Not allowed nuts in school

[pingu2209]

A friend of mine is really concerned about a letter home from school and subsequent conversation. Her dd is very fussy and will only eat peanut butter sandwiches. It is a long battle for her and the doctor is very concerned about her weight as she eats very very little. Has to be white bread, no crusts etc. I would go as far as to say it is an eating disorder - she is 9.

Her eating has to be tackled and the mum is getting help. So far the specialist help has said that it is a good idea for her to eat peanut sandwiches as this is pretty much all she will eat and will give her nutriants etc. They said the key is to increase the types of food, rather than take away what little she does.

But the school has said nobody is allowed any nuts, inc. peanut butter sarnies, in school as there are a handful of children with severe nut allergies - that could kill them.

My friend is at a loss. She asked whether her daughter could eat her sarnies away from the allergic children. The school has still said no, just incase there is peanut butter on her fingers etc that the allergic children could accidentally get it on them.

Who is being unreasonable?

So pingu what is your solution? Being in the area of a peanut butter sandwich could kill a child. I am sure the school would love a solution which would be easier to implement.

VoiceofReason there isn't actually much of a chocking risk from nuts, that was just what was believed when small children went blue after having eating one. And if you don't have very rapid ambulance (or response car) response equipped with epipens or similar then you won't have a child at school with a nut allergy for a very simple and obvious reason.

Its actually a success of modern medicine.

I'm reading this with interest as my DD will start reception in Sept this year and the only real food she eats is peanut butter on toast, I had wondered about working to get her eating PB sandwiches but not if school will ban them. Like the child in the OP we have struggled and struggled and the plan is to feed her whatever she'll eat and wait for her to grow out of it without stress, since all the schools round here have a "healthy eating policy" banning all crisps, biscuits and sweets I am going to struggle. I was hoping she could have a PB sandwich, some mini cheddars/marmite ricecakes, a biscuit and an apple for lunch (these are almost the only foodstuffs she will have within 6 feet of her but I don't think that'll work)

I think you mean do not recommend bruffin

And I agree the school should be given that info by anaphylaxis campaign.

Op the school are failing your friends dd by not taking her eating issues seriously, eating disorders in children are also rising and they need to be aware of the impact of their attitude towards the problem, I would suspect they just think she is 'being fussy'

I am getting confused by what bruffin is posting.

For those wanting to know how to deal with this the anaphylaxis campaign has several downloads and also online educational tutorials for family, friends, schools and health care providers and they run training workshops etc. They would be able to advise the school on a safe way to handle the situation.

The ops friend could take the issue to the school Governors, to see if they can come up with some sort of workable solution to the issue?
It may involve everyone concerned having a meeting about it all.

What MrsHoarder said re choking on nuts - there is a view that the choking on nuts was extremely rare but 30, 40, 50 years ago if a small kid ate some nuts, went blue in the face, couldn't breathe and died it was generally assumed that they'd choked when in actual fact they had probably suffered an anaphylactic shock .

It's similar with families who have a genetic tendency towards coeliac disease. Grandparents of those diagnosed in the last 20 years or so will often have a tale of a cousin, sibling etc who 'just wasted away'. One family I know of, the grandma had a sister who almost certainly had it - however in the 1930s the doctor advised the parents to 'feed her jam sandwiches to build her up' and the girl died when she was 9.

I think bruffin has confused herself by listing on the two similar threads in aibu about nuts!

Sirzy no being in the area of a peanut butter cannot kill a child that is a myth.
A million i posted on the other thread. Basically you beed to actually ingest the protein to have an anaphylactic reaction.
In blind tests they have found that claims to having to having reactions from being in the same room tend to be psychosomatic, ie they only have a reaction if they can see the nut, pb sandwich. If they are blindfolded and not told pb in room no reaction. There are instances where there is a lot of peanut dust ie a peanut factory or where cooking creates a lot of steam which can carry the protein which can induce a reaction, but that has been known to happen with rice allergy.

Andro - I'm with you and so is the anaphylaxis association here. Banning cheese would be unreasonable.

In answer to the "how do people cope" question, I lived on the same stairs at uni with a guy who was severely allergic - he could tell if he was in the same room as someone who's eaten nuts as he would feel stuffy though it didn't send him into anaphylactic shock.

He wore a very close-fitting bumbag type thing containing an epi pen and other accoutrements and everyone on our stairs was informed if what to do if he went into shock (follow the instructions in the bag basically) as well as all staff, his friends, tutors and so on. In the year I lived near him he never had an attack but the thought was terrifying. He was amazingly good-humoured about it.

Sorry did mean do not recommend
Yes i am confusing myself

WifeofPie - of course it would. I'm against banning nuts because it is unreasonable to expect that an environment outside the person's own home can or will be controlled to that extent, it's just not right.

Many posters seem to be ignoring the fact that a ban us not recommended.

The school need to help this child who also has a medical need for support, it may be a different kind of need but that doesn't mean that bit is any less of a need.

Commander, he sounds a lot like my son, though I dont think it is him you are talking about.

Agree, they can start to feel funny, without having a full blown attack. The reuslt of the feeling funny can last a couple of hours.

I agree with that too except in the case of schools/nurseries where you're dealing with small children who just aren't able to manage their own allergy yet and perhaps airplanes.

The school is being dangerously naive. Another example of a stupid, ill thought through policy conceived by the ridiculously ill informed.

Since when did "banning" anything ever actually work ?

5 it is less of a need because it's not acutely life-threatening. That's just a fact.

WifeofPie - your opinions on banning cheese on airplanes?

TheFallenNinja, I suspect it has saved many lives.

Well some. It can never be quantified.

Sorry, Andro. I didn't understand your question?

Actually wifeifpie if this child ends up with anorexia because her issues with food not being handled sensitively NOW then that IS life threaterning,. Eating disorders in children is actually a growing problem in children and they can be life threatening, Fact!

My question was this:

You think that it is perhaps justified to ban nuts on flights because of the risk that an allergic passenger could have a life threatening reaction. Should the same consideration be given with respect to cheese if I'm on board a flight for the same reason?