Originally Posted by gozitanguygoinghome99xx

This. This is what we're talking about, the over exaggeration of childrens allergies by the parents.

Originally Posted by gryphea

PS

I have had some difficult instances with other allergy mums here. They clearly feel I take risks that they are unhappy with. One good friend mum I know won't let her kid go to watch the Stamps , because the family season ticket holder seats are near a couple who crack peanut shells and the son has a theoretical peanut allergy. My son goes in the adjacent seats every game. Obviously I don't believe we are putting him at risk etc.

Originally Posted by gozitanguygoinghome99xx

But it is best for him to learn how to deal with it, then he will know what to avoid

Originally Posted by gryphea

Couldn't agree more. Learn to deal with it, then you will be safe. And this starts at an early age, albeit incrementally. An elementary school where you take your own packed lunch is one of the safest environments you get; the outside world is way worse. Middle school is worse, High school even worse and real life even worse still.

Originally Posted by bats

Oh FFS, the girl is 6, she deserves some protection at school. We don't know that the mother is over.reacting. A child with a disabilty needs help to be able to be with others who are not disabled, to have the benefits of being with other children and if ways can be found to help then they should be.

Who here has witnessed an anaphylactic reaction? In a child?

I am appalled at the intolerance shown.

Originally Posted by gryphea

Ok, I'm going to wade in here BUT I haven't read the whole thread so have no idea what has been covered just know there are some strong opinions.

My son has a life threatening allergy to brazil nuts, severe allergy to cashew and pistachio and moderate allergy to other tree nuts and is also mildly allergic to egg, peanut and sesame. believe me he has always rolled around in the dirt and I have never had time to keep my house clean. SO his allergy is not because I wrapped him in a cleanliness bubble, far from it. I ate tree nuts in pregnancy. I breast fed. In fact like some others on here, I didn't really believe these allergies would happen to us (thought they just happened to bored people who are drama queens) until I saw it with my own eyes, and it was scary. According to his paedeatric allergy specialist he is likely to have these allergies as the tendency to allergy runs in families, not the type of allergy (and eating the tree nuts during pregnancy was very unlikely to do it, in fact apparently there is some evidence to the contrary). His grandfather has a life-threatening wasp sting allergy. His sister has no allergies (some mild excema). We know his allergy threatens his life because it did and subsequent tests (antibody and skin) back this up. He is an epipen carrier and we manage his allergy; he has since had some reactions to soapy type products. Interestingly in the UK they only prescribed epipens to life - threatening conditions (he had them from diagnosis) , not to anyone with a peanut allergy, it depends on the severity as there is some evidence that mildly allergic people take more risks with food if they have an epipen and that there are more subsequent problems in that cohort if they carry epipens rather than not because they rely on them. Here because the health service doesn't pay for the epipen, they prescribe it to anyone pretty much.

9 anaphalactic reactions is a lot. I suspect those weren't at school though. Elementary schools are fairly well controlled environments and probably one of the safer environments for kids. I don't think allergy kids should be forced to eat separately; unless that is the agreed solution (ie I would hate for my son to eat separately, it would serve little purpose but to stigmatise him, which is the worst thing you can do to an allergy kid as they will then be unaccepting of it in their highest risk teen years) . I once went on a course run by the Analphalaxis society UK; it was when my son was about to start school and the attenders were basically parents whose kids were on some sort of educational cusp, ie starting school, secondary school etc. I learnt a lot. Specifically we were taught:
that food needs to be injested for analphalxis , whilst you might get a nasty reaction to touch, you need to eat for anaphalaxis, that the biggest risk over a lifetime is during teenage years when they can disown their allergy and take risks, that there is a fine line between protection and over protection that will mean they take serious risks later on unless they are completely accepting of their allergy, kids need to be taught strategies to deal with their allergies and good food habits, such as hand washing before meals for allergic kids (and after meals for non-allergy kids) etc, over protection doesn't help kids develop strategies. That you should try and lead as normal a life as possible, obviously don't take risks but don't say refuse to eat out anywhere (this can lead to kids then deciding to eat out in their teens, realising it doesn't kill them and then they don't trust anything you have said about them and food)

Also any over dramatization and issues with food can lead to teens developing food conditions, eg anorexia that can be just as dangerous.

Here, I have heard a few friends tell me their kid just has to be in the same room as a peanut to have a reaction. I don't know how true this is, but it is slightly against what I was taught. We have no tree nuts at home, but we do have eggs and sesame (and don't really like peanuts). I think one of the main things with allergy kids is to make them feel normal, so that they are completely accepting of their condition as this is what will keep them alive. That said they obviously need to learn self-management strategies as the big wide word is not allergy free, especially when it comes to dairy and eggs.

I have no idea the ins and outs of this case; I suspect there is some debate here, the school thought they were providing a safe environment, the family don't. Without a doubt a kid deserves to be able to go to school safely and a form of disability shouldn't prevent them. I suspect the school environment was safe. Better to assume people have those foods and have strategies to cope, than to ban very common foods that are in a lot of pre-processed food. Allergy kids must be encouraged not to share food, not to stick fingers in mouth the whole time etc. A blanket ban wouldn't help and it wouldn't be my preferred line of defence as its simply not enforceable, not sustainable (in terms of whole life) and other parents will get their back up and deliberately flout it. So if there was a blanket ban, there would still be risks and better to learn to deal with risks than to assume an environment is risk free.

Originally Posted by gryphea

I have witnessed it in my own child; after his main reaction was no longer threatening it was 48 hrs before he could see as he also had vomited and touched his eye with his vomit and it swelled so much. I have also read a load of papers, been on a course etc and there is no link between contact with allergens and anaphalaxis; it needs to be ingested.

I completely agree she deserves protection at school; I think that's a right and have said so. I just don't think the protection she is asking for is either workable, or effective (as clearly educated immunologists have stated). Touch and other contact doesn't appear to cause anaphalaxis . Other measures would be, wiping surfaces , washing hands (allergy kids before, non -allergy kids after) not sharing food etc watching over her. It appears the 9 reactions she has has had were not at school and there seems to be little evidence she has suffered because of the school's policy so far.

Originally Posted by ExKiwilass

You sound like a perfectly sane parent who was handed a crappy situation.

Trust me, i have no issue with parents like you.

The parents I have an issue with are the "any nut in a 10 k radius is gonna kill-mah-baybeee!" . The ones who confront you for eating nuts OUTSIDE the school building, in the playground. The ones who enforce a nut-free classroom because although their child has never, ever, ever had anaphylactic shock from a nut they just might, okay.

Originally Posted by bats

Oh FFS, the girl is 6, she deserves some protection at school. We don't know that the mother is over.reacting. A child with a disabilty needs help to be able to be with others who are not disabled, to have the benefits of being with other children and if ways can be found to help then they should be.

Who here has witnessed an anaphylactic reaction? In a child?

I am appalled at the intolerance shown.

Originally Posted by gozitanguygoinghome99xx

Again, good post... People who ask me not to eat nuts around their child (or themselves!) outside of a school setting, in public, I usually ignore. Many others around them could be eating them and they dont know...

Originally Posted by gryphea

PS

theoretical peanut allergy. .

Originally Posted by gryphea

A point here is that all these kids will have eaten dairy etc for breakfast at home, and its true of peanut butter etc. Any kind of ban won't change that.

Learning to deal with the allergy because the foods will be prevalent everywhere is the best strategy to keeping her alive.