Nut allergy - School residential to France

[cocoabeanz]

DS missed out on his yr 6 residential, so hasn't been away before. A school trip is being planned for next year, when he'll be in year 8, and it's a week in France.

He is allergic to various nuts and peanuts. We went to France several years ago and had trouble finding places to eat out - it was fairly rural though. We found that nut allergies in particular just weren't understood.

So it really fills me with dread. We haven't had the school meeting yet where I'll be able to ask questions. I just wondered if anyone else has been through this and has any advice? Could it work? He really wants to go and feels like this is yet another thing he misses out on.

Does he have an Epi pen and care plan ?

Yes he does

Are you a member of the Facebook group “UK parents of children with peanut and nut allergies”? It might be a good place to ask as it’s an active group with many parents from around the UK.

We have similar allergies here and I think I’d be sending lots of snacks and pre made food with him just in case, along with a list of questions/prompts for the teacher to ask anyone who is catering for him. I’d want to be sure that all the adults there would be epipen trained and that they knew the signs of a reaction, plus how far away from hospital they were going to be just in case.

good luck

If his allergy really is that serious, I wouldn't wait until the school meeting. This is something you need to talk to the organisers (both at the school and the travel company) about one on one.

I'm sure it can work. I've taken Brownies with all kinds of allergies and other requirements away on residential events, in UK and abroad.

It's likely the place they are staying is a PGL type place, used to coping with all sorts of dietary restrictions, but the person at the school needs to be aware of the importance of the issue, and to be liaising with the tour organiser and you as soon as possible.

How clued up and aware are the staff? Do they realise that they will need to ask the questions at every place he eats, not just assume it’s fine if the menu doesn’t mention nuts?
You can print off nut allergy awareness cards in French from the allergyuk website, which may help them, but I wouldn’t decide until speaking to the staff and getting a feel for how confident they are in how vigilant they will need to be.
My DS is younger but has multiple allergies including nuts - I honestly don’t think I could let him go abroad without us.

I also don’t think that this is a conversation you have at the parent’s meeting, I’d be going in for a private conversation.

Just a thought, but if he is traveling in Europe, staff also need to be aware of lupin, which apparently has the same protein as peatnuts.

Don't wait for the school meeting - this is important enough to ask for a meeting of your own to chat about it.

You can buy little cards in different languages with 'I am allergic to peanuts' on them, so your child (or a member of staff) can show them at any restaurants they go to.

I would urge you to make absolutely sure the school are on the ball with this, though. My brother has a peanut allergy, and when we went to France he showed his translation cards at the restaurant we were at. Turns out they spoke English anyway - and they said they weren't sure if the desserts had traces of peanuts in, so they could just bring him a bowl of vanilla ice cream instead. They made quite the effort with this ice cream, decorating it with toppings and sauces etc.

One the toppings was peanuts.

We told the waiter and he laughed and said the chef must have been confused. Yeah. Fucking hilarious, isn't it.

Just make sure EVERYONE is on the ball, ALL staff know how to use your son's epi pen, he knows how to use it himself, and definitely get those cards for him to take with him.

France is much better than it was for sissies, plenty of nut free foods available.

DS16 is allergic to many things including fruit/nuts/seeds and safely went to Germany in a school trip aged 13. The catered meals were fine as the base was nut free, and the meals out the teacher had ore arranged nut free options.

Your child is unlikely to be the first child with an epic pen the school has ever taken on a school trip.

We filled in the medical consent form and then spoke to school. And then sent in several copies of a list of allergies plus interventions (including epi pen).

It's so important that they are not disqualified from more than necessary due to their allergies, And it's a really important part of the transition to them managing their own condition.

Hi OP.

I have a severe nut allergy (life-threatening reactions to peanuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pistachio) and moderate reactions to all other tree nuts and legumes.

I'm still here, despite going on three school trips to France in the 90s, holidays there most years and living in France for a year.

Typically, French main courses don't tend to use lots of nuts. Even desserts aren't problematic if you stick to the creamy types like creme brulée, rice pudding etc. Fruit tarts are to be avoided (almonds in the base)

You're right that allergies are nowhere near as prevalent there, or as understood, even by some medical professionals.

The most important bit of advice I can give is that the information given to caterers and restaurants is best done in writing rather than spoken, unless the speaker's French is very good.

In France they don't use a catch-all term for nuts. If you look it up in the dictionary you might see 'noix' but this is the word they use just for walnuts. It's best to say 'I am allergic to all types of nut: peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pistache,' reeling off a list of a few types of nut, being sure to include those you know your DC is most allergic to.

You also need to specifically mention 'huile d'arachide' = peanut oil.

In the UK saying 'I am allergic to nuts' tends to be sufficient for waiting staff and caterers to understand and to take care, abroad we need to be much blunter about it, ie 'I have a severe allergy to nuts. If I eat them by mistake I may die'.

In a restaurant I specifically say 'please can you check my menu choice with the chef and ensure that they don't include...'

I'd produce a card, in big clear type, saying

I am severely allergic to all types of nut.

It is essential that I do not eat any nuts, otherwise I might die.

Please can you check that my plate does not contain any of these nuts: (list of nuts)

Thank you for your attention

I'd give your DS the card, the teachers the card and ensure that the caterer at the residential centre gets it. I never had ANY issues with the caterers on school trips. They seemed to keep things quite basic anyway.

On the off-chance that your DC were to have a reaction in France he and the teachers need to be ready to be clear and forceful about what needs to happen. The pompiers who arrived when I called for an ambulance didn't know what an Epipen was (even when I showed them the used pen) and were baffled when I said I was suffering a life threatening reaction, because I didn't look like it.

'I have eaten nuts. I have a severe allergy to nuts. My airway is closing. I need emergency treatment or I may die'. Repeat it at the hospital reception. Repeat it to the doctors. Never assume that a doctor in France knows that an allergic reaction can be very serious even if the patient is quiet.

It's France. Doctors know about allergies and allergic reactions! I have family with various food allergies who live there - they're French - and I can assure you it's not unheard of AND French doctors are trained to at least as high a standard as British ones (plus they work in a far better funded system).

However, the chances of French doctors speaking good, medical professional-level English are as high as the chances of a British dr speaking medical professional-level French. So definitely have all the medical info written down in properly translated French (I'd go to an official translator for this btw - no room for error). The texts by ineednewshoes were good. I'd include, however, the generic medical components of an epi pen (and any other medication she takes) as French people in anaphylactic shock will likely use/be given the same drugs, but with different brand names.

I do understand the stress. My 11 year old French niece was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 and shortly after had a school trip to..Italy. We were all assuming she wouldn't be able to go. Her parents had a residential stay in a medical facility for newly diagnosed children and their parents to learn about how to manage food and insulin levels. It was 10 days for them. Other parents stayed longer - until they could manage their child's condition safely. And the school trip? Well, there was a school nurse accompanying the children anyway - had to be according to local rules - so reduced worry for the parents.

The biggest o staid the language barrier so professionally translated medical information will be the biggest help in an emergency.

It's France. Doctors know about allergies and allergic reactions!

They do, but hospital staff in France see it a lot less often than in the UK. I was popped into the hospital waiting room along with people with sprained ankles and cut foreheads. I was having a severe allergic reaction (by far the worst I've ever had - I've been whisked straight into UK A&E resus for less) and left sitting waiting to be seen. There wasn't the immediate recognition that it was a life-threatening situation that needed emergency treatment immediately. It was THE most frightening experience of my life.

Thank you all for your replies. Very good points mentioned. I will absolutely ask for a meeting to discuss it. At this stage I know very little about it, and it hadn't even occurred to me that they'll probably be staying somewhere set up for school trips, rather than a different restaurant every night.

Thank you @INeedNewShoes for the language/card advice, that’s really helpful. We did have a written card for our last visit, but not as detailed. Sorry to hear about your reaction - I can’t imagine how terrifying it would be to not have them take it seriously.

It’s tricky as DS hasn’t been at this school for long and we have barely met any teachers face-to-face yet. There are so many unknown factors to the whole trip that I feel like just saying no, but I’m well aware that we can’t keep him wrapped in cotton wool forever.

@LindaEllen that is very much the attitude we came across unfortunately - like it doesn’t really matter.

Thank you all

Oh, I REALLY should have pointed out that the bad reaction I had in France was because I was a twat and ate some bar snacks that I assumed were fine as they looked fine but turned out to have nuts in. I hadn't asked so it was totally my fault.

Another thing to point out is that there are crisps that look very like Wotsits in France that are actually made of peanuts.

My 16 year old DS has multiple allergies so I understand your anxiety. He went on his first school trip abroad a few years ago and I was very nervous about it, but pleased to report all was fine.
We'd been abroad as a family many times before but tended to stick to countries where one of us spoke the language fairly well, and of course it's different when you are there yourself as opposed to a school trip.
I downloaded info cards in the relevant languages and got extra EpiPens from the GP so that DS had his own usual 2 and the teacher had another 2, just in case any got lost - or needed using. I also sent a copy of his repeat prescription.
The company running the trip was fantastic and took great care over what food was provided. One of the evening activities was making and trying various local foods, plenty of which were unsuitable for DS so I'd expected him to have to sit that out. But they set up a separate area for DS and a couple of others where they made alternative versions of the food that the cooks had developed so that nobody was left out.
Remember that a lot of these residentials are run by specific school travel companies who will have experience of this kind of issue. DS said that the staff at the centre where they were based were totally unfazed by his long list of allergies and provided a great selection of safe foods. Mainly they had packed lunches but on days when they were eating elsewhere the centre staff rang the places they'd be visiting to make sure that the kids with allergies were provided for.

It's fruits à coque in French, the person who said that there isn't a word for nuts is kind of right though, because I don't think that it's a word that is really used in everyday conversation, they tend to say the specific nut. So it might be good to have a comprehensive list, just to make it really clear. Fruits à coque is what is written on packaging. I know of several children with nut allergies, but I also agree that there seem to be fewer here, but that's just a feeling, not based on anything. We hear about them less.