Peanut Allergy and Schools

Unfortunatly, some allergies are so severe that if a child walks into a room that has had peanuts in it they could have a reaction. We were talking about this at work today. One of my colleagues said the school has requested that none of the children be given peanuts/peanut butter for breakfast at home because when they come to school they could breathe on the child and he would have a reaction.

At my daughter's school they do nut-free in the classrooms depending on if the class has children with allergies. The classrooms that are peanut/tree nut free have signs posted on their doors. So any snack or treat that is brought in to share with the class must be nut-free.

As far as lunch goes, they have a peanut/tree nut free table. The kids who sit there can invite one friend who has an appropriate lunch to sit with them. All kids must wash their hands after eating lunch so as not to bring any nut residue back to the classrooms.

I haven't read any of the other responses, so forgive me if I repeat what has already been said, lol.

I have always thought it was dumb to have a "blanet" rule at a school with 600+ kids (which ours is) when only a handful of kids are affected...until last June. When my then 14 month old daughter ate half of a peanut butter girl scout cookie and I watched in horror as her face QUADRUPLED insize and her tiny eyelids turned INSIDE out and she began coughing and choking. Her lips were blue...all within 60 seconds of her first bite (which she managed to get against all of my efforts to keep her away from it).

My point is that you will never understand the severity of this allergy until you experience it first hand. Yes it is a pain in the rear on your end...but imagine my end. My daughter can not sit next to someone who has a pb&j sandwich because the SMELL will send her into anaphylaxis.

Even if there is a separate room for kids with allergies, it is IMPOSSIBLE to be sure they are not contaminated. Think for a moment...Your child eats peanut butter crackers for a snack in his "regular" classroom. After snack time, he goes to gym class where he learns to dribble a basketball, then back to his classroom. My daughter then comes in for her PE lesson and also learns to dribble a basketball...using the same basketball that your son just inadvertantly contaminated. In come the EMS...if they make it in time to save my daughter's life.

My point is that its not just about kids not being able to eat certain foods or choosing to not eat meat. This is a life or death matter for some and until you experience it first hand, you really have no concept of what its like. I have had to call ahead and "investiate" every restaurant before we go. I have to constantly be on the look out even at family gatherings. I read EVERY label before she eats ANYTHING. Even the mention of something being manufactured in plant that processes peanuts is out of the question.

I think anyone who has to deal with the minor inconvenience of not sending in things with peanuts should consider themselves lucky...it could be much worse for you :)

We have a penut free table at lunch on the other side if the cafeteria. At snack time if there is a kid with allergies in that class, we are not allowed to send a nut snack. Every yera is different for us. Last year there were no allergies, this year there are. Yes it's an inconvenience at times, but I don't mind. Think about how grateful the other mom is that her child is safe. You never know when your child's saftely will be in other parents and kids hands, so I say do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

My daughter, who has a tree-nut, not peanut, allergy, carries a bottle of Benadryl and Epi-pen in her backpack at all times. There's another set of the same in the school nurse's office. At the beginning of the school year, we have a meeting with the principal, nurse, her teacher and myself to go over the allergy procedures. There is a separate peanut/tree nut allergy table in the caf, but since my daughter isn't allergic to peanuts, I can't have her sitting at that table if she brings in a PB&J sandwich for lunch (which has actually only happened once), so she sits with the gen pop. She's also a very social child and it was just too sad making her sit at that separate table. She has also been taught to be very wary of baked things and not take any food from any other person, even if her best friend offers her a cookie to share. She only eats what the cafeteria prepares, which is mostly nut and peanut free because of all the allergies around, or what I send from home in her lunchbox. She's had a couple of reactions, so she knows how horrible it feels to end up in the ER, so she's pretty careful about what she eats. I think the schools are in a tough spot because there are so many highly allergic kids these days. They need to balance a child's right to eat what they want with the possible death due to anaphylactic shock. More and more, you're going to see them err on the side of caution and the rules will get more stringent. But if those rules save the life of even one child, I'll happily give up my daughter's PB&J rights.

Wow. I couldn't believe some of what I was reading here. My daughter who is 9, and a very picky eater, has brought a PBJ sandwich to school every single day since she was in Kindergarten. If our school had a ridiculous "zero tolerance" nut policy, then my kid would starve. PB is a healthy, protein-rich, food for growing children, esp. those who aren't big meat eaters like mine. I understand that some kids are allergic, and those kids can bring their own lunch, but I don't understand why a school would be able to dictate to parents what their children can/can't eat. This would be the same if the allergic kids were told they HAD to eat peanuts... it is silly! In my daughter's class there is a kid with a severe nut allergy, so we are asked to provide the ingredients for all food that is meant to be shared in the class; however, if this is questionable, the child just abstains from eating that treat and is provided an alternative. Makes sense, right? COMMON SENSE.

Ours aren't in school yet but the daycare they go to part time is peanut free. They do however have to constantly remind the parents during holidays like valentines day and easter. To many parents gave peanut type candies for valentines day. Easter was better because they were reminded in the news letter. We went to a kids birthday party and she invited the kids from daycare. We were fortunate that nothing happened but they had a candy land theme with tons of candy. Some with peanuts, they also had a peanut table with shelled peanuts. We had to keep him away from those things. I'm hoping when our son starts school in just over a year that they don't allow peanuts to be brought in. My son loved peanut butter and now gets the occasional soy nut butter and jelly sandwich.

Our school/district is NOT nut free. We have several children in my daughter's first grade class who have peanut allergies, and one boy who is severely allergic to almost EVERYTHING.

He eats in the teacher's lounge and brings his lunch everyday. He is used to his medical needs and understands that he cannot eat around the other kids.

The children who have peanut allergies usually sit at the end of the lunch tables. They are only allowed to sit next to kids who get "hot lunch" that day, to ensure that they are not near pb&j sandwhiches or other foods with nuts in them.

Also, any snacks brought to the school are asked to be nut free. And on the days we are bringing a treat or snack to share, the mom of the severely allergic boy only asked that we make her aware of it, so that she can bring an appropriate snack for her child. I believe we cannot bring "home baked" items, only individually packaged or store bought with a label on them. Otherwise the kids can bring fruit, pencils, stickers, etc. for their birthday or holiday parties.

I really appreciate that this other mom sent a letter home to all the parents of the kids in her son's class. She explained her son's condition and that she did not expect the rest of us to "jump through hoops" to accommodate them.

I think it's great that our school hasn't "over reacted" to this issue. There are safeguards put in place to protect children who need it without unnecessarily preventing other kids from having NO nuts/peanuts in their lunches. In reality I think this is outstanding because those of us parents who don't have to deal with the allergy just don't know what not to send...it's not just the peanut butter or granola bars, it's peanut oils and trace amounts of nuts that we aren't educated on, and frankly don't need to worry about.

I have read several articles about parents pro "nut free" schools/areas and con "nut free" schools/areas. I think it was very enlightening.

I think our school district has found an excellent balance between not putting out the majority of students due to the minorities allergies. However it protects the kids who need a safe place to eat, learn and play. I have never heard of their being a "problem" that led to a medical issue. And the few problems I have heard of were those jerk kids to "threatened" to smear pb on an allergic kid. I'm happy to say that my first grader blocked this rude kid from getting to her friend, and started yelling at him, drawing the attention of the "lunch ladies". This little boy's behavior was addressed and now he is in a permanent lunch seat where he is nowhere near this allergic child.

I am VERY happy that our system seems to work for all those involved.

I don't have the school issue, but our church is nut free. There is a little boy in our church that if someone has had peanut products that day, has not washed their hands and touches him, he breaks out in severe hives.

The one poster who posted about "common sense" has no idea how serious it is for a child with peanut allergies and I just want to say that I would GLADLY give up making my child a PB sandwich for the sake of another child's safety.

Our school district has a nut-free table at lunch that the kids with peanut allergies can sit at. For class parties, they "suggest" for the younger grades you don't bring anything with peanuts. Older grades they believe the kids are more aware and diligent of what they can eat. It's just a suggestion, they haven't outlawed peanut butter. At the beginning of each year I check with the teacher to see if there are any with allergies. If so, I do bring something peanut-free as well. Guess it just depends on the school or district. It would be really hard for me to digest that a school would try to tell me what my child is or isn't allowed to bring for lunch. What's next banning children from bringing meat products for those few that are vegetarians or vegans???

My daughter is anaphylactic to peanuts and tested allergic to most tree nuts. We started her in a private preschool and were planning to move her to public school for kindergarten, but they separate the allergic child during lunch and allow only one other child (that the teacher selects) to sit with the allergic child.

My daughter also has juvenile arthritis, ulcerative colitis, uveitis and asthma (all diagnosed over the last four years), so she has enough to deal with at her young age. If you look at her, you'd never know she has so much going on. I did not want her to have the added burden of being known as the kid that has to sit at the "special table" at lunch, and I didn't want to run the risk of other kids resenting her for having to sit at the separate table either.

I discovered right before we made the decision to stay with private school that another school in the same district has a "nut free cafeteria" meaning they make sure none of the foods they sell in the cafeteria contain nuts. So the allergic child sits at the end of a table surrounded by kids who buy their lunch. Then the kids who bring PB&J sandwiches can sit at the opposite end. I like that idea as long as hands are washed after lunch, but it would have required making changes at our public school and I didn't have enough time to get that going before we had to make a decision.

The private school has a "nut sensitive" policy in the preschool and kindergarten grades meaning parents are asked not to send nuts to school. It does not guarantee that nuts won't be on campus or at school functions, but it reduces the risk of exposure for those children with an allergy.

For 1st grade and older, there is no policy at the private school, but I think they are going to extend the nut sensitive policy to the 1st grade only next year and evaluate it each year. We have five children with nut allergies in kindergarten this year and a few others who have milk, soy, beef and other allergies.

One option for your child's school would be to see if they'd allow Sunbutter. It is similar consistency to peanut butter and many kids probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, especially if there's jelly on the sandwich.

My child doesn't like to eat meat so we send meat-free options for her lunch. It is possible for vegetarian children to find enough varieties to keep lunch interesting and healthy, and then have all the nuts they want at home. Here's one site with some options:

http://www.vegcooking.com/backtoschool.asp

For class parties and activities, I (and the other allergic children's parents) always send something "safe" to school so the class can have whatever the parents/teachers bring. I do not expect the campus to be completely nut-free.

One thing to think about as the parent of a non-allergic child is how your child would react if he/she brought peanut butter to school that caused an anaphylactic reaction in a child. Having seen my child have a reaction, I can say it is one of the scariest things I have witnessed. I had no idea what was happening because we have no history of food or drug allergies in our family. I would think it would be traumatic for a child to witness another child being rushed to a hospital or worse... if the child did not survive.

The public school that we decided not to send our daughter to DOES do an educational program for the kids in the classes that have allergic children so they can understand what it means to have a food allergy. The mother of a 1st grader at the school told me that the children in her son's class didn't want to take peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school after that program because they didn't want the boy to get hurt.

I should mention that our private school does not have a nurse, so it is more important to us to have a policy in place for no nuts because it is an added burden on teachers and school staff to try to figure out whether or not to administer an epi-pen.

I can understand both sides of the debate, and obviously as a mother who has seen her child go into anaphylactic shock, I am biased toward no nut policies, but if I didn't have an allergic child, I would still use the opportunity to teach my child about the importance of human life over a food item and help her understand that her sacrifice during one part of the day five days of the week is little compared to keeping her classmate(s) safe.

Even though there are often children with other food allergies in a class, peanuts are the main focus because of the residue that can be left behind (e.g. on hands, transferred to door knobs, toys, books, etc.).

On a side note, I have read the articles about parents "over-reacting" about food allergies and schools "going overboard" to accommodate children that may or may not have true allergies. Here are some articles that show why a parent of a food allergic child should continue to take the allergy seriously even if the child has not had a major reaction:

http://www.allergymoms.com/modules/wordpress/index.php?p=817

http://www.allergymoms.com/modules/wordpress/index.php?p=708

This might give some parents who don't understand why parents of allergic children try to put safeguards in place - especially when the children are younger and may not be able to communicate clearly if they're starting to feel strangely.

While my daughter has lowered risk of exposure at school, I still work on educating her in case she is exposed at school or after school activities. Some people may feel like having nut-free policies shelters a child, but my daughter's life is not spent only at school. At least while at school, the focus can be on education and interaction with classmates and not worrying about whether peanut butter residue is on the table or shared school supplies, books, toys, etc.

I look forward to the day when the sublingual therapies for eliminating food allergies are common practice. Right now, our pediatric allergist has spoken with clinical researchers who indicated they are still too experimental and should not be done outside of a clinical study. There is one allergist in my city who is doing them anyway (and apparently with success), but given my daughter's other illnesses, our allergist felt we needed to wait to see how the studies turn out before trying them on my daughter. Hopefully one day soon, this "problem" will no longer exist!

Our school is going room by room. This year there is a teacher with the nut allergy, and her room is nut free. She explained it to all of the parents. However, for some reason, all of the kids with a nut allergy were not put into her room.

My son has the nut allergy, and he is in public school. I don't have the financial freedom to homeschool him. We just have to be very diligent. Reminding kids to wash their hands and wash down their areas completely. While I understand that its a parent's freedom to send a peanut product to school for their kids snack, its also my kids RIGHT to be able to go to school and not have to worry about such things. However, the schools find it easier to bend to the majority. Everyday I pray that I don't get the call that I'm fearing.

Our school has one classroom per grade with the kids with the nut allergies. All children in this class wash their hands (or use wipes) when they return to the classroom after lunch. There's a nut free table in the lunchroom. Kids with nut allergies each have Epi-pens, and I know, because we had kids with severe nut allergies in pre-school that the parents are on top of this and start trying to teach the kids how to be responsible for their safety at an early age. Schools, the other families in the schools, the kids with allergies, their parents -- it's a life-threatening problem that requires collaboration. The younger the children, the stiffer the controls. This type of situation also helps teach kids without allergies how to be compassionate and care about their peers. Inour pre-school there were 2 kids who were vegan (no eggs, cheese) and they managed to survive without nuts for lunch. Others have pointed out the seriousness of these allergies. Kids can eat Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds), parents can find alternatives. Some schools don't allow food for birthdays because of the nutrition mandate in Illinois, not just because of allergies. I am grateful that I don't have a child with food allergies, but my kids have been in the "allergy" room for a few years running, as mentioned there were a few kids in our pre-school, and I now take this as seriously as if it were my own children, and so do my kids (my youngest is in 3rd grade and is very concerned and responsible about this). I think it has helped them to think past themselves, mostly in positive ways.

Our Kindergarten eliminated snack and just has a juice/drink break. There is a Nut Free table in the cafeteria where severely allergic kids from grades 1-4 can have their lunches.

I'm fortunate my son is not allergic to anything. When my son was in private school, they had a lunch table where all the food allergy kids ate. It was tough because some kids seemed to be allergic to practically everything. Some were no nuts. Some were no eggs. Some were no wheat. Some were no milk. etc. And the school always had spare alternative snacks on hand that were ok for the allergic kids to eat when the others had cupcakes or cookie treats for birthdays. We moved and he's in public school now, and his class has no one with food allergies this year. I'm not sure how his current school handles it.

My daughters kindergarten class has a child with a peanut allergy. I do understand where the allergy mom's are coming from. It is very hard for us not to send a pb and j though. There are days in our house that peanut butter on crackers or peanut butter and jelly is all we have. Trust me when i say ALL we have. (toward the end of the pay check we are scraping...lol) As long as the child is taught not to share snacks and the tables are wiped after...isn't everything ok? Please do not think i am being mean. I am just trying to explain it from the other end of the spectrum.....

a childs life is more important than anothers inconvenience.
come on people.

My son's preschool is a "peanut" free school as well. My son doesn't have an allergy to peanuts but I can totally understand and agree with what a danger it can be to kids that do have allergies..
I actually slipped one time and gave him celery with peanut butter and the director called me immediately to remind me of the "no peanut" rule...
It doesn't bother me AT ALL and I feel bad for mom's that have to deal with the peanut worries wherever there child goes.. I guess it's not a lot to ask me to just not bring it in his lunchbox when there's moms out there that worry everytime there child walks out the door.

I have heard of nut free schools, in fact the school in the UK in the area I lived in where all nut free. My son's current school is not, and the most important thing is to teach all the kids never to share their lunch since they do not know what the other kid may or may not be allowed to have. One girl in my younger son's class in allergic to a lot of things. The teacher has a list and checks any snacks to be sure they are not on the list, and the teacher has an adrenaline shot and was taught how to use it just in case.

My son is allergic to all nuts and his preschool has 2 others that are allergic so they made the school peanut free. My main concern was the children sharing foods and foods brought in for parties. He has had one reaction (not at school) and it was the scariest thing I have ever gone through. I can understand some people thinking it is a pain to not give their kids PB&J's for lunch, and I would give my left arm if I could send one with my son to school, but it is what it is and I have to deal with it DAILY. I was curious how it is handeled but I guess I am hearing that they have separate tables, and I will deal with it.

Updated

My son is allergic to all nuts and his preschool has 2 others that are allergic so they made the school peanut free. My main concern was the children sharing foods and foods brought in for parties. He has had one reaction (not at school) and it was the scariest thing I have ever gone through. I can understand some people thinking it is a pain to not give their kids PB&J's for lunch, and I would give my left arm if I could send one with my son to school, but it is what it is and I have to deal with it DAILY. I was curious how it is handeled but I guess I am hearing that they have separate tables, and I will deal with it.

My son's daycare is peanut free. I didn't know either until I sent him to school one day with a peanut butter sandwich and they wouldn't let him keep it. If I had a child with an allergy, I would be happy that others are willing to cooperate in order to save my child's life. These things can be so serious, so we save the peanut butter for at home. I'm sorry for all of you Mom's that have to deal with this! It must be tremendously hard to be sure you aren't giving them anything life threatening.

My kiddos school doesn't even allow birthday treats that are edible. You have to bring things like a pencil or stickers, that it. No food.

I am completely sympathetic to those with severe allergies, but it really puts alot of responsibility and liability on the school, especially one as large as ours (we have 600+ kids). Somewhere along the line, someone is going to mess up and that can really put a kid in danger.

Don't know the answer, but I think you need to err on the side of caution...

I am a mother of a daughter with sever nut allgies also. I am working on getting everything together and planning on set appt this year to meet with State and school boards regarding this issue. Please feel free to contact me. I would love to get more info from you guys as far as allergies and which schools.
Thanks K., ____@____.com

I see both sides of the issue. I can understand parents' fears with sending their kid to school with a peanut allergy and praying that they don't come into contact with peanuts. I can also see the unfairness in asking lots of other parents to take responsibility for one kid's condition and not allowing their kid to have their favorite snack because it might be dangerous.

I would have to say that unfortunately if my child had an allergy I would not trust schools or other parents. No one is going to be as dilligent as me! And I have food allergies myself and I know no one is going to be as careful as I am.

I just think that life is not fair, not for the kids with allergies and not for the kids around them. Neither one asked for the situation! So if a child has a severe enough allergy where they can't be close to a person who ate peanut butter for breakfast then I think they should have alternative solutions to public school. And for the kids with milder allergies, a little dilligence on the other parents' and the other kids' part to keep the allergic food away is an important life lesson.