AIBU to report nut-containing muffins being brought into a nut-free school?

That's what's so frustrating when schools are causal about other allergies because they have banned nuts.

It’s often down to a lack of understanding I think. Needs to change.

Yeah noone is going to expect milk etc to be banned. With decent processes and switched on staff you can still keep a child safe.

That's what's so frustrating when schools are causal about other allergies because they have banned nuts . Robust processes work much better than bans

The guidance doesn’t differentiate between the different allergens, theoretically they should all be treated the same.
I know that’s very difficult at a practical level though.

Had a quick look and I’ve attached that guidance below.
https://www.allergyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Early-Years-and-Allergies.pdf

“If lunch boxes are brought into the
setting, check them for allergens before
they are given to the children and make
sure all parents are aware of any known
allergens, asking for their cooperation
in avoiding these.”

They excluded nuts and kiwis but they clearly couldn't exclude milk and wheat (my son was allergic to all 4 things)

But even as tiny children all the children were really allergy aware - again I expect the nursery did a lot of work with them. We never had any issues with behaviour around food with his nursery friends they were all really thoughtful and helpful

Did the nursery exclude any foods @Whyarentyoureadyyet?

Because the Allergy UK guidance I’ve read is different for nurseries (as opposed to schools) and does recommend this for this age group iirc.

Being allergy friendly does not mean banning foods. That's not workable or needed.

The best way for a school to be allergy friendly (And thankfully Benedict's law will require this) is:

• decent allergy first aid training for all staff (ensuring they know not to move the child etc as well as how to use EpiPens)

• allergy awareness training for all staff. So they understand good allergy practice and so we can myth bust the idea that milk allergies are mild

• robust processes when using food in the classroom - detailed ingredient information to all parents each time and written consent each time (plus planning to avoid known allergens in the classroom)

• robust behaviour management in the canteen /lunch hall- ensuring food throwing is disciplined hardshly

• robust cleaning processes where food has been used or eaten

• ensuring children wash their hands (And faces if appropriate) after eating -and if they have spilt stuff on their clothes making sure it is removed

• spare EpiPens kept in an always available location

• the child's EpiPens being kept with the child not the other side of the school campus

• teachers having a meeting with the parents of children with allergies at the start of each school year

• a designated allergy lead who has substantial additional training and who ensures best practice and ensures if there is an incident that everyone learns from it

We shouldn't have needed a change in the law to have these things in place in schools. They should have been in place anyway - my children's nursery was doing all things things 15 years ago. And all the nursery staff were absolutely brilliant at not just ensuring safety but inclusion (they never did activities with the children's allergens.). If they can do it then schools can!

Yes- the sesame-allergic young woman who tragically died on a plane after eating a sandwich made with unlabelled sesame flour had two epi-pens administered by her father as soon as she began to react.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61488820

Yes, you need to quietly mention it to the school. My DH once sent my kid in with Nutella sandwiches. I've also had to explain to students of all ages that Nutella has nuts in. She probably hasn't registered mentally that peanut butter is still nuts and the same for almond flour.

The more pedantic parent would argue that peanuts aren't nuts as they're legumes but most schools with this policy have it due to a student or Educator with peanut anaphylaxis.

I have some sympathy with schools. Primary school is really tricky these days. Ours tried to be allergy friendly, but in the end there were so many ingredients not allowed, they coped by putting all the allergy kids on the same table and just monitered what they ate, rather than monitering what everyone else was eating.

There were kids with nut allergies and dairy allergies, pretty standard, but then there were others with apples, peas, cats and dogs (they complained if kids had dander on them), allergies to various washing powders, can't dress up or share clothes, can parents please not use this washing powder. It really got out of hand.

We had advice from the NHS that you can’t say the school is nut free as school can’t guarantee that visitors haven’t eaten nuts before coming into school and then are touching door handles and furniture etc. You can’t guarantee that any visitors coming into the school have not eaten nuts or anything containing nuts before they arrive, this includes delivery drivers handling deliveries with their hands after eating nuts. It’s too dangerous to say we are a nut free School, you can discourage parents from baking things with nuts in the ingredients. You can encourage children not to bring nut items into School, but we were advised that you cannot claim to be a nut free School. It’s important to know who the children are with nut allergies and that the majority of staff know how to administer EpiPens in emergencies.

Yes, I do understand that point in regard to schools.

Just pointing out that sesame isn’t in the nut category in case people were confused about that.

PP was concerned about someone bringing in sesame covered buns in a nut-free situation (as well as things like nutella and almond milk), while don’t think she was critical of people using butter in their sandwiches or whatever.

So I think she was confusing sesame with nuts?

AlmondFlourmuffins Retired ambulance here. Please take this further

I didn't go to a nut-free school.

I had a packed lunch and my mum taught me to not trade foods with anyone.

When children are really young, it's more of a worry if there are poor ratios. But when they're older, they have to learn how to manage their allergies. Do you think their workplaces will tell their colleagues they can't bring in allergens?

What about public transport? Do you think there won't be people on the tube eating bags of nuts and smearing their nutty hands on the poles? (The selfishness of this staggered me - people can still surprise me!)

The fact that the other mum doesn't give a shit about killing other people's kids is precisely why children with allergies need to learn to take care of themselves in an age appropriate way, increasing their knowledge as they get older.

For example, a small child needs to know not to eat anything that doesn't come out of their very distinctive personalised lunch box.

As soon as the child develops any sense of maturity (hard to predict the age), they need to learn how to self-administer an epipen.

A teen, on the cusp of maybe getting a job, needs to know what their rights are under the Equality Act.

You just can't rely on other people caring if you live or die.

But its just as dangerous which is why the nut bans are wrong and the experts disagree with them

Sesame seeds aren’t nuts though?
Obviously people are allergic to them too, but if I were asked specifically not to bring nuts somewhere because of allergies I would never think to exclude sesame as that’s a different allergen.

I know allergy UK don’t recommend nut-free schools (except in pre-schools/child-care facilities where it is recommended various allergens are excluded depending on the risk to the attending children) and I know why.

However, I can’t help thinking if dairy had been banned in schools too perhaps some of the recent high-profile deaths wouldn’t have occurred. One happened because a student threw cheese at another, in another case drinks (cows and oat milk) got mixed up. Such tragedies, it is heartbreaking.

Yes. Allergy UK says 20% of anaphylactic reactions in schools are in children who were not known to have a food allergy previously.

If the pharmacy offer you old stock then you can (and should!) refuse to accept them. EpiPens should really have ~1 year on them.

You're right to be nervous in my experience. Nursery managed it much better than schools for my two

I forgot about the play doh issue! My son was wheat allergic when he was younger and it's hugely tricky

It is something like £300 to buy the starterkit. My BIL is a scout leader was talking about it last week.
One of the issues is actually getting medications that have long shelf life. My DS needs epipens but also diazipam for febrile convulsions which is only needed very very occasionally if ever. The first lot we were given only had one month left on it, which was a complete waste. We have also had epipens with only a couple of months on them

I thought the movement was away from enforcing nut-free policies being strictly enforced because they don't help the child have and work on vigilance skills, that they may need all their life.

Even more true if the allergen is milk.

I have a child with a nut allergy. I'm also a teacher and every year I will have a child come up to me and say Miss, I think this has nuts in it and it does. The kids often know better than their parents. Talk to the teacher in a non official way. You don't even need to mention the parent, just say your child said their friend brings nut muffins into school and maybe a reminder about safe lunch boxes and healthy food could be sent out to all the parents.

✅✅ We’ve already had the conversations around contact reactions and play dough, and they are quite on it in terms of gluten-containing cereals because there are quite a few staff and children there who are coeliac (which I’d say takes more care and special prep than DC’s allergy because as far as we know there’s no issue with gluten as such, just the wheat/barley/rye proteins themselves, so a wipe clean does work - it’s just that the allergy’s immediate consequences are more life-threatening than immediate responses to glutening if you get me). And I’ve got a meeting with the catering staff after half term.

DC is at nursery and has been fine but I am worried about the lower staff ratios and just the overall wheatiness of stuff all around them.

Make sure school has a system in place for whenever they are using food
I taught my children's school to always send a list of the full ingredients and then get written consent (or electronic check box consent). That protects the school as well as the children