Peanut/Treenut allergies

[lenshanem]

Wow... If someone can't go a few hours w/o having a friggin peanut butter sandwich or a pathetically small bag of peanuts for the sake of a small child's health and/or life then that pretty much sums up how selfish this society is.

 

[ducklite]

Wow... If someone can't go a few hours w/o having a friggin peanut butter sandwich or a pathetically small bag of peanuts for the sake of a small child's health and/or life then that pretty much sums up how selfish this society is.

Did you bother to read my post?

My scenario was this:

The parents feed their kids, age 2, 4, and 6 at 7:00am before getting in the car to go to the airport. They take one flight and then connect for another that leaves at noon. Fully intending to feed the kids PB&J that they have packed from home on this flight they board, they are in their seats and the FA's begin their announcements, and at that point tell everyone that they can't eat peanuts products on the flight. It's now noon, the flight doesn't land until 3:00pm.

It's unacceptable for the family to not be able to feed their kids the lunch they have brought when they were not given adequate notice beforehand. This is not a snack, this is an actual meals and to deny toddlers and preschoolers food for 8 hours is abusive.

At that point the only alternative is to move both sets of passengers as far away from each other as possible on the plane and allow the kids to eat, unless the airline wants to come up with an alternative.

If you'd bother to read what I wrote, I specifically said that people should of course refrain from eating peanuts as a snack. But to deny young kids a MEAL because the airline didn't adequately inform passengers in advance is not an option.

Anne

 

[gigi1313]

looks like shelby, karen and fanofthemouse did a good job of answering your post...

fanofthemouse... my son has been threatened like that in the past (i'll touch you w/pb on my hands) or chased by a kid w/a pbj sandwich... in the wrong hands it's a weapon

we also take early morning flight, always direct... and we pray alot!

 

[Disfreek]

Thank you all for your posts!! I, too, used to wonder what the big deal was with peanut allergies....until my kid was one with the peanut allergies!!

We are leaving on the first flight that Spirit has-- and returning on their second flight of the day~~

Hopefully everything will go smoothly. We have travelled with her now for 6 roundtrip airline rides before we know she was allergic... As of right now she has never had an inhalation reacation...just contact & injestion.

I never intended this thread to be a debate between making total flights peanut free & not allowing other children to eat for hours.

We always fly direct so I never thought of the possibility of someone travelling for 8 hours to get to WDW.

Thank you all for your replies.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

Thank you all for explaining more about the nut allergies. I now have a better understanding of the situation. I do have mixed feelings about both sides of the issue, but I can see where everyone is coming from. I guess I assumed you would know if your child is going to have problem from a very young age, so I still have a few years to wonder if this is going to show up in one of my children. I find that very unsettling. I do know that ones opinion on a matter changes quickly when your childs health is the issue. Hopefully I never have to find out first hand, but thanks to all of you I will be more aware. I think the important issue is really awareness. We don't have to always agree, we just need to be aware of others situations.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Most airlines no longer serve peanuts.

Whatever gave you that idea? It simply isn't true.

In the past year I have flown American, JetBlue, US Airways, SAS, Northwest, and United and EVERY ONE served peanuts during the flight.

We always fly direct

You are confusing a non-stop flight, which makes no stops (ex Boston to Orlando), with a direct flight, which can make stops but flies in the same direction from point A to point B (ex. Boston to a stop in DC then on to Orlando).

 

[lenshanem]

ducklite, I did read your posts.
I'm not about keeping a child from eating either, but surely a child can be feed something from the attendant that would hold them over until they can get off the plane to eat their PB&J or small bag of peanuts. I work at a preschool and I know all about meltdowns and snack time.
If another child's life is at risk I would gladly hold off on giving a PB&J for a few hours and taking whatever the attendant has to satisfy my child until we can get off. I don't believe for a second that line - My child will ONLY eat PB&J. That is once again a sign of how selfish this society is.

We're talking not about adults here that have had this allergy for years, we're talking about parents with small children who are scared and concerned for their child's life. It is totally natural for a parent to be protective. I find it amazing that anyone would question the fear of a parent putting their child on an airplane up in the air in an enclosed environment, close to everyone, recirculated air and seats that have been covered by repeated peanut dust. And the worst part? You can't get off!

Yes, my daughter has broken out in hives on her hands and arms from sitting in a shopping cart. So I have to wonder - did another child sit here before that was eating a peanut product? And yes, my daughter has been "segregated" (like you suggested in an earlier post) from others during snack (And how does that feel to a small child???) and she has been threatened by older boys on the school bus. And yet another trip to WDW I have to tell her she can't go on the pirate cruises cause PB&J is served. I've seen her look sadly at birthday parties when cake is served and I give her her replacement.

There have been situations where reactions occurred on airplanes - it was just last month Good Morning America had a story on peanut allergies and about a boy who reacted on an airplane while the peanuts were being passed out. This allergy is growing for whatever reason and it is just something that is gonna have to be dealt with despite those who can't forgo their PB&J for a few hours...

Edited to add - I actually don't mind a child eating a PB&J (Course, I'd be concerned if it was like an entire class.) cause my daughter has not reacted in that situation. But, I surely would not belittle the concern of another parent that feels uncomfortable with it. I do know that every child can react differently and in all actuality none of us know how severe the next reaction will be. I personally wouldn't want to be up in the air to find out.

 

[gigi1313]

shan, your entire post is very well written and very well said!

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, there is also the option of just not taking peanut butter on the road with you. We don't fly with it anymore, just because of this. We have found it's much easier to just bring some pretzels or bagals with us. Maybe even some cheese and fruit.
If your child is allergic to peanuts, then it might be a good idea to train them early on to not touch everything they pass. There should be some personal responsibility here....I realize that if I pet a cat, and then rub my eyes, I'm going to be miserable. So, I don't. When I flew last fall with my ds's cat, I was really concerned about there being someone with a horrible allergy to cat dander. And knowing how much dander is generated by a cat in distress made it even worse. I double checked just to be sure they knew the cat was flying with me...even asked for a seat with no one around me. The gate attendants response to that was.."Do you have an issue being close to others while flying?" Mind boggling! Just didn't want them to put someone close to me that was severely allergic..that's all, no other agenda.
I have flown, recently, where they did make an announcement that there was a peanut allergy guest on board, and they asked that we not take out any peanut products during the flight.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

My sister is peanut allgeric and now my DD is also. They both have flown many times and all went well. My DD's doctor suggested I give her a dose of Benedrill BEFORE the flight. I always have and so I can't tell you if it has made a difference but we have been just fine so far. Anyway it's an idea. I know it is not going to help if there is a major reaction but I feel better doing it. You could ask your DR?

 

[ducklite]

ducklite, I did read your posts.
I'm not about keeping a child from eating either, but surely a child can be feed something from the attendant that would hold them over until they can get off the plane to eat their PB&J or small bag of peanuts. I work at a preschool and I know all about meltdowns and snack time.
If another child's life is at risk I would gladly hold off on giving a PB&J for a few hours and taking whatever the attendant has to satisfy my child until we can get off. I don't believe for a second that line - My child will ONLY eat PB&J. That is once again a sign of how selfish this society is.

That's fine, and like I said, if there was something SUITABLE to feed them (and a bag of chips is not suitable), then of course the reasonable thing would be to leave the PB&J packed away. But what if the "snack" would have been peanuts, so the FA's are just not serving any snack.

Like I said there's got to be some reasonable compromise, and expecting kids to go hungry is not reasonable.

If the carrier is assuming the responsibility of transporting the peanut allergic passenger, then they also owe a due diligence to the other passengers to inform them IN ADVANCE so they can plan any meals and snacks they plan on bringing aboard appropriately. This is something that parents of peanut allergic kids should be lobbying for. I am not talking about the selfish person who wants to snack on c*cktail peanuts, but rather families who are packing PB&J for a meal.

We're talking not about adults here that have had this allergy for years, we're talking about parents with small children who are scared and concerned for their child's life.

So you are saying a child's life is more important than an adults? I'm not understanding the intent of this statement.

It is totally natural for a parent to be protective. I find it amazing that anyone would question the fear of a parent putting their child on an airplane up in the air in an enclosed environment, close to everyone, recirculated air and seats that have been covered by repeated peanut dust. And the worst part? You can't get off!

You are contradicting yourself. If the peanut dust is already all over the plane, then what good does it do to have a peanut frr flight?

There have been situations where reactions occurred on airplanes - it was just last month Good Morning America had a story on peanut allergies and about a boy who reacted on an airplane while the peanuts were being passed out. This allergy is growing for whatever reason and it is just something that is gonna have to be dealt with despite those who can't forgo their PB&J for a few hours...

Like I said, in my scenario the kids haven't eaten for five hours already. To deny food for another three is wrong. No one is going to convince me that a child is going to have an anaphylactic shock from someone eating PB&J (not peanuts) 150 feet away--be it in a park, on a plane, or in a school. Please give me some proof that this has ever happened on a plane. PEANUT BUTTER, not peanuts.

Edited to add - I actually don't mind a child eating a PB&J (Course, I'd be concerned if it was like an entire class.) cause my daughter has not reacted in that situation. But, I surely would not belittle the concern of another parent that feels uncomfortable with it. I do know that every child can react differently and in all actuality none of us know how severe the next reaction will be. I personally wouldn't want to be up in the air to find out.

I wasn't belittling anyone. Just being very factual. Like I said, accomodation is a two way street.

Anne

 

[Sleepy]

BTW--I have a life threatening allergy to pine nuts

My dad has the same reaction to macadamia nuts.

 

[lenshanem]

My quote:
We're talking not about adults here that have had this allergy for years, we're talking about parents with small children who are scared and concerned for their child's life.

ducklite's quote:
So you are saying a child's life is more important than an adults? I'm not understanding the intent of this statement.


I guess that didn't sound clear - I'm saying an adult that has dealt with an allergy for years probably knows what they can and cannot tolerate. A parent with a small child who has a severe allergy is by nature going to be extra protective and not as experienced. That is like comparing a child who has been allergic for a few years and has a nervous parent watching over them (which is totally understandable considering the severity of the allergy)to an adult that could have been allergic for many, many years and can take care of themselves.

I'll just accept the fact we do not agree on this topic. I personally would not mind a small child eating a PB&J on the same plane as my DD, but if I was on the other side I might say - ya know, that mom must be very worried about their child - I'll let my child eat something else until we can get off the plane. In the scheme of things waiting on a sandwich to prevent someone from being stressed out, worried or maybe even having a reaction just seems like the neighborly thing to do.