any advice on keeping allergic, asthmatic eczema ridden ds safe in school?

[crunchynuts]

Ds almost 3. Starting playgroup in school tomorrow. Allergic to egg, milk, nuts. Has sufferedanaphylaxis from airbourne milk protein in the past. Reacts on contact with hives, swelling, wheezing (obviously leading onto anaphylaxis).

Very apprehensive about letting him go but he's desperate for interaction with other kids. Have had a go today explaining about his allergies but got some nonsense about how its ok cos they have a nut ban (!)

I will go in with him tomorrow to look for hazards but any advice on what I should be looking for? I want them to take me seriously and not as neurotic but at the same time I don't want them hating me and scared to call if there's a problem.

How do u all deal with sending your kids in? How can I trust when they say they're epi trained and know how to use spacer and inhaler? They don't seem to have any sort of allergy protocol in place. They will obviously need to change to accommodate ds, but how do I get this to happen without them dreading me coming in?

I want ds to live as normally as he can. But at the moment all I can do is freak out. I'm regularly reading school related horror stories on here. Panic panic panic!

Sorry this is so long.

I think most places are up to speed on nut allergies,which is a start, but I think you need to put his allergens into practical terms....eg I have no idea what you mean by airborne milk protein...is it a splash of milk or something else? If you can give the staff examples of areas where there's a potential risk , foods which contain the allergens, which might not be very obvious, that would probably help.
For the epipen and spacer I can't imagine that staff would say they knew how to use them if they don't, but I'd maybe go through with the staff exactly how you do it with ds, to reassure both you and them.
When you speak about a lack of allergy protocol, I think I'd be proactive, and give them one that relates to your ds, eg " if x happens then you do y" kind of thing.
Apologies I'd Im talking out of a hole in my head as I don't have children with allergies, but I think it can only make it easier for the staff, and in turn, you., if you're proactive and present them with the information in an easy to refer to way

Might also be worth you providing his snacks and drinks to avoid any mistakes as even though something doesn't contain these things production and storage methods r huge risks as you know and short of inspecting their fridge and cupboards it's gonna be a huge worry otherwise :( agree with sparkles regarding staff not lying about knowing how to use epi pens but I'm sure they would be more than happy to show you their training certificates etc. They won't think u are paranoid it's totally understandable you have all these concerns :)

The hospital sent an allergy nurse to talk to the staff at DS's nursery and train them, could you ask your consultant to arrange that and it might help put your mind at rest?

Hi crunchy

I tried to do this myself when DD started nursery last year and felt alot like you. I went in for a few days at the start and noticed things that I mentioned and some were addressed and I was told that some couldn't be avoided.

DD starts f/t school in September and I've asked her Allergy Nurse if she could help me this time as I found the whole experience really tough. I think I also felt like I was having to repeat myself all the time and felt really uncomfortable about it all the time. I'm hoping that with the allergy nurse there with me things will be easier this time.

The thing i always accepted was that accidents can and do happen but as long as I know they do everything they can to avoid this then that is all I can hope for. It is really hard to be able to trust whoever it is that you end up leaving your child with, but don't feel bad about having to mention things and definitley keep on reminding them and communicating as much as you feel you need to.

In terms of allergy protocol, your allergy team should be able to help you with this, but if they can't then the Allergy UK website, Blossom and Anaphylaxis Campaign all have protocol templates that you could download and use to create one to give to the staff.

I hope this helps a little. It's really tough going, so I hope your allergy team can support you through it.

Good Luck and take care

I second mumat's advice about going to the websites to download their protocols. Last summer (before DD started school) I met with her teacher and school SENCo to discuss her allergy and presented them with the sample protocols to include in her care plan. Despite having 3 other children in school with epi pens it turned out they had no protocols in place at all so when she started Reception back in September the first thing they did was give us a typed up plan including everything we had discussed previously!

Plans are all well and good though but you don't want them to just be filed away in a cupboard. All staff involved with your child need to know what to do should he have a reaction. Medication, whilst needing to be kept safe, should also be easily accessible. DDs piriton and epipen is kept in a small rucksack that an adult takes down to the dinner hall every day.

Good luck with everything. It is very stressful handing over the care of your DC to someone else but its an important step that we must all go through

Thankyou all for your replies. Took ds in this morn and asked if I could stay and told no, no parents allowed because of policy. So I started talking through all his meds and then they realised he's got serious problems and that they'd need more than just being given his medication just incase. By milk protein in the air I mean if u cook with milk or breathe on him etc he reacts :( ds is v v sensitive.

So theyve said they need a meeting with school nurse, health visitor, nursery teacher, senco and myself to arrange care plan and to see if maybe he qualifies for an assistant. Huge relief to be taken seriously. V friendly staff (though that might change when I come in every day being "neurotic").

Thanks for pointing out where I can find protocols for taking in with me. Will have to look through them today. There's just so much to consider.

Can I ask, how those with allergic dcs deal with meal times? Ds will have snack when he's there (fruit and mayb biscuit) which I will provide, but the others all have milk. I don't want ds to sit by himself but I was told today that most days milk is spilt as the kids are used to sippy cups. Ds still doesn't appreciate his allergies. His serious reactions were all when he was younger, and I've obsessively monitored all of his food since. He gets hives and angiodema regularly which we're trying to control with daily antih. And we're trying to get his asthma under control. But the idea of being pink and itchy isn't enough to put him off other people's food and drink. But how do u tell a
3yr old that if they eat someone else's food they might die? Ds needs to spend time learning to socialize (being stuck with me is making him play up) but I don't want his lesson in allergy to involve being blue lighted.

I wish ds was "healthy" so I could have sent him in and spent the morning worrying that he missed me, instead of coming home and worrying that he isn't getting the "normal" childhood he deserves.