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?

Its been explauned numerous times on this thread by me and others and there is a link to the anaphylaxis campaign website schhols advice

You need to read the full text. It says it is better to educate rather than ban.
They have been saying this for many years

The anaphylaxis society also said that people should consume a small amount of peanut everyday to desensitise themselves. They didn't say that this needed to be done under strict medical supervision and in a hospital environment where emergency treatment is available in case it becomes required. I therefore am sceptical of anything the anaphylaxis society recommends.

Can you link to thay because it sounds like it has been taken out of context

It was linked to early if the thread and wasn't taken out of context.

Oh this is ridiculous. Early exposure and desensitisation may help in some cases but not all.

A blanket ban may not be needed in lots of schools to make it safe enough, but it certainly will in some!!

If there is a child in said school with a severe enough allergy, a ban would be needed to make that environment safe for that one child. That one child still needs an education. The other children can still have nuts for breakfast and dinner and on weekends.

I'm not saying it's the most common occurrence but children don't just react to eating food. A child can have a very severe reaction from eating or touching a table, plate or cutlery where nuts have touched. From holding hands or sharing a pencil with your child if they have just eaten nuts. And yes I do mean a really severe reaction. That might seem "Nuts" to some people but those parents do often have to avoid supermarkets and soft play. We had an awful reaction once from eating in a packed lunch area in a museum. its not a nice life to live. As much as you try and desensitise a child with hospital supervision, as early as they were given the allergen some kids just have really severe reactions and no matter what medical advice says, each child is different.

If a nut ban is what is needed to make school safe for a child like this, it's not selfish. Other children can eat what they like the rest of the time. The likelihood is that if said reaction is so severe a child like this will be limited everyday and everywhere they go. I'm sure you're children will live without one ingredient for one meal a day 5 days a week.

Depends on the severity of that child's reaction.

Dd2 has a severe Brazil nut allergy but it is not airborne and she is very good about not eating other people's food. I blanket van us probably not needed in her case. A friends child has a severe airborne but allergy, he had two severe reactions in a term after sitting next to someone with peanut butter sandwiches. I would support a blanket ban in his case.

Whether or not a ban is disregarded, presumably it would be by a minority, and the overall result is a reduction in nuts on the premises.

Is there a risk that, if there's a nut ban in a school, the child may relax their vigilance around other people's food - which is fine unless they come across the child whose parents don't think the nut ban applies to their child?

I can only talk from experience but my 4 year old dd is very vigilant all the time, constantly asks about nuts and doesn't complain if she can't have something. She never wants to see the "green doctors" again as she called the paramedics so is very cautious.

So what do these children with such sever airborne allergies do out of school?

Do you go to restaurants where somebody at the next table might have nuts?
Do you go to the cinema where the person at an earlier showing was eating nuts?
Do you go on the train/bus where an earlier passenger was eating nuts?
Do you go to the park where people feed nuts to the birds?

Sorry but its insane and not a long term solution.
Teach kids to be cautious

and then give them a nice dose of hookworms as they are proven to reduce allergic reactions in a significant proportion of cases.

In all of those cases the child is likely to have a parent with them who can act quickly if lips start to swell or breathing becomes difficult. A oarent will be very tuned in to allergic reactions. The worry is that a young child might not be noticed having those symptoms in a busy dining hall until it is too late.

It's not actually fair on teaching and support staff to have that responsibility. As a parent you deal with it. And of course as they get older they can carry their own epipen and can be aware of their own symptoms and treat themselves buts it's a lot to ask if a 5 year old.

If it needs a ban then it's needs one. Allergic reactions can change overtime. My eldest child is getting increasingly bad reactions to two nut types, peanut and Brazil. She is very vigilant, this has been a recent ( last three month) development, she is 7. Before this I didn't really think much about nut allergy other than thank god it's not me or my kids.....i wouldn't have objected to any level of ban in school however, how can you object to something that will help protect a child from fatal reaction..... Has op ever seen a kid in anaphylaxis? Not nice. My child's sch are amazing and I trust them to care for dd, she has epi pens in sch and staff know how to use them to save her life. The sch also requests no nuts in pack lunch and on trips and constantly remind parents of this. The sch din has no nuts. No parent has objected, thank goodness I am in a sch where parents also value the safety of all children.

Gomomma
And outside school?

Why should the school staff have to bear the responsibility, when restaurant / bus / cinema / shopping centre / train / softplay staff do not?

So you're saying that a school which follows the advice of the anaphylaxis campaign and does not automatically impose a ban does not "value the safety of all children"?

No parent has objected, thank goodness I am in a sch where parents also value the safety of all children

who on earth has said they don't care about other children. We are just challenging the fact that lids cab be anaphalactic to many things and foods can't all be banned. once again nuts seem to be the only concern.

The attitude on this thread is to ridicule the ops food choices and assume her asking questions is akin to mass murder. It seems bans are ok if they only affect the vegetarians or the vegans or the fussy eaters.

only when questioned about children anaphalaactic to eggs and milk is the inconvenience suddenly not possible and it's all back to "ease of removing nuts" and how it's not possible to do stop people bringing in staples like yogurts and cake.

TalkinPeace I've responded to your question about other environments on the previous page.

You might not have seen my question below. What's your response?

TalkinPeace
exposing him to peanuts as early as I could in life was one of those findings.

So what's the split between those who acquire allergies, and those who react on first exposure to an allergen? Presumably early exposure is only of benefit to the former group (unless you count allergy identification).

facsicle
The study I'm on started before I got pregnant - so they looked at maternal allergies and lifestyles and right on through. There were thousands of us - not many still in the study, I'm unusual.

I always suspected that exposure to peanuts while still breastfeeding as is almost universal in the USA because of ubiquitous PBJ sandwiches and exposure to good doses of dirt would reduce allergic reactions.

I'm not allergic to peanuts or nuts so scoffed away.

By the time DS was 1 (and we'd done many, many subset tests into allergies, athsma, lung function, histamine reaction) we all got letters saying that exposure to nuts and peanuts from a young age was not associated with increased allergy risk, if anything the opposite.

The attitude on this thread is to ridicule the ops food choices and assume her asking questions is akin to mass murder. It seems bans are ok if they only affect the vegetarians or the vegans or the fussy eaters.

As a fellow vegan, I have no problem with the OP's food choices (apart from wanting her children to eat nut products at lunch). As a vegan with a child who has nut allergies, I see the logic in nut bans for some eating environments, especially early years/primary schools.

And kids allergic to everything else just have to sit on their own or amongst the danger

I'm not ridiculing anyone, just grateful my kids sch minimises risk her exposure to life threatening allergen. Who wouldn't be?! Also outside sch is me resp and we hav epi pen and other meds with us, we live as normal as poss, her allergy is only if eats the nuts, not airborne. I'm grateful for that too. I go on my doc advice not the anaphylaxis society, the consultant said avoid nuts.....Im glad the sch interprets this as ban them frm sch dins and requests none at pack lunch and sch trips etc etc. if she eats nuts she could die...... I'm leaving thread, shouldn't have posted really, too emotional and obv people have opinions they want but I will do anything and support anything I can to keep my child safe.... If nuts were allowed in sch did she would not be safe, it's as simple as that ??

I'm trying to find evidence for airborne allergen anaphylaxis.
So far failing
www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/at-a-glance/food-allergy.aspx
www.aaia.ca/en/about_egg_allergen.htm
www.nhs.uk/conditions/food-allergy/Pages/Intro1.aspx

Oh yes one more thing, talkinpeace, as a teacher I also embrace any request a parent makes regarding the health and safety of their child, I see it as my very great responsibility to keep all the children in my care safe, and if that includes from nuts then fine. It is absolutely not too much to ask. the kids are exclusively in my care away from their parents so of course we as teachers need to keep them safe. In a soft play? Cinema? Train? Shop? Well of course they don't have to take resp!!! My child my resp.....do you entrust your Childs health to the soft play staff of the lady on the till at boots or the cinema?! Of course not! A teacher? A member of sch staff? Yes.

Gomomma
If kids are not taught to look out for themselves, the big wide world of Secondary school and going into town alone can be a bit of a shock.
Let alone college
or Uni