Nursery packed lunches - allergens list feels overwhelming!

[Querious]

Hi all, NC’d for this one! Never thought I’d be this kind of person to question an allergy policy in schools as I have lots of friends and family both currently and in childhood with dietary requirements like coeliac/ severe nut allergies/ vegan etc which I’ve always tried my best to accommodate when hosting them at mine or going out places to eat. However, my DC’s nursery have created such an exhaustive list of banned food in packed lunches that I’m really struggling to put together something healthy ish that a 3 year old will eat! Not allowed:

• egg (incl mayo and as an ingredient)
• nuts (incl coconut)
• seeds
• fish
• Chocolate
• sweets

I try to cook/ bake most things we consume and keep mainly low UPF but I’m not a zealot about it. Because of this however, the teachers are routinely removing things from my child’s lunchbox for fear of causing a reaction. In the short return after Christmas this has included greek yoghurt with strawberries blended into it (questioned the seeds so replaced with a packaged yoghurt), a sandwich made with wholemeal bread (seeds), a sandwich made from white focaccia (had some black flecks in - pepper, but they couldn’t be sure), hummus (homemade with no nuts but they couldn’t be sure!!), beetroot brownies (too much chocolate), sausage rolls (queried egg glaze, it was actually milk) and a piece of cake (as cakes are made with egg).

Genuinely tearing my hair out to figure out what I can put in a lunchbox that ticks all the nursery’s boxes plus my own lower UPF plus my DC’s picky habits - plus isn’t the same thing every day! For ex DC won’t reliably eat white bread, probably because we don’t buy it, prefers the hardest crustiest uncut bread you can buy 😂 I can’t afford school lunches and the menus aren’t great from a UPF perspective. Help! AIBU to think this is really difficult?

@Nimbus3000
I did quote and link the Early Years advice upthread somewhere but it’s here again from Allergy UK:

https://www.allergyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Early-Years-and-Allergies.pdf

“If lunch boxes are brought into the setting, check them for allergens before they are given to the children and make sure all parents are aware of any known allergens, asking for their cooperation in avoiding these.”

That advice is not in their ‘Starting a new school guide’ which is about primary and secondary. Instead they say

”We do not recommend a ‘no nuts’ policy in schools as this can lead to the children having a false sense of security and stop checking whether foods are safe for them to eat. It will not cover other allergies.”

For some reason I can’t link that, phone’s acting up, but just google AllergyUK Starting a new school pdf.

@Nimbus3000
Phone finally decided to behave itself!

www.allergyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Starting-a-New-School.pdf

Interesting - given the much higher ratios for nursery compared to even reception I am surprised by the almost contradictory approaches. What a difficult transition that makes for everyone.

Yes. I think they were written in ‘20 or ‘21 but I can’t see any recent update.

In addition the following guidelines are from a 2021 paper, and also suggest that very young children are a special case (my bold).

“Site-wide food prohibitions and allergen-restricted zones:
We suggest that child care centers and schools do not prohibit specific foods site-wide (eg, nut-free schools). (Conditional recommendation; very low certainty of evidence.)
We suggest that child care centers and schools do not establish allergen-restricted zones (eg, peanut-free classrooms, milk-free tables), except in the limited special circumstances identified. (Conditional recommendation; very low certainty of evidence.)

Special circumstances
a. When students lack the developmental capacity to self-manage due to very young age (ie, infants, toddlers) or physical or cognitive impairments, it might be appropriate to implement allergen-restricted zones (eg, nut-free classrooms, milk-free tables) to lower the risk that they will accidentally eat a food allergen.
b. If local laws require child care centers or schools to take certain steps to regulate the presence of food allergens, policymakers and personnel should follow the applicable laws. In some cases, it might be appropriate to advocate for a change in the law.”

(Those guidelines are not UK specific.)
https://www.ifan.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/PIIS0091674921002232.pdf