Snacks for hypoglycemic child in nut free school

[WhisperingAutistic]

My son has an organ transplant, so is immunosuppressed and has just been diagnosed with hypoglycemia. The doctor says he needs to eat slow release carb type snacks at play time at school but the school is nut free and I can't for the life of me think what to give him.

Due to his immunosuppressive status, he cannot have something like a sandwich in his bag as he's not allowed something that should really be kept refrigerated. It needs to be something shelf stable.
At home he would have a cereal bar or something, but the vast majority say 'may contain nuts'.

Any advice?

It is completely unenforceable (and not good practice - and I say this as the parent of a child with a nut and peanut allergy) for nut-free schools to ban ‘may contains’ products, so I would query this with the school first.

My dd has type 1 diabetes so also issues with hypoglycaemia sometimes.
we use the organix oaty mini squares
the school are fine with them as no nuts in the actual ingredients and they are just a may contain
individually packaged too

There’s a big difference in terms of risk between sending a bag of peanuts and sending a cereal bar that has no nuts in the recipe but says ´may contain nuts’ on the packaging. A cereal bar without nuts would probably be fine.

Also, what about oat cakes? Would they be slow release enough?

Bananas?

Flapjack?

My son also has type 1 diabetes and to treat hypos (after taking sugar such as glucose tabs or bag of haribos) he would have a couple of hob nob biscuits - these are slow release carbs and are nut free ( you can also get gluten free ones). Another good snack for keeping sugar levels up is a bag of crisps - as they are hard baked it releases the carbs slowly. We used to use crisps at bed time after he'd done sports to ensure his levels didn't drop overnight. Xx

Can you make homemade oat bars / flapjacks? In case they don't allow "may contain traces...", even though there's no nuts in the ingredients.

Chocolate milk. Get the uHT small bottles that don’t need refrigerating. Easy to store and easily to drink and digest in a small time.

balance of carbs protein and fat for immediate and longer lasting release. Also vitamins and minerals.

dc has a nutritionist and they have always advised this. Has to be chocolate as other flavours don’t have the same balance.

I took in a bar yesterday that didn't have nuts in the ingredients but said the usual 'may also contain nuts' in the small print and they wouldn't accept them.
I'm having a meeting with his teacher tomorrow morning so I will query this as like pp have pointed out, it says this on most cereals.
I do know the child with the nut allergy is in his class though, so maybe that makes it trickier?

I'm not certain at all as to what is classed as slow release. The doctor wasn't very forthcoming. I'll have to contact them again to get some more advice I think.

Stoats do a great oat bar with fruit or there's oats so simple do a good oat square (old school hardtak) both are really quite tasty

I would have thought may contain nuts would be fine as long as nuts aren’t an actual ingredient because it’s on so many products by way of arse covering. Have the school actually said they’re not? But otherwise homemade flapjacks could be good.

Pasta is another good one xx

Crisps and rice cakes were my go to. I also used to carry round dextrose tablets just in case.

Brown bread is also good. You could cut some up and toast it in the oven in some olive oil. Makes nice crispy snacks.

Hi OP, I’m an ‘allergy mum’.

Allergy UK specifically advise against ‘nut free’ policies in schools, taking the view that this encourages complacency. You will have to go higher than the class teacher to get a change in policy but I would push back on this, as a ban on ‘May contains’ is totally unenforceable. It is much more effective to have a moderate ban on no nuts or peanuts as ingredients and to enforce other measures, eg no swapping of food between lunchboxes, all children wash hands after eating, all surfaces wiped down if children have been allowed to eat in the classroom. In your son’s case it would be sensible to allow him to eat a ‘May contains’ bar and ensure that he washes his hands before returning to class.

Biscuits. Cream crackers, sweet biscuits. Maybe cheese flavour biscuits?

These tend not to have the "may contain nuts" exclusion. Separate production lines I guess.

Slow release carbs are carbs which have a low GI rating. Carbs which release their glucose quickly have a high GI rating. If you Google it you will get lots of information. Xx

Oatcakes would be a slow release - Nairns do small packets which do not contain nuts, and the factory is nut free as well so should work

ah sorry ignore me! I went down a rabbit hole

Is there a possibility of talking to the head teacher with the angle that both children (yours and the child with an allergy) have a medical need and they should both be balanced?

Thank you
Obviously, being the mum of a child who has medical issues, I 100% do not want to make someone else's child poorly. I will definitely ask to speak to the head teacher to try and get a work around.

I sent homemade oatcakes in with mine, different medical reasons - eventually we got a letter from her dietitian saying she should be allowed nuts, they allowed them outside in a certain area

DS' school is no nuts no dairy so that's been tricky. We have gone with the Graze squares

@Dwadle

How can they enforce no dairy - dd only ate cheese or peanut butter sandwiches (autistic) are they playing top trumps with whose medical condition trumps whose? We got permission to send in nuts in fact

Oh gosh that's hard!
What do people put in packed lunches? What about butter etc?

I can get access to a dietician at his transplant hospital so I will ask them to book me an appointment. He doesn't actually like nuts but hopefully a letter saying what things he should be eating would be helpful.