What's your opinion/ experience of nut free schools?

[BagOfBags]

I'm beginning to think about schools for DS who has a severe nut allergy. What I'm wondering is what people think about nut free schools. My gut reaction is that they must be a good thing but how has it worked for you / your child in reality? Are nut bans actually enforced or do they create a false sense of security.
Ds's nursery is nut free and his key worker always sits next to him whenever there's food around to make sure he only eats his own. I'm not sure how much supervision he would get in reception.
Thanks for reading.

There is actually no such thing as a 'nut free school'. Nut traces can be found in many products especially when manufactured in a factory alongside nut products.

Many schools say they are 'nut free' but actually what they should say is that they don't knowingly use nuts in their food. A big difference in these claims and legally less liable.

I very rarely come across schools serving nuts anymore anyway as the number of pupils with allergies seems to be growing exponentially.

Under the new labeling regulations due to come out in December 2014 all dishes must be labeled identifying nuts and I think it is 13 other ingedients too.

I'd have thought they'd just give a false sense of security.

Having non allergic DCs I'd avoid things that obviously contain nuts, but not sure I'd remember to avoid every kind of may contain nuts, factory handles nuts food.

DD2 is an awful fusspot, I was grateful for anything I could put in her lunch box.

Thanks for your thoughts. I wasn't really thinking about foods that 'may contain nuts' (I know there are different views on these and although I don't usually let DS have them we do have these products in the house as I think the risk is low)

Does anyone have a DC wirh a severe allergy who goes to a school where that allergen is not banned. How does it work? Do they have extra supervision at lunch time when they're very young?
Thanks

Following, as i am similarly concerned about DS1 who starts school in september, and at the moment doesn't really understand his allergy at all....at present i know he would never resist eating something he liked the look of, even if we told him it would make him ill, or was dangerous.

Most primaries (or, at least, the infants section) do not allow children to swap or share foods.

Our local primary school is nut free- two children have severe nut allergies. All the parents I have spoken to are very supportive.

The Mum of one of the children with a nut allergy ( who I am friends with) does a lot of work with allergy support groups and she is convinced that her son's nut allergy has been caused by her avoidance of nuts during pregnancy- but that's another subject.

My dd is severely allergic to several foods (and other triggers) the school has been good and won't allow nuts but people still do bring stuff in.
When she was in nursery last year she had to have the epipen 3 times even though they are really vigilant- I think this is due to how much they touch at nursery so another child could have eaten peanut butter for breakfast then touched the same play dough for example.

Now she's in Reception and having lunch in the main hall the dinner staff supervise her closely and have a general no swap policy anyway.
She is very sensible though and wouldn't take food from someone else.

Can I ask why this would only be considered for nut allergies? My son has a severe milk allergy but I wouldn't expect a school to ban milk or dairy products, so why would they ban nuts? I think there is already enough misunderstanding/lack of knowledge of allergies and this doesn't help at all (having nut free schools). I can see why you might be tempted to send your child to one but I agree with other posters that it probably just stops everyone being so vigilant.

But a milk allergy is usually not so severe as a nut allergy, and ( unless I am misinformed) symptoms only occur after ingestion.

A severe reation to nuts can happen even if a child touches a door handle previoulsy touchde by someone handling nuts and can be life threatening, so much more serious than a dairy allergy.

Ah, hadn't realised that, but the actual reaction can be as bad when it happens. What do they do in schools where nuts aren't banned? Do they take other measures to ensure the safety of but allergy sufferers?

But, obviously.

I give up. Nut.

Thanks everyone
I really get what you're saying scampidoodle. I've never heard of schools banning anything other than nuts and I think people do find it difficult to believe that it's possible to be anaphylactic to anything other than nuts! I have no idea why that's the case. How does it work with your DS at school? Do they wipe down tables before he sits down and supervise him well? Has he ever had reactions at school?

girlsyearapart that's reassuring. (although awful that your dd had reactions at nursery ) I don't know if DS is quite as sensible but we constantly talk about how he can only eat food that's in his bag. He's had reactions (not bad enough for epipen) in restaurants before he's eaten anything. I'm assuming that the people before had eaten something with nuts in.

I think I probably need to start looking round schools and asking what they're able to do to keep DS safe.

Does a child with a dairy allergy have anaphylactic shock though? That's the main concern with a nut allergy.

I believe that an allergy to dairy (or anything else for that matter) can be as bad as a nut allergy.

I didn't realise that, is it a common reaction?

AtTheStrokeOfTwelve yes there can be anaphylaxis in response to dairy (ingested or skin contact). I get very upset and frustrated having to explain this when people dismiss my sons allergies (milk and eggs as well as nuts) as purely digestive and assume that the worst he will suffer is an upset tummy. In some respects this makes the situation more dangerous as his dairy and egg allergies are often taken less seriously than his nut one.

As far as I know it's not incredibly common to be anaphylactic to dairy (although I'm not a health professional and I don't have a child with a dairy allergy).

It's also not the case that all nut allergies are severe. For example my DS is only mildly allergic to peanuts, he just gets a bit of a rash. He is severely allergic to tree nuts (all the other nuts really) and is likely to have an anaphylactic reaction if he's in contact with them,

Yes my dd has had anaphylactic reactions to sesame and eggs before & also unknown triggers.

The most schools would do is ban nuts.

What you need to look for in a school is what they would do to help you keep him safe as an individual and what they would do if he did have a reaction.

In September there is meant to be a new initiative where reception and ks1 all have free school meals. I don't know what would happen then..

I've never heard of anyone potentially dying from a dairy allergy.

My friend's daughter could have died with so much as a 1/100 of a peanut. I do think they're different.

She could not even eat out as they had to be sure pans had been properly washed if peanut oil had been used. (They had a few trusted restaurants).

We did have a nut ban at school when she was there. Some people complained, but they soon shut up once it was explained just how serious it was.

I don't think milk allergies get as serious as that but if anyone knows better I'm happy to stand corrected.

Sorry xposted with a lot of people!

I accept I'm wrong then.