coconut milk and nursery

[incywincyspideragain]

I would like my dairy intollerant children to have this at nursery - they will provide an alternative to milk but its soya based. I'm happy to provide my own milk but would like coconut (for breakfast time only on cereal) - they (head office not the nursery itself) say they are a 'nut free' nursery, a coconut is not a nut its a seed but is there any evidence that it is an allergen? should it be avoided in a nursery setting? I can't find any good information online, it appears in the US it is listed as a 'tree nut'...

I'm pretty sure that a coconut doesn't count as a proper nut and that people who are allergic to all sorts of nuts are almost always ok with coconut. Have a look at the anaphylaxia campaign website? Or possibly allergy uk website.

A friend's 10 yo DD is allergic to peanuts but fine with all tree nuts. She is however, very allergic to coconut and palm oil.

Our school is 'nut free' but does still have school dinners cooked on site that contain coconut :-(. Fortunately she is of an age where she knows to get up and walkway from children eating food that she knows will make her ill.

mintyneb is it coconut oil or anything coconut she can't have? its such a tricky one, allergy uk doesn't list it as a tree nut and 'nut free' tends to mean tree nut - its harder because there are children allergic to strawberries and kiwi but those are available in nursery.
I'll have to see what they say as I've asked them to check but don't want to do anything that will put other children at risk

I think you're right it's not technically a nut, but could your DC not have oat milk instead to save argument?

Incy, my ds is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. He's also very allergic to coconut. I think that coconut is not classed as a nut.

good suggestion trixy I hadn't considered oat milk I will look into it - its not suitable for ds1 because of the gluten but could be fine for the 2 at nursery.

looks like trixy may have the answer to your problem but just to reply to your question, my friend's DD can't have coconut in any form. As others have said, it can be a tricky one to avoid as its not classed as a nut (hence why its included in school dinners) but can cause huge problems for some people

I agree, it's not actually a nut. DS2 is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, but totally fine with coconut. So, surely it's treated the same as all the other allergens, in that there are no bans in school. After all, they don't ban milk, eggs etc, etc, etc...

Nursery have confirmed that coconut milk is ok to use - it will only be for boys to drink and to use on their cereal and not to use in anything that is cooked - happy to cut out more soya from their diet thanks for all your comments

Don't know if it helps, but Kara do coconut milk in small cartons. My local Health food shop sells them in packs of three.

That does help - I ordered some on line last week for ds at preschool as he obviously doesn't have free milk provided, he can have it in reception too, thank you