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

Maybe when it's you or your child?

Exactly.

Where does it end? Hopefully not in the death of a child.

This myth that children can die from being in the same room as a trace of nuts has long since been debunked.

If that were the case we would have children dying all over the place, nuts would be a banned substance everywhere as they would be considered to be toxins, or alternatively nut allergic children would never be able to leave their houses for fear that the next shop, house, restaurant, bus or train they entered might have contained a trace of nuts which would be about to kill them.

We need to look at the middle ground between trivialising serious food allergies or overplaying them to the extent that nobody will take them seriously because so much of the talk around them has been exaggerated to strike fear and guilt into people. It has entirely the opposite effect.

By far the biggest reason for children dying from nut allergies is when they reach secondary school and are suddenly faced with an environment where they haven’t been protected against the need to manage their own allergies.

A reception age child absolutely can learn to manage their allergies and not accept food from other people. But we as a society choose not to give them that responsibility, and instead wrap them up in a protective bubble which is far more harmful to them in the long run.

If the child isn’t yet able to manage their allergy then it’s the parents, and the school’s job to do it and that doesn’t mean by banning them altogether, it means by ensuring that the child is supervised around food to ensure they’re not being given nut based products.

The fact that people say “it’s easier to ban nuts than dairy” just shows that nut bans are more about virtue signalling rather than concern for children. If both allergies can be equally severe, and clearly they can, then a genuine organisation or person will seek to ensure that the child is shielded from both, not just pick the easy one and hope for the best when it comes to the other one.

So in essence, either you’re concerned about protecting children from allergies, or your’re not.

It needs to be about education, not shielding.

I would tell them to get stuffed. Where does it end?

Where does it end? Never being allowed to use nuts in the kitchen at home in case a trace finds its way into school? Where does it end? Have you read the posts about dairy? Cheese sandwiches are not banned in schools.

Allergy UK do not recommend 'nut free' policy for school as it is impossible to enforce and leads to a false sense of awareness. It would be better for the school to ensure the allergic children's risks are reduced in other ways.

Dairy is equally as dangerous as any other allergy - the only reason it doesn’t account for more anaphylaxis episodes is because it is commonly outgrown in early childhood (when anaphylactic reactions are rare). It is one of the few allergens where aerosolisation is a real risk.

Again, I think the point here is that when people are asked to avoid a food for reasons of child safety and then happily flout that, it is dangerous. If my child’s school or my own school made a similar request about dairy and explained the request, I would honour that equally.

That says more about you really

It’s interesting to see different takes on this. My son has a peanut allergy and last year had to have his EpiPen administered in school because another child took a chocolate bar with peanuts in and coughed near him.

His consultant has told us that having allergic reactions after allergic reaction can cause more severe reactions because the immune system becomes more sensitised. It’s a real worry for me, he knows how to use his EpiPen, as does his brother and other family members and it’s kept in an easily accessible place. So in terms on managing and teaching him, at age 5 he does very well. He’s vigilant of what other people eat and will ask if things have nuts in. He, as well as the rest of the family know how serious it can be. We’re very lucky that the staff at the school are vigilant too. When he had to have his EpiPen, the school emailed out to say that a child had needed rescue medication and reinforced not to bring nuts in.

We are never going to eliminate the risk but we manage it well and it helps when other people do what they can too.

It's awful, but I'm not sure what the school could do to be honest. The parent obviously doesn't care, so even if they talk to her, she probably won't do it right. The only way I can see this working is if the school said everything has to be shop bought and sent in it's original packing, but that would discriminate against poorer families who couldn't afford to buy pre-packed stuff, be hideous for the environment etc. Or if they banned packed lunches altogether, but that would starve the kids who had strict diets in other ways....

I don't think there's any point in blanket bans tbh. My niece has a severe peanut allergy and if people have had peanut butter for breakfast and came in and touched the desk and she touched it after then she could have an eczema flair up. You can't ban people from having peanut butter for breakfast.

Peanut allergens are not airborne so just being in the same room as someone eating them won't cause a reaction.

I agree that I also know a child with a milk allergy and no one has banned milk because of it. I can find on Google several cases of children dying due to milk allergy in school but no one is banning dairy products.

Why? No one would be shocked by people consuming vast amounts of dairy products or egg at breakfast then sending their children off to school

You realised you are literally saying fuck that to a child potentially having anaphylactic shock?

shocking (and disgusting)

You could argue all day long about whether nut free schools are a good idea or not. The point is that this school is nut-free and a parent is sending in nut-based food and laughing when it's pointed out.

The nut free (or any allergen free) policy doesn't mean parents can't teach their children to behave as if it wasn't, rather than being complacent. You can never completely eliminate risk, in any situation - it's about risk reduction, not risk elimination.

@SunnyRedSnail I agree with the sentiment to teach children never to share food and to know when they are having a reaction.

But sometimes children are just too young to know what they are feeling. My friend's son was diagnosed with a nut allergy at 17 months, he literally started wheezing in the kitchen and swelling up. The kitchen was completely clean, the bins had been emptied as they had a small party the night before. The only thing that was out on the unit was some uncovered nuts in a bowl.

Send that child to school aged just 4, they have no idea what their symptoms feel like. We have had children faint because they feel funny but have no idea that they are lightheaded until they hit the deck. My friend's son actually exposed himself to nuts because he would be going off to uni and wanted to know what it actually felt like to react so he could spot it.

How extraordinary! Your reaction is shocking.

I remember DDs school advising us not to have peanut butter at breakfast due to a child with a nut allergy in their school. Fuck that.

Oh no I am not saying one is worse than the other. I am just saying that the amount of uneducation with dairy allergy is massive.

all allergies should be treated equal. Not saying bans but limiting contamination in settings of all allergies should be a viable option.

It must be very hard for children with any allergy but such a serious dairy allergy must make life incredibly hard.

Right. You expect a reception aged child to sort their own allergy? You’re also forgetting some have air borne allergies too. It’s not just teaching kids not to eat stuff. It could be life or death for a child if Mary opens up her nut containing lunchbox in front of someone with an allergy! Kids can go without nuts for one meal a day!

Nobody is saying that! I’m talking about a child eating nut products in the dining hall.

Indeed. But all foods (and many other things) are potential allergens

Most allergy deaths in children these days are due to cows milk protein.

There have been several high profile deaths from children in recent years due to exposure to cows milk protein at school

So it's hypocritical to judge someone for taking in a cake containing nuts if you are sending your child in with cheese /yoghurt etc.

(Mine are allergic to milk and nuts )

Please know I’m not trying to downplay dairy allergy at all, but just to say that one reason dairy is listed as the highest incidence for anaphylactic deaths in children in the UK is simply because nuts are categorised into three separate groups in the studies…peanuts, tree nuts, unidentified nuts. Collectively, nuts are responsible for more anaphylactic deaths in children (and far more in adults when dairy is much less of a danger).

In addition, more dairy is consumed than nuts by children in the UK.

I’d never say dairy isn’t nearly as dangerous.
Taking the above factors into account however, nuts are still the more dangerous of the two, even for children. This is at a population level, not at an individual level, of course.