Nut-free classrooms (threads merged)

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Forum -> Children's Health -> Allergies

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mosma

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 8:36 am

This is my first time looking at this site and my first post...
I've been reading the posts in this forum, and I just wanted to share something. I have a 3 1/2 year old son who is anaphlactic allergic to peanuts, and I had a very difficult time this year finding a peanut free school. Every single Jewish school where I live (in a heavily Jewish community!!) refused to be peanut free because of the liability. Because of this, I am sending him to a school 20 minutes away that is run by frum people but consists mainly of non-frum children. This is fine for now, as he is going into pre-k, but what do I do when he reaches 1st grade?? I spoke to a mother of an older boy here who is very allergic as well, and she was left with no options and she is homeschooling. When I tried to speak to some parents at a school to make it peanut free, one father actually said to me, "well, what kind of mother are you? why don't you send an epi-pen and let everyone else live their lives as usual?"
In a frum world, where "saving one life is like saving an entire world", why in the world can't people just help out other parents and make the schools peanut free?
And please, no more posts of "my child will only eat peanut butter". My 9 year old sister cannot eat sugar, starch, wheat, or dairy, so all she EATS are nuts and nut products, so I think I understand more than anyone what it means. And she told me that she wouldn't mind going to school with fish or turkey and salads if it meant saving a life. So if your child will only eat peanut butter, maybe it's time to have a talk with him/her.

Marion

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 12:16 pm

mosma wrote:

When I tried to speak to some parents at a school to make it peanut free, one father actually said to me, "well, what kind of mother are you? why don't you send an epi-pen and let everyone else live their lives as usual?"
In a frum world, where "saving one life is like saving an entire world", why in the world can't people just help out other parents and make the schools peanut free?

Every so often I get a parent like that. "Why should my son not be allowed Bamba because yours is allergic?"

My standard answer for someone that thickheaded is "Why should my son die so yours can have Bamba?".

PB & Bamba they can eat at home; it doesn't have to come to school.

shayna82

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 12:28 pm

my kids dont have food allergies thank g0d, but I would never think twice in making a fuss about a bamba, or peanut butter sandwhich. can everyone just grow up a bit!!!

BeershevaBubby

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 12:40 pm

A lot of people also don't realize that a child needs to be a certain weight in order to be able to even use an epi-pen...

BeershevaBubby

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 12:42 pm

mamacita wrote:

What kinds of things do people send for lunches? My dd is allergic to dairy. Like someone mentioned, allergies can escalate so B"H she hasn't had a serious reaction yet, but I'd rather not risk her life testing it. I generally feed her almond butter, but obviously that wouldn't fly in a nut free school, so what do ya'll send? I'm looking for non-dairy non-nut ideas. For a toddler. Oy, lol.

Hummus?

ChavieK

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 1:20 pm

Both my dd school & ds school are nut free. We have never been short on finding foods to eat. And yes they did have to give up some snacks. But they know they are doing it for someone elses health. My dd loves Reeces. We have a box at home.(she shouldn't eat too much choc anyway)
My 3 yr old went to camp with my friends ds. He is highly allergic to many things. The only airborn allergy is nuts, so that was the only banned food. The teacher & her young assistants were great about watching him. He is 3 & wears a medical braclet. He knows he cant eat from anyone else, but he is still only 3 & was watched very closely when food was out.
Once everyone gets used to it, its not a big deal at all.

Marion

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 2:10 pm

YESHASettler wrote:

A lot of people also don't realize that a child needs to be a certain weight in order to be able to even use an epi-pen...

Nor do they realize that the Epi-Pen is not a "cure" or even a treatment for the allergic reaction. All it does is provide epinephrine (adrenalin) which "charges" the body. That "charge" re-opens the airway, but only for a maximum of 15 minutes. Some, but not all, people carry a 2nd dose, but you cannot self inject more than 2 doses of adrenalin. So basically an Epi-Pen buys you 15 minutes to get to a hospital. Maximum 30 minutes, if you piggy-back doses.

montrealmommy

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 7:34 pm

What to send for lunch? My dd's school is somewhat accomodating with all of her allergies, but seeing as teh list is quite long and her school )pre-school) is a non-fleishig place, we are limited with our choices. When I have to send a meal I usually send:
- pasta with olives, peppers and spices
- avocado sandwiches
- date spread or apple butter (for a sandwich)
- roated pepper/succhini sandwich
- veggie "chips" with salsa
- potato salad (egg-free, dairy-free)
- vegan 'cheese' )not soy) and crackers

lastly, in a pinch, I always have ww muffins in the freezer that I can send with her.

These are our common lunches, meat-free. And yes, my daughter does eat all those vegiies, bli ayin hara!

If you can serve your dd soy products then a whole new world can open up - also there are legume progucts (pea-butter) which are quite popular here.

shnitzel

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 12:55 am

I have no kids yet but DH grew up allergic to nuts his brother is anaphylactic to nuts fish and dairy (DH grew out of his other allergies) and he grew up in a time before people were educated about allergies. My best friend throughout elementary and high school was also anyphylactic to nuts. There was no concept of nut free enviroment in those days. They were very carefully trained to ASK and not eat anything mommy dosen't give me and tried to educate those around. Most people are at least aware of allergies nowadays. My husband sees value in this method b/c it makes the kid more aware. The world is not a nut free place

BeershevaBubby

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 1:13 am

shnitzel wrote:

The world is not a nut free place

Now there's a loaded statement :)

mamacita

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 4:22 am

mosma wrote:

So if your child will only eat peanut butter, maybe it's time to have a talk with him/her.

Just want to point out that many of us agree with you and happen to also be mothers to toddlers, selfish little stinkers they are and picky too! Smile

My daughter has a long list of things she can and will eat, but it depends also on her mood. She will never turn down and almond butter sandwich though! There is no way to teach her yet not to pick up and drink from someone else's bottle/cup that might have milk or formula in it. We've had a couple close calls and I told the teacher that she doesn't need to ban dairy if she can be on top of it. Should I have said yes to the ban?

Thanks Marion, Ruchel, Montrealmommy and Yesha for the ideas. Would a gannenet really help a toddler eat meatballs, pasta, whatever? I guess I could ask, I just assumed I should send something dd can manage to eat by herself without making too much mess. Unattended and well . . . I'm sure ya'll know what I mean! lol. My floor can testify!

mummy-bh

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 4:32 am

There is a fake peanut butter that I buy called Free-Nut Butter. It's made from sunflower seeds. I'm not a connoisseur, but I can't tell the difference between this and the real thing. Perhaps fussy toddlers would like it too? My allergic daughter (and my other kids too) eat it.

mosma

Mon, Nov 24 2008, 7:01 pm

Oh I just heard of that. The health food store where I live calls it "Sun Butter" made from Sunflower seeds.
But I bought a different fake peanut butter made from soy once and DS hated it, so I'm wary about spending the money.
Does it really taste the same?

amother

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 9:18 pm

How on earth did all these allergic people manage to LIVE this long? What did people do before the world started catering to them? You'd think Darwin's theory would be in action here.

There's obviously enough nut allergic frum children that they should be able to have their own schools or something. That's the only way to be 1000% sure that they are safe.

OldYoung

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 9:22 pm

huh?

amother

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 9:31 pm

amother wrote:

I can honestly say I HATE people like this poster-----is not having a peanut butter sandwich in public so difficult for you
or did all that peanut butter make you soooooo dumb.

OldYoung

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 9:34 pm

shnitzel wrote:

I have no idea why this old thread was revived, but I just wanted to comment on this post in particular. Your husband's theory is really great, but practically speaking, pretty lousy. Sure, kids can ask and be trained to keep their eyes open but in a school environment, there are so many questionable surfaces that could have nuts on them. Have you ever seen a preschool table after children have eaten lunch on it?? Do you think the teacher should be standing with a bottle of fantastic and some paper towels and trace the peanut butter so there are no bits left? Should the little girl be trained to ask her morah every day if the table is ok to touch? Not to mention all of the other things that get dirty along the way. Not sharing snacks/lunches is a given. I think all parents should educate their children about this with allergies as a sidepoint. Kids should be aware that different families have different standards of kashrus and it's not always appropriate to take everything offered. But in a school environment (especially younger kids!) there are just to many chances that a kid with allergies can come into contact with nuts. What each school chooses to do is their individual cheshbon. And we (with children with nut allergies) understand that whatever accomodations the school offers and the parent body complies with is a tremendous chessed. The world is not a nut free place, but schools are a smaller, more controlled environment that children spend a tremendous amount of time- and CAN be nut free.

OldYoung

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 9:38 pm

amother wrote:

I can honestly say I HATE people like this poster-----is not having a peanut butter sandwich in public so difficult for you
or did all that peanut butter make you soooooo dumb.

Heyyyy leave the nut alone.

FranticFrummie

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 10:00 pm

LOL, must be a newbie! Scratching Head

bnm

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 10:17 pm

I subbed in a playgroup where a kid had his own little kiddy table, parents knew not to send food because snacks and lunch where provided but he bought his own lunch.

How we survived years ago? I personally had a big sign in each classroom that I was in listing my allergies and emergency phone numbers.

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