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Allergies and intolerances

"Serious" nut allergy and car share - guidance please!

9 replies

DevonorLondon · 07/09/2019 10:29

I'd be really grateful if someone could advise me on what we need to do here. My kids have come home from school saying that the taxi (rural area: equivalent of school bus) have told them a child with a severe nut allergy is starting in the taxi next week "so they will need to be very careful".
I'm pretty cross at not having had any communication in writing about this, as I really don't know what the rules are.
At cubs we've been told that their faces need to be washed before attending, if we've been cooking with groundnut oil. But that's in a huge hall.
We eat cereals with nuts in regularly for breakfast. We can instigate a face-washing routine (which will be a good idea anyway) post breakfast, and make sure teeth are brushed post breakfast too. But if, say, someone had gorged mouthfuls of hazelnuts, would the fumes from their breath be a problem? Do we have to give up muesli and fruit & fibre?
Thanks very much for any advice you can give!

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AlexaShutUp · 07/09/2019 10:31

Can you contact the school or taxi company to ask for specific advice?

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NoBaggyPants · 07/09/2019 10:42

Do you know the child? Parents of children with allergies tend to be the experts. If not, ask the school, possibly even to ask the parent if it would be OK to get in touch.

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BlankTimes · 07/09/2019 10:59

We eat cereals with nuts in regularly for breakfast

It depends how serious the child's allergy is. My friend's child could go into anaphylactic shock being in reasonably close contact with someone who had eaten the nuts she's allergic to, say sitting at the same table in a large room let alone the confined airspace in a taxi.

Don't be fooled by the child carrying an epipen or annapen, they can help, but they do not, contrary to popular opinion, always stop anaphylactic shock in its tracks, often an ambulance is needed or a direct trip to A+E.

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Grasspigeons · 07/09/2019 11:04

As a parent of a child with an allery, huge thanks for taking it seriously. I would try and get hold of the school and ask them what to do.

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LL83 · 07/09/2019 11:06

My son has a serious peanut allergy because he had an anaphylactic reaction. If he eats peanut or touches it then he will be at risk of a severe reaction. I would want those sharing the car to avoid nuts while in the car and wash hands and face if eating nuts before school. So serious may not mean airborne, you will have to ask.

Airborne reactions are rare, anaphylactic airborne reactions are even rarer (though it does happen not doubting the post above) will be specific to child. I expect they would have said dont eat nuts at breakfast if that is an issue but best to check.

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ODFOx · 07/09/2019 11:11

Better safe than sorry until you have more info. Perhaps save the nutty cereals for the weekend until you know more.
School should be able to advise next week.

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DevonorLondon · 07/09/2019 15:45

Thanks very much, everyone. No, I've no information at all, apart from via my children. I believe that the family are new to the area, just moving in: "no furniture in the house yet" is another snippet that the kids have handed on. One child said it was a 'serious' nut allergy, the other a 'very severe' one. I agree, we'll have to be very careful until we know more.
I believe the child is due to start at school / in the taxi on Tuesday morning, so hopefully someone will give us some information on Monday, but I will ring the school to ask for myself.
Thank you for helping me clarify my thoughts.

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LifeImplosionImminent · 13/09/2019 20:34

I didn't know my evening class lecturer had a nut allergy - I had a topic bar at break time then handed her an assignment on return - she didn't go into AP but she did have a reaction - it scared the hell out of me as I eat nuts on a daily basis. I had to wait til class was over to tuck in. I wish she had said something - I had a nightmares about killing her for a few days after.

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DevonorLondon · 15/09/2019 20:24

Thank you for giving me the courage to ask about this. I'm so pleased I did. As a result, the county have now sent letters to all the families of children in the taxi, and have informed us of the allergens we need to watch out for. Some of these are non-nut breakfast alternatives that we might easily have switched to.
I'm hoping that this provides the catalyst for my children to stop wiping their hands on their clothes while eating. We have to live in hope.