Why can’t kids take nuts??

[Kungfupanda67]

Genuine question, just had a booking form for a school trip and had the usual reminder to not put anything containing nuts in lunch boxes because some children are allergic to them. I was just wondering why this is such a blanket rule when some children are also allergic to eggs, cheese, wheat etc? Anyone know?

My daughter is (very) allergic to peanuts. Parents in her class would be asked not pack peanuts/peanut butter sandwiches etc for a school trip because if their kid didn’t wash their hands & face and touched her, she could die.

Well I was a right old slattern when offspring were baby/toddler. Kids weaned as soon as poss, cows milk from 2 months, limited hoovering and cleaning!!! Obviously I did this to prevent allergies and build up their immune system.

Peanut allergy is far more lethal than most other allergies. And unlike other allergenic foods, it doesn't need to be eaten to be fatal. Touching or breathing in traces of peanut can be enough to kill. Hence blanket bans.

SherlockHolmesPipe it became obvious that I had a severe nut allergy when I was a child, which is more decades a go than I'm prepared to admit to.
I was one of the lucky ones in that it was, eventually, diagnosed. Previously my parents had been told that the struggling to breathe, swelling and blister rashes were attention seeking.

Many with undiagnosed allergies died from anaphylaxis, their death certificates probably say asthma, heart failure etc.

The increase in diagnosis came with increased medical knowledge not mollycoddling.

MrsJayy
The anaphylaxis campaign dont agree to blanket bans, as it is lazy management and leads to complacency. Whether there is a nut ban or not you still have to carry on as if there may be nuts present

Passthecherrycoke

I would assume bruffin (rightly or wrongly) that a nut ban included tree nuts
You have proved my point, I said my son was allergic to treenuts and seeds you ignored the seeds part
He is just as allergic to seeds as treenuts, but people make a big fuss about a peanut butter sandwich but quite happily allow huomous sandwich which is full of sesame seeds and just as allergenic. Also sesame seeds and other seeds are buggers for getting everywhere and sticking to stuff.

Sorry bruffin I didn’t ignore it. I wouldn’t assume a nut ban included seeds which is why I didn’t mention it.

Unless there is someone allergic to seeds on that trip though, how is it relevant?

Interesting - I did think about it being airborne but like someone else said peanut butter is presumably not going to be airborne. The letter is actually a trip with a holiday club for during the summer holidays, so obviously they don’t actually know who’s going to be there, which is why I was curious as to why they’ve singled out nuts, but nothing about other allergens

Are these nut allergies a recent thing? Are we molly coddling our kids so they develop allergies to basic foods that humans have eaten for thousands of years?

there are several theories, molly-coddling isn't one of them and I don't think being bothered to get the hoover out is either.
My four have been raised the same way but only one has a peanut and nut allergy.

I think that people are a lot more aware of anaphylaxis these days. I am allergic to nuts, and had two reactions as a child which would probably have led to hospital treatment these days. But medical advice from my GP was just to take antihistamines unless my breathing was affected. My family all have atopic illness to some degree, so the allergies themselves aren't a new thing.

@bruffin exactly, I won’t be sending my sons usual peanut butter sandwich, he will have a cheese sandwich on our normal seeded loaf, which in a child like yours will cause as much of a reaction. It just made me wonder why nuts are the only allergy ever mentioned.

Although others have said about eggs and cheese being banned, I haven’t experience this and my friend’s little boy is allergic to eggs (same school) and we don’t get reminders to not put eggs in lunch boxes

The stickiness of Nutella and peanut butter mixed with small children makes it more of an issue - local school and Borough policy is to try to keep nut products away from children until end of primary age, while the child is learning about nuts/their allergies.

I’m not sure mollycoddling can be a cause, unless you count not letting the weakling children with allergies die as mollycoddling 🤔

There’s lots of theories, late weaning, cleaner homes, pollution etc etc... maybe we could blame the vaccines? (I joke, please don’t hurt me 🙈)

DC1 carries an epi-pen and is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and also many fruits and vegetables due to severe birch pollen allergy (and other pollens too).

Best guess as to why he developed it is strong atopy in the family (dodged me but DM died due to her allergy related asthma) so severe eczema as a baby. Then developed c diff at 3 months old requiring two different types of v strong antibiotics, there's a theory that this damages the gut meaning body overreacts to perceived that and allergies develop. I was told to eat nuts through both pregnancies subsequent and wan early and DCs 2 and 3 have odd wheeze and hat fever but no serious allergies. There appears to be a link with increased antibiotic use in babies and sketches, esp with a strong family history of atopy and later weaning.

the stickiness of Nutella and peanut butter mixed with small children makes it more of an issue - local school and Borough policy is to try to keep nut products away from children until end of primary age, while the child is learning about nuts/their allergies.
Humous is sticky as well, but it is sent as a dip and in sandwiches . Just as dangerous but ignored.

@saraclara a bit allergy is no more dangerous than any other allergy.
It's the individuals reaction that's the issue. Many people are ana to milk, shellfish, avocado, coconut etc.

Blimey! I wonder what planet you've been living on that you have to ask this question!

@SherlockHolmesPipe really?? previously, the kids just died. now they stand a better chance of surviving their major allergies, that's all.

It's pretty sad that that now in our so-called advanced society we have become so risk averse that we've actually stopped seeing children as children and begun to see them as medical conditions.
Also we have stopped evolution by protecting everyone with any "condition" and society is now unhealthier and more vulnerable. This is worrying.

I think I'm having an allergic reaction to your drivel SherlockHolmesPipe

Also we have stopped evolution by protecting everyone with any "condition"

You're suggesting that we just let people die so that they don't breed? Seriously? There's a word for that.

Yes @SherlockHolmesPipe It's very worrying that on my son's first taste of egg at 6 months old, we were able to rush him to hospital when he had an anaphylactic response, and the doctors in A&E were able to save him.

We should probably have just let him die in case he has the nerve to pass the allergy on to the next generation.

Sherlock that says far more about how you see people than anything else. And God forbid you or your family may ever need life saving medical treatment as that would be week wouldn't it, should just let Nature run it's course

Nut allergies are more prevalent and more likely than some other allergens to be life threatening. If anyone thinks that this is overdoing it they may want to watch what anaphylactic shock looks like on anaphylaxis.co.uk where there is tonnes of info. Nuts also oily so more likely to stick around in environment so more transferable.We've dealt with reactions to empty wrappers and handshakes. It really can be life and death.

@notso you make think it drivel, but it's scientific fact.

Well obviously I am not suggesting people should be left to die. Overreaction