to wonder if there really are a disproportionate amt of children who are allergic to ALL nuts?

[oldebaglady]

firstly, I do comply with the zero nut zone policies

secondly, happy to be corrected, am genuinely interested!

but no nuts... AT ALL?? nuts are ideal lunchbox energy/protein snacks and nut butters are great sandwich fillings, much healthier than a lot of the alternatives .

I understand that peanuts are highly allergenic, but
1: other highly allergenic things are allowed; strawberries, dairy, soya, kiwis..
2: they're lagumes aren't they? how are a few almonds gonna affect someone with a peanut allergy? or is it common to have a serious allergy to ALL nuts?

when a child has a serious allergy to a particular fruit, that fruit is banned, fruit in general isn't banned! and it's not banned unless there is actually someone attending who is allergic

the zero nuts policy don't include "may contain traces of nuts" products anyway

please understand that I don't think it's a huge sacrifice to make if some cashew butter or a few almonds in my kid's lunchbox might cause another child to be seriously ill

but exactly how likely is that? that

1. there is going to be a kid in school who is not yet diagnosed
   

and

1. they are allergic to ALL nuts
   

??

(am genuinely curious)

[oldebaglady]

gobbin I have a family member that goes into anaphylactic shock from traces of a food

I am asking why the blanket ban is nuts, all nuts, and only nuts. Not other highly allergenic foods which have exactly the same effect on sufferers as you describe are blanket banned!

[oldebaglady]

"Dear God they really banned bananas from the whole school? Surely the adult member of staff could avoid them"

the orange allergy sufferer I worked with was allergic to the oils in the peel, which sort of spritzes in an invisible radius when you eat one even if you bin your peel and wash your hands

[amillionyears]

Sam100. Interesting what you say about almonds.
My son was not diagnosed/didnt have any reactions until he was 8 years old.
I do know he ate almond paste on top of a christmas cake, and used to be fine. I have several children, and a bit to my shame, I do not know if my sons ate nuts before. I didnt buy them for them when they were younger in case they choked. But I suspect they must have ate them in some form before they were 8.

[Bagofmashings]

Sorry, have 't read it all but just wanted to say sam100 almonds are classed as tree nuts. DS is very allergic to them and would probably have an anaphylactic reaction if he ate them.
I really get that it's a bit of an inconvenience for parents of children in a nut free school but those of us with severely allergic children live with the fear that our child could die if they were to eat a cashew/ almond / peanut.

[oldebaglady]

also re the banana thing, being asked to not bring in one type of fruit is different from banning all fruits

I don't pack nuts and will continue to abide by the ban, but total all nut bans are actually quite an ask particularly for vegan children or children whose diets are already limited by other allergies etc

Mine... well they're just fussy, and nuts are an important part of their diet because protein is a challenge in our house (just because of fussiness).

I want to thank the posters who informed me that there actually IS a commong cross over between tree nuts and peanuts allergies, and its not just schools misinterpreting the name...
..still sorta feel that its a shame that such a healthy lunch ingredient is blanket banned, especially when crappy sweetner/sugar/soy filled cereal bars are A-OK in healhty lunch policies

[oldebaglady]

"but those of us with severely allergic children live with the fear that our child could die if they were to eat a cashew/ almond / peanut"

of course, but so do parents of kids who are severely allergic to other common allergenic foods. Nothing else is commonly blanket banned even if noone in the room has a known allergy to it

[amillionyears]

Hazelnut was the worst reaction.
His face including features swelled up alarmingly.

[amillionyears]

Could the difference be because of "catching" it from someone else?
If there are a group of us playing a game of cards, and the cards are passed one to another, if someone in that group has been eating nuts, and therefore has particles on their hands, that makes my son have an allergic reaction.

[Bagofmashings]

I thought (quite possibly wrongly, haven't really looked into it as DS isn't school age yet) that they only put food bans in place when there was a child in the school or class who had a severe allergy. It does seem a bit mad to if schools are banning nuts for no reason.

[oldebaglady]

no there's none in DSs class AFAIK, it's in place very year and written in their lunch policies as a blanket ban

a million years that can happen with non nut allergies too, like the lady with the orange oils

[amillionyears]

whois, what happens when they leave school?
When they are contracted to employment, it goes down on forms they are sent, any health issues.
In my sons case, he gets contacted for them to get more details for health and safety issues.
They make sure he has put down everything he is allergic to.
Then they ask him questions about can he work in certain environments, and with certain materials etc.
Then also, in his first week of work at a new place, he has to embarassingly show everyone, or sometimes a select few who are nominated health people, how do use the epipens and which and how many pills are needed. There is a protocol that we were given back when he was officially diagnosed, and he goes through it thouroughly with them . They are aware that they only have 15 minutes to get him sorted. An ambulance may be too late. Other people are delegated to ring 999, as he always has to go to hospital as well to get checked out.
He also always advises the people he is currently lodging with.

[MummytoKatie]

My brother is allergic to hazelnuts. He was about 5 or 6 before he had his first reaction and it was discovered.

My mum asked the doctor if he could have tests to see if he was allergic to any other nuts and was told a very definite no as "it might kill him".

So he has spent the last 25 years avoiding all nuts, doing "lip tests" and carrying drugs around with him.

His reaction is fairly severe but he has never been hospitalised with it so the are much worse cases but it was still seen as unsafe (admittedly over 20 years ago) to do the experiment to find out what nuts he was allergic to.

[IThinkOfHappyWhenIThinkOfYou]

I did read on here once about a nut ban across the entire LEA, regardless of whether the individual schools had any allergic dcs or indeed whether the dcs and parents of allergic children were in favour of a ban or not.

[mixedpeel]

DS2 has had skin prick tests for peanuts, hazelnuts and almonds, and reacted to them all. We are therefore advised that he should avoid all treenuts as well as the peanut thing. I am interested to know that he is in the 20 percent or so who react to both peanuts and tree nuts, as I didn't know what the proportion might be.

He is in primary school, and they do have a 'no nuts in packed lunches' rule. (They had it before he arrived, as we have always followed it since DS1 started school.)

I think at this young age, it is probably for the best - unlike things like bananas, it is not obvious if the child next to the allergy sufferer is eating a peanut butter sandwich, or a cookie or bar containing nuts. Tbh if there were a child in school who had a severe anaphylactic reaction to bananas, I wouldn't mind a ban.

I can see the sense that by secondary school, the relative maturity of the child themselves, and the behaviour of the other children, should mean that a nut ban is no longer required. Obviously as a parent of someone with a nut allergy, I am aware that he needs to know to take responsibility for the food he eats, not accept food from other children etc, as ultimately of course he is not going to be in a nutfree environment.

[musicposy]

My DD1 is very severely allergic to peanuts. Even the skin prick test caused such a bad reaction she had to be kept in hospital. She has gone into anaphylactic shock 4 times now. It is truly terrifying.

She used to be allergic to most tree nuts too but has grown out of that as she's got older (she's now 17). We've still been advised to avoid all nuts where there is a risk of cross contamination.

Obviously now she is often in environments where there are nuts. I think the difference is she is old enough to move away/ leave the room now but at primary school she was in a closed environment with no means of escape, and reliant on others to watch out for her. I think it is easier for schools to issue a blanket ban in these cases.

I am more relaxed now which is stupid as most deaths from nut allergies are teens and not children - probably because schools and parents watch out for children.

And yes, peanuts are significantly more allergenic than other foodstuffs though I don't think this is true of tree nuts. We were told that much less than 1/8 of a peanut would be enough to kill DD1. She will never grow out of it now. It's terrifying being the parent of a child that allergic. It was very difficult at primary as there were always one or two parents who took the attitude that they wouldn't be dictated to and sent in peanut butter anyway. I just don't think they realised that it could have killed another child. DD1 has reacted fro peanuts in the environment before - she wouldn't need to eat it.

As an aside, the hospital told us that she had been severely allergic from way before official diagnosis. It took a while for referral etc. This is often the case. So a blanket nut ban does make sense.

[Neverme]

Right so you'd rather dilly dally with a child's health just so your kid can have a peanut butter sarnie?

Schools will have blanket bans because children are often more allergy prone and grow out of it later. They're also less like lot to be able to manage their own condition than an adult who knows what to avoid.

Ds who is nearly 3 had a big reaction recently after eating hummus whilst at nursery. He is also allergic in same way to peanuts. Thank god the nursery is nut free otherwise we'd be having problems. We are now waiting for appointment for allergy testing. The thought of him needing an epi pen and the like terrifies me so I'm very happy schools etc will put bans on nuts etc in place.

[sashh]

"I think the no-nut blanket policy is there in case children swap/trade food"
then why not all high allergenic foods in the blanket policy?

Because for most alergies you have to actually ingest the food. Peanut alergy can be so severe that a reaction can start by someone else opening a packet of peanuts.

[MerryCouthyMows]

My DS3 had skin prick tests - they can't test them all at once, but he is anaphylactic to : Peanuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios, and even lentils and chickpeas (the last two have proteins similar to peanuts in).

They will test for more types in three months time. So yes, IMO, adhere to a total nut ban.

A school will only usually ban peanuts, so there IS a pupil there who is also allergic to other nuts, I would imagine, for it to be a zero nuts policy.

[MerryCouthyMows]

And as for 'needing' peanuts or other nuts, not quite.

Parents of DC's with multiple allergies have to manage. My DS3 is as allergic to Dairy as he is to nuts.

If another DC splashes yoghurt on themselves, touches the table and then my DS3 touches it, he can die.

Any school he goes to will HAVE to have a dairy free classroom for him.

[MerryCouthyMows]

For the person above whose DD reacted to hummus (chickpeas) - You might want to be wary of lentils too. They both have very similar proteins to peanuts, they are all legumes, and there are some people who cross react.

[amillionyears]

musicposy,re teenagers and older children.I think it happens more at or with friends because routine has gone. They are having a great time and their guard is down. They are also more liable to take risks food wise, or not wish to look different to others. Also, their medication may not be so easy to hand.Can you tel some ofl this has happened to us?

[valiumredhead]

DS is severely allergic and we were told to avoid all nuts because of cross contamination.

amillion Although in someways it is easier now ds is old enough to read ingredients himself, it is way harder generally no he is older. We had the devil's own job recently trying to get him to carry his dpi pens around with him - a compramise was a new jacket with an inside pocket so he could fit them in there without anyone seeing.

It helped when we watched the Bear Grylls episode where he swells up like a balloon after being stung by a bee and talking about how he has to carry dpi pens now too.