rare. I rarely went out to eat as a child, so was only exposed to what my mother or friends' mothers prepared.

I NEVER had allergies until I moved to Florida; there is obviously something that grows here that doesn't grow in New England. DD has no seasonal allegies at college (PA) but started having problems within an hour of arriving home.

I don't even want to get into the variety of cleaning products, detergents, fabric softeners (we didn't have a dryer until I was about 10 years old) and air fresheners on the market.

It's possible that my and my parent's generation had tons of allegies, but didn't know it because they were never exposed to them!

 

[C.Ann]

So you don't think the boy that kissed the girl several hours after he had peanut butter knowing the girl was allergic will feel quilty for her death? I do.

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If he does, then he is in need of counseling.. He did nothing intentional and therefore has nothing to feel guilty about.. To even imply that he should feel some sort of guilt is about as insensitive as a person can get..

Yes - this request is way over the top.. My friends son has always been severely allergic to peanuts (life-threatening severe).. She taught him early on what his responsibilities were in regards to his health. He is a teacher now but is fully aware that he must ultimately hold the responsibility for his own health issues..

 

[AnaheimGirl]

Another article on allergens that I read theorized that the increase in peanut allergies could be partly due to the increased exposure to peanuts in utero. Peanut butter is being eaten more and more by adults who grew up loving it as kids, and some pregnant women are beginning to eat a lot of it as a satisfying and less nausea-inducing source of protein than meat.

Of course, it didn't make a difference with my older dd. When I was pregnant with her, I used to wake up starving every night, go downstairs, eat a peanut butter sandwich, then go back to bed.

 

[mum4jenn]

Steve, I have to tell you I have had the same experience. Our home has never been squeaky clean. I don't mop or vacuum unless "I see stuff". We use usual products and only buy the antibacterial stuff for home in error or on sale. My son has been the healthiest in his group. He is 11 and hasn't been to the doctor "for cause" in about 7 years. Contrast that to my group of friends with "hermetically sealed homes" ( ) . Those are the ones with the allergic and sick kids. Just a personal observation, I am not sure how this tracks community or nationwide.

I think disneysteve is right for the most part. I am just like yeartolate and disneysteve. We are not fanatics about clean clean clean and everything should be antibacterial this and that. My dd was sick alot (once a month with throat infections)when she was three and had just started going to a daycare. But ever since then (she is 8 now) she has only been to the Dr once(except for shots) for being sick and that was strep she caught from a cousin. My boss at work though is always using antibacterial sanitizer and I wold assume at home also. I went on a visit to another school system with her and she keeps a big bottle of sanitizer in her car. She used it everytime she got out of the car and again everytime she got back in the car and even if she got something out of her purse she put it on again. Her two boys are sick quite often!! Even myself since I am a lunchroom manager and I have to sanitize at work and wash my hands much more than I normally would and wear gloves most of the time I have been sick more this past year then I have in prob 20 years!!! I am rarely sick but since I DO have to be "anal" about cleanliness at work I have been ill enough to miss work several times and I hate to miss work.

 

[Aidensmom]

I personally think genetics has a role to play in allergies - My grandfather had allergies/asthma, as does my mom, as do I, as does my son. There are some common threads to what we are allergic to, but each of us has things we are allergic to that the others aren't. We all have food allergies, but none of us has the same one. I think the genetic proponent is the predisposition to have allergies and/or a weakend immune system in the first place. Factors such as how "cleanly" you are probably just build on top of that. (For the record, we are not clean freaks, but we do still have allergies. However, my son has hardly ever been sick.)

 

[PaulaSue]

I personally think genetics has a role to play in allergies - My grandfather had allergies/asthma, as does my mom, as do I, as does my son. There are some common threads to what we are allergic to, but each of us has things we are allergic to that the others aren't. We all have food allergies, but none of us has the same one. I think the genetic proponent is the predisposition to have allergies and/or a weakend immune system in the first place. Factors such as how "cleanly" you are probably just build on top of that. (For the record, we are not clean freaks, but we do still have allergies. However, my son has hardly ever been sick.)

Our family is much the same as yours. Both Dh and I have food allergies and 2 DDs do some same as ours and some not like seasonal. Each of my girls have hardly ever been sick. I have only ever taken them to the doctor for one sick visit each. DD #2 was for hives when we learned about her allergies. (This is why our preschool bans all tree nuts since her allergy, not peanut for her but others in school do have that one.)

Someone else posted about formula and my girls never had formula and I BF for well over a year for each, so it is not always from formula.

 

[Mskanga]

I wonder if the people with children and this severe cases of peanut allergies that feel for the children to be safe need to make all these kind of requests , if they ever go out to a restaurant , or on vacation , etc . What do they do then?
I mean my daughter is severely alergic to two different types of dust mites and is asthmatic. The only thing I could ever do was to make sure the school knows and teach her how to remove herself from potential places where she could have a problem. I cannot make the school rip out all the carpets or dust every single day and get special air cleaners for my daughter , but she can remove herself from a room if she feels that she has to , and trust me she learned how to "recognize" the symptoms.
I am not minimizing that peanut allergy is a very serious issue , but I think that sometimes the requirements of some parents are way over the top. JMHO.

 

[robinb]

I am not minimizing that peanut allergy is a very serious issue , but I think that sometimes the requirements of some parents are way over the top. JMHO.

I know that in another thread one poster said that anti-peanut rules are rarely requested by the parents. They are dreamed up by the school system.

 

[disneysteve]

I know that in another thread one poster said that anti-peanut rules are rarely requested by the parents. They are dreamed up by the school system.

Or more likely the school system's attorneys.

 

[chobie]

Or more likely the school system's attorneys.

Well, parents do have the tendency to blame the schools for everything. The schools don't have much choice but go into CYA mode.

 

[mum4jenn]

Well, parents do have the tendency to blame the schools for everything. The schools don't have much choice but go into CYA mode.

Very true disneysteve and chobie!! Sometimes if someone even looks crosseyed at a kid the parents are wanting to sue!!

 

[Talking Hands]

DD#1 -allergic to peanuts, dairy, onions, seafood vegan
DD#2 - no allergies, vegetarian
DH - meat and potatoes guy
ME - allergic to shrimp, mango, nutrasweet and sugar alcohols like sorbitol and manitol also diabetic. and DH and I don't eat pork.
Can get very interesting around our house at times.