if you have a child with allergies in nursery.,,

[livinginabox]

How do they deal with managing things? Are they included in parties, catered for lunch, treats etc?

I find DS is often left out which I find upsetting tbh but not sure if my expectations are too high.

My daughter is completely dairy free, I know it's not quite as serious as some other allergies but her nursery are incredibly good with her, they have in dairy free yoghurts and other items that she can have when the other children are having puddings, they cook her different meals if they can't cut out the dairy of what is being served that day, I can't fault them and as far as I am aware there hasn't been any slip ups so far! The kids made pizzas the other day and the cheese bowl was just out at the other end of the table so she couldn't get to it, she still got to join in all the fun!

That's really nice to hear. DS is allergic to dairy, soy and eggs and they often leave him out of cooking activities all together. I think they are a bit shit really when I hear what other places do. Not sure they know what a dairy free yogurt is.

Parents often bring in cakes, sweets and treats which he can't eat so he gets left out. I do leave things for him he can eat but can't cover every occasion obviously.

living, I suspect a lot depends on what nursery you are at. It's one thing for a private nursery, with sufficient staffing and enough time/money to go shopping separately; amend recipes; have separate washing areas for cups etc (as our private montessori nursery did), and another thing entirely for a state funded, time stretched school based nursery to do these things when they teacher is probably buying things out of her own salary (which many parents don't realise), when the school lunches cost so little that cooking a separate meal completely blows the budget, etc. (as with our excellent state school nursery which we moved to).

If you want to help the teacher/class, you can get more involved - find recipes that everyone can make (including your child), and send them in (along with any particularly expensive ingredients if you've chosen something like that); buy replacement milks etc and send them in on cooking days, and/or in mini packs so that they can be used as and when; keep an ongoing supply of allowable, shelf storable treats to be brought out when other kids have birthday cake/etc; take in your own dairy free yoghurt (it's not that easy to find dairy & soy free yoghurt if you're used to shopping at your local sainsbury's).... you've probably forgotten what learning curve you went through, and how important it was to you. Each and every one of those nursery kids has things that are important to them; your teacher/s have to learn about all of them and might not have enough of their own time/money spare to focus on your little on as much as you might hope.

Sorry... not meaning to sound a downer, and if you're at a private nursery, i think you should probably expect a lot more, but I think sometimes people don't always realise how much is expected of the poor nursery teachers when they're attached to schools....

Our school tries hard to provide for pupils with allergies. We have a lovely Nursery teacher that goes out of her way to make sure children are included. The recipes are a good idea perhaps if your DS is being left out you could offer to donate goods. That way they would have all the. Correct ingredients and a recipe. You shouldn't have to do it but if you make a kind gesture then they might be more confident. It is probably lack of knowledge that makes them wary.
Have you discussed it with the Nursery teacher?