Pulaski

If it was your child you would think differently. Mostly it's the "not knowing" what the next incident will be like that is the problem, because anaphylactic incidents tend to escalate, often exponentially.

scrubbedexpat099

Food[edit]
Many foods can trigger anaphylaxis; this may occur upon the first known ingestion.[10] Common triggering foods vary around the world. In Western cultures, ingestion of or exposure to peanuts, wheat, nuts, certain types of seafood like shellfish, milk, and eggs are the most prevalent causes.[3][5] Sesame is common in the Middle East, while rice and chickpeas are frequently encountered as sources of anaphylaxis in Asia.[3] Severe cases are usually caused by ingesting the allergen,[10] but some people experience a severe reaction upon contact. Children can outgrow their allergies. By age 16, 80% of children with anaphylaxis to milk or eggs and 20% who experience isolated anaphylaxis to peanuts can tolerate these foods.[11]

kimilseung

I strongly suggest that you go to a school board meeting, or a PTA meeting at the school and voice your concerns.

MsElui

when i was growing up in the uk it was FAR less of an issue because peanut butter was FAR FAR less prevalent in the UK than the US. Here, peanuts seem to be stuffed into everything.

The parents of these children typically provide their own lunch, snacks, HALLOWEEN treats, party treats etc and do whatever they can to eliminate nuts from the area around the child. BUT if even the mere touch of a child who ate peanut butter for breakfast can cause a fatal reaction - of course you would try and be more careful.

You say fish is an allergen - but i bet you can find plenty of kids who NEVER eat fish or even have fish in their homes so the risk of that coming to school is probably MUCH less than tree nuts.

Uncle_Bob

Teachers injecting prescription drugs

MsElui

in texas the schools are not allowed to have their own 'stock epi-pens' Each affected child needs to have their own provided to the school nurse. In our little elementary school - the nurse literally has a large plastic tub (30 gallons maybe) full of packets containing all the various kids epipens.

and you dont inject it - more stab it into their thigh.

Pulaski

S It's better than the alternative. ANYTHING is better than the alternative.

As MsElui said, an epi-pen not a conventional injection needle and syringe, it's a "grab and stab" device, you just remove the cap, stab into the thigh, hold in place for a few seconds, and you're done.

NC is trying (likely) to pass a law requiring schools to have an epi-pen available, though I hear it is not intended to eliminate the children's own epi-pens, but to have one available in the event of an unexpected incident.

kimilseung

Those pen things are fairly idiot proof. I had training on them a short while ago.

Bob

Bobette's school is weird.

It's not a nut free school, but kids are not allowed to bring nut products in for lunch to be eaten in the cafeteria. As for snacks during kindergarten, it was on a class by class basis, but most teachers just said no nuts to make life easier in case a new kid comes in mid year or what not.

What's odd about all this, kids aren't allowed to have their epi pens with them, or in the class room. All medicines from cough meds, asthma inhalers and everything in between has to be kept at the school nurses office and the nurse has to administer the medicine if your kid needs it.

It seems every kid friendly place is a nut free place, except the local cinema, weirdly enough.

Edit:
My biggest issue with school, that the school bus cut off is our neighbours house next door, so our kid is not eligible to use the school bus because the distance for the threshold goes up from kindergarten to first grade.

That and they are sending out the school info, lists for what generic stuff by year kids have to get as well as specific stuff for teacher as well as which teacher they're getting. School starts in a couple weeks....and we're missing out on the back to school sales.

Oh and convenience charges to top up the school lunch card online at a few bucks....that or you have to go to the school and prepay at the cafeteria...at lunch...because they won't accept cash or cheque. Can FRO that.

Meh.

scrubbedexpat099

What about Dairy Queen etc?

ChocolateBabz

Take the kid with the peanut allergy out of school, no need to educate them, they won't get a job anyway...

Woman Says She Was Denied Job Due to Peanut Allergy | abc13.com

MsElui

parents of kids with allergies simply avoid a lot of food supply places because its so hard to be sure that nuts are not involved somewhere.

kodokan

[QUOTE=Uncle_Bob;11369210] Because of the heat here lunch choices are limited. Peanut butter is ideal.
/QUOTE]

I use insulated lunch bags for my kids - this year I've just got them these ones:

They're much slimmer than the usual styles, so slide into school bags better in the fashion of a laptop. I put a Rubbermaid ice block in that's about the size of a thick pack of playing cards, and it's still slightly frozen at the end of the day (and we bike two miles to school, in this heat, so it's like we're pampering hour bags with aircon all the time).

Uncle_Bob

No doubt they are actually physically easy to use, more of a concern is the decision of whether to administer the shot and if so when, I understand time is of the essence with these things, they have a time limit and are not a cure.

No doubt the teachers/schools will be wide open to parents looking to sue them if they consider their medical care to be unsatisfactory or anything bad happens.

What about on the school bus? peanut snacks banned too? does the driver carry an epi-pen?

We have had a recommendation of a couple of alternatives to peanut butter in sandwiches, it is sunflower seed butter or soy nut butter. They are somewhat similar and by no means the same. Apparently the trick is to mix your choice in with the peanut butter and gradually reduce the amount of peanut butter in the mix each time until there is none.

jaffy23

I would struggle to find any packaged food that doesn't have the ubiquitous "prepared in a factory that also processes nuts". It's a blanket statement like in US restaurants where there's a "please inform your server if you have any allergies". Labeling in the UK seemed better with each item having a selection of symbols - maybe that's coming.

I have a mild tree nut allergy and have been caught out a couple times here, where nuts have been snuck into food - last time was a Key Lime pie with a base that turned out to have crushed walnuts in.. Menu just said "Key Lime Pie", but because I forgot to ask about that specific menu item, needed a late night trip to CVS for Benadryl!