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

[lacrosse_lady72]

I don't think the schools should be allowed to serve anything with peanuts but I don't think kids bringing peanut products shouldn't be allowed. They should be able to bring whatever they would like, or what their parents provide for them, for lunch.

Also, my schools had free lunches for those who forgot to bring their lunch or lunch money (separate for the every day qualified free lunches). These lunches consisted of things I cannot remember and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I only remember this because I vowed to never have to eat that lunch since I hate peanut butter.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

our elementary school has peanut-free tables in the lunchroom. And all tables get wiped down after each class finishes. DD had someone in her class a year or two ago who was allergic and she(DD) would make sure she didn't bring anything w/ nuts for snack that they ate in the classroom.

This to me, is a very good plan! Make it peanut safe for some kids while the others can enjoy their peanuts.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I am more concerned with how I went through 13 years of school without knowing anyone with a nut/pb allergy but now there are several in each grade. Something isn't right, I wish they would figure out what it is!

Same here. I remember some of them having a very small peanut allergy i.e. they could eat things with little peanut content, or thing that have touched peanuts, etc. But not severe allergies. And I graduated in 2005.

 

[castleview]

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.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

*snip*

I am more concerned with how I went through 13 years of school without knowing anyone with a nut/pb allergy but now there are several in each grade. Something isn't right, I wish they would figure out what it is!

I know... I can't figure it out either. It strikes me really funny.

 

[npmommie]

My DDs' school has a peanut free section in the lunch room and all snacks to the classrooms have to be unopened store bought product listed. I think that all schools should be completely peanut free. A relatives 9 year old son died a few years ago because there was a kid eating pb across the lunch room from him and he went into anaphylaxis and by the time the nurse made it to him, he was dead. In a lunch room full of kids this little boy died because we, as a society, don't want to make it hard on little Johnny who only eats pb and j sandwiches for lunch.

omg that is horrible!!

another question...........are the kids allowed to have their epi pens on their person at all times?

 

[mickeylove2]

How sad, how awful! Seriously, Johnny can eat his PBnJ when he gets home @ 3.

Yeah, I totally agree...I know that the school district he was in is now peanut free- it's in Delaware though. I don't know if any of the school systems in MD are yet, but I wish that they would be so that this doesn't happen to any other child.

 

[CandyMandy]

Something isn't right, I wish they would figure out what it is!

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.

 

[mickeylove2]

omg that is horrible!!

another question...........are the kids allowed to have their epi pens on their person at all times?

He wasn't, it had to be kept in the nurses' office, when he collapsed the lunch monitor called down to the office and they sent the nurse with his epi pen and she administered it but it was too late. They took him by abulance and pronounced him out of the school but the nurse said he was gone before she got his epi into him. My DD isn't even allowed to keep her inhaler on her, it is kept with the teacher and then passed from her to each of the spcials' instructors.

 

[HelenePA]

I am not aware of any restrictions at either of my children's schools.

Here either.. I send peanut butter a few times a week. Nothing has ever been sent home about not doing it. Now if they did send something home I'd stop.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

As far as I know, our school does nothing. I always ask before I bring in a party snack (which can be store bought OR homemade) and so far the teachers have been confused when I do. So for 5 years, no allergies in either kiddos room.

My DBIL (in his 40s) and two of his kids (18 and 16) have peanut/nut/other allergies. I don't think their schools do anything, but the kids have been able to distinguish what they can eat and read labels since they were very small. If there is a question, they don't eat it.


This is a little OT, but when DS11 was in 3K at a church run school, the kids had to have a tote bag with a change of clothes in it, which hung in the classroom on a hook. The kids could reach these bags. One day I was in there and my DS needed to change his clothes because he had gotten them wet doing a craft. I told him to bring me his tote bag, and when he brought it to me I opened it up and was very puzzled to see an Epi Kit inside! There was a child in this class that had severe allergies, and had a tote like ours. Just HANGING UP IN THE CLASSROOM!! The director and the teachers were not rocket scientists to say the least, but REALLY?! What if my son misplaced that bag and they needed to use the epi pen on kiddo? What if my son was curious and took the pen out? Or any other kid that could reach up and grab it?

I said something to the teachers about it, and that night I called the kid's mom to tell her. She didn't seem as alarmed as I was, but if it were me I'd be chewing out someone's behind at that school.


ETA: What is horrible about a hot dog once a week?

 

[My2Cinderellas]

Our schools do not ban peanut or other allergen products. All hot lunch meals provided by the school are peanut free, and there is a separate table in the main lunchroom for kids with peanut allergies. Classroom treats are supposed to be peanut free and pre-packaged.

I have that kid who brings a PB sandwich almost every day. A close friend of ours has a peanut allergy, so I do see both sides.

 

[lillygator]

our DD's school, doesn't have restrictions re peanuts. Anything sent in must be store purchased though, no more home made goodies.

 

[puffkin]

ETA: What is horrible about a hot dog once a week?

Besides the fact that they have zero nutritional value they are a huge choking hazard. He just turned 4. They have been served for lunch in his class once a week since he was 2. Luckily I was there touring the school on a day they served them to see with my own eyes. They put the dog in a bun and cut it in half (not lenthwise, across the middle). This is for 2 YEAR OLDS!!! I do give my son hot dogs on occassion at home but I always dice them up pretty small. I am not a "helicopter" mom at all and in fact am pretty relaxed about most things...but right after DS was born a 3 year old died at a childcare center in our area by choking on a hotdog. Scared the you know what out of me!

I wouldn't have a problem with hotdogs served in elementary school age kids, but they don't belong in preschools! And maybe once or twice a month, not once a week!

 

[JVL1018]

They say they are peanut free, but they aren't. It's not enforcaed at all.
At Back to School Night the princiapl used to say just TRY not to send in peanuts.
The kids eat in the classroom, so no lunchroom issues.
the school lunches are peanut free, no PB sold.

There is a girl in my DD's grade that has the peanut allergy(only one in school), and they were in the same class last year so I made sure not to pack peanut stuff, but they were close friends and my daughter told me that the girl said she could be around it, just couldn't eat it.
Somy DD went back to eating her PB choc.chip granola bars, they sat right next to each other and she was fine.

If there was a kid with a serious allergy, I am sure that would be addressed more strictly.

 

[Nancyg56]

I don't think the schools should be allowed to serve anything with peanuts but I don't think kids bringing peanut products shouldn't be allowed. They should be able to bring whatever they would like, or what their parents provide for them, for lunch.

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Our school systems deals with food allergies on an individual basis. There are peanut free tables in the lunch room and if a child has a food allergy it is addressed in the classes that the child has. So far parents, kids and teachers cooperate, the kids are very good at making sure that their classmate is safe.

I understand why you would think that parents should be able to send food in for your children but I wonder if your friend or your child had an allergy that was life-threatening if that opinion would change. In theory you may be correct but in practice, especially with young children, compassion would win out with me. My DGD was very good about not eating any food that she was not sure was safe for her and while we all knew she would get sick if there was a mistake it was not likely she would die. There was a little girl whose food allergy was very bad and if she ingested any nuts or peanuts she would go into shock. Not one parent wanted to be responsible, they knew her and their kids were her friends. They left their lunch bags outside the room and they watched out for her. These were 7 YO kids. It really was not that much of a hardship and teh childen learned to be a team and think of others.

 

[Chelley00]

We don't have peanut free tables, we have "nut tables". Anyone who has anything nut related is asked to sit at those tables, and then after lunch they are taken in and hands are washed and clothing inspected for crumbs.

 

[1stluvispooh]

Our schools do not ban peanut or other allergen products. All hot lunch meals provided by the school are peanut free, and there is a separate table in the main lunchroom for kids with peanut allergies. Classroom treats are supposed to be peanut free and pre-packaged.

I have that kid who brings a PB sandwich almost every day. A close friend of ours has a peanut allergy, so I do see both sides.

I don't really want to argue with you (Well just a little 'cause I went to ISU ) I highly doubt that they banned all allergen products. My DD is allergic to wheat and dairy and I bet you any amount of money your kids were served milk today and had wheat bun, or breading or pizza crust today.

 

[Pigeon]

Our school has the most idiotic policy imaginable.

There is a child in my older daughter's grade level with a peanut allergy. The kids eat their snack in the classroom, and all kids eat lunch in the cafeteria. All the kids at the allergic child's level were to be nut-free, even if the kid was in a different class, and no more likely to encounter the lunch or snack of a child at a different grade level.

We were instructed that we could send in no food that had been in the same area code with a nut of any sort. We got a 50+ page book listing forbidden and acceptable foods. Interestingly enough, some foods were in both categories. We also got a long list of chemical compounds that we were to be on the alert to avoid when we shop. These were various proteins, with nothing in the name that would clue the casual shopper that it involved nuts or nut-derivatives.

Now, I'm willing to not send in obvious nut-containing things. But I'm not extending my much-dreaded grocery shopping expeditions by an hour or two to scrutinize labels. My kids' lunches and snacks are also sometimes packed by people other than me, and I know for sure that Grandma isn't checking the chemical lists.

The cafeteria has a nut-free table, which is fine. But guess what the cafeteria offers for lunch every single day of the week? Yup, PB&J. So I'm supposed to be the nut police at the grocery store so that my kid won't bring in a contaminated snack item which would be consumed in a different room than the allergic kid, but the allergic kid can sit next to a table full of PB&J eaters in the cafeteria.

 

[SaraJayne]

I ask because I witnessed a very heated discussion in the gymnastics waiting area last evening between 2 moms.

mom 1 was discussing her 2 yo and how he has a peanut allergy, just diagnosed. She is already concerned about when he goes to school, and peanut products , not just pbandj sandwiches, but all the other stuff like granola bars etc etc.........she voiced how she thinks the school should be completely peanut free.
mom 2 was sitting next to me and jumped into the conversation saying how she thinks you can't make the school completely peanut free, how its not fair to the kids who will only eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, etc etc. She is a teacher and she went on to tell how they do it at her school. ( peanut free tables in the lunch room, no outside snacks etc)

mom 1 continued to kind of argue with mom 2, very defensive, and I could tell she was getting very upset. the words were getting sharper. Then thankfully the girls came out of practice and it was over

I understand completely how upset mom 1 would be, it would worry me also, and I would be worrying constantly once my child hit school age. I felt bad for her.

so anyway, how do your schools handle peanut allergies? are all products with peanut banned? what about cross contamination products?

just curious, we homeschool, so I really don't know how our local school deals with it.

Our school doesn't have any restrictions whatsoever regarding peanuts.