to challenge the schools nuts ban

[pigglewiggle]

The school has a strict no nuts policy. Apparently this is because someone in a higher year has a peanut allergy. I can understand banning peanuts if the allergy is severe but peanuts are very different to normal proper nuts and reactions to these are not to my knowledge anywhere near as bad as peanuts. It just makes lunch quite difficult as we are vegan and would love to pop something like a nakd bar in lunchboxes.

Aibu to go to the school and at least establish if a total ban on nuts is needed / necessary?

You didn't realise other nuts could be dangerous? Really?

FWIW, I'm allergic to almonds and cashews, no other nuts (so far). So just a peanut ban would be life threatening to me. I have had several incidents where people haven't really believed that eating these nuts around me would affect me, and I've ended up in A&E.

I only became allergic after having DS2 (aged 35). No issues before then.

I know someone who is extremely allergic to oranges and related fruits. Everyone at work treated this (and the ban on oranges etc.) as a total joke, and the poor woman ended up in an ambulance more than once. She was (understandably) so angry that the ban was being flouted on purpose, with people sniggering about it, that she sent an email stating that any future incidents would be reported to the police as attempted murder! Bit OTT, but I can see where she was coming from at that moment....

Oh. Where's the light. How tragic. The poor parents. It doesn't bare thinking about.

Ilive, if a child had an allergy to milk and eggs, would you expect a school to ban them?

Oh pleeeeease!
Send them in with a chick pea! Be considerate. They're protecting those who've not yet been diagnosed, too!

They're protecting those who've not yet been diagnosed, too!

Maybe we should ban every possible allergen from schools and nurseries, just in case?

Onedecision
my ds us allergic to chickpeas

BMO.If the allergy could kill them. Then yes I would. Wouldn't you expect it if your child had an allergy. I mean dont get me wrong some allergies are not really dangerous are they. Just result in rashes or itching. For example my dd was allergic to red source when she was little but she loved it. I still allowed her to have it though as it just used to give her a rash on her cheeks that caused no irritation and would go within an hour.

No I wouldn't expect it Ilive, and I have never heard of a school that has.

Well we'll just have to agree to disagree

I'm being sarcastic because as a teacher, I have seen far worse allergic reactions in children that are allergic to things other than nuts.

Fish, would be one example.

But we don't ban fish (every Friday is fish and chip day)!

ilive you are talking rubbish.

allergies to anything can be fatal. would you really happily send in lunches that are dairy nut egg strawberry kiwi fish seed mustard sesame free. cos realistically that's probably what we are talking about in a school with hundreds of children in.

banning everything would leave it extremely difficult to accommodate your own children's likes and dislikes and requirements and still pack a balanced lunch. including the "may Contain" labels.

I think you need to be more realistic.

Exactly lostteacher
you can have anaphylaxis to treenut, milk, legumes, dairy, seeds and fish., eggs fruit and vegetables

There's very low awareness that people can have anaphylaxis to any food.

On a separate subject, the OP had said she'd "challenge" the no nuts policy. She hadn't said she wouldn't comply with it.

bruffin I am fully aware of that thanks especially as I developed a life threatening anaphylaxis reaction to chilli pepper at age 26. I have had to ask people at my work not to bring stuff on with it in as just touching the desk after they have eaten it could cause me to have a fatal reaction.

ilive - utterly devastating! I didn't know the family but dss was very upset as were the rest of the school and they were excellent and provided counselling etc. it hit dss hard because dp has a peanut allergy so he started to have awful nightmares about losing his dad.

the bottom line is that anyone can be allergic to anything at any time. if the reaction is severe enough to be potentially fatal then the school has a duty of care to protect them and if that means a blanket ban then so be it

So you want to blanket ban the list i gave above. Lets just ban foods, ban pe because excercise can exacerbate anaphylaxis, ban playing outside just in case someone is stung by a bee or wasp etc

All allergies are potentially fatal under the wrong circumstances. However I can't help feeling that there's an element of exaggeration going on in this thread and in most discussions of allergy. The anaphylaxis association itself says that fatal reactions are very rare in young children (they are a little less rare in young adults, but still highly unusual). If sensible precautions are taken, and if appropriate treatment is given promptly in the event of a reaction, then the risk is even further reduced.

I may have a potentially fatal peanut allergy but back in the real world, I'm still more likely to die in a car accident.

I hope all those being unkind to OP and calling her eckless never send their child to school with a sandwich, cheese, fresh fruit, dairy products, fish (especially she'll tyoe), products containing soya, tomatoes, peas, humous etc.

Because if you do you are endangering the lives of many children in the school too.

And I say this as a parent who's child carried an epipen for years.

youarekiddingme If I ever have to pack a child's lunchbox again - which is not likely but you never know - just what the hell can I send?

I'm not being flippant - not this time. Your list leaves me wondering.

Thankfully fatal reactions are rare but treatment is not without side effects and while I would not hesitate to use an epi pen in the appropriate situation to save a life, the side effects of even a single dose of adrenaline can be significant. Also, repeated exposure to allergens can in the case of my child at least, undermine his immune system and take him a long time to recover from. I would much rather he avoided the risk rather than had treatment.

andrew don't panic I was just illustrating to all those who are calling the OP nasty and are practically accusing her of wanting to murder children with nuts that they are packing their nut free lunches full of other potential allergens that can also cause a fatal reaction.
It's not about banning a substance but managing your allergies correctly.

The same with junk modelling - bet many people send in empty milk cartons and egg boxes - full of killer allergens for some people.

We don't eat meat but our school upholds an outright nut ban because of the severity of one childs allergy. From what I understand even minute amounts are dangerous.

So at school my dc are vegetarian. I don't send ds pack lunches because his meals are free but dd who is older really wants to stay vegan even at school this isn't really doable so on Mac n cheese days when she doesn't want Mac n cheese I send her with dal, mini mushroom tarts, fruit and rice cakes with jam and homemade smoothie.

Snacks are usually chocolate raisins or hummus and veg sticks, or sometimes a biscuit or cake that I know is vegan there are loads of accidental vegan products that are well shared.

Nuts aren't needed in school. I do wonder how they get around other allergies though like gluten. I'm coeliac so know how careful I have to be.

Oh and dairy, allergies suck but at least that's an easy avoid, at least compared to gluten.

Nutella is something we get many letters about, I buy the palmil stuff I think that's what it's called but I've had a phone call about it when I sent it on rice cakes. School were relieved not to have to confiscate another Nutella sandwich.

As nut allergies can be air-bound it's very different from having a wheat allergy. Honestly, as a teacher you only have to use an epi-pen once to never want nuts on site again. I know children with fish and egg allergies but they actually have to EAT the foods to react. The particular child I'm thinking of suffers without actually eating nuts. It really isn't a big deal to save a life.