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?

If you bake cakes etc at home, can you get a few vegan recipes and try those? That would take care of egg-free. Everything else seems pretty easy to cover.

I think it's very limiting for vegetarian/ pescetarians.

Not really....

They can have cheese, tofu, beans, soy, lentils, curries, chillies, pastas, salad, soups , crisps, biscuits, fruits, berries, yoghurt, kefir, lassi, pickles, vegetables, cracker, bread sticks, dips, salsa, bread, rolls, rice, vegetarian sausages/meat substitutes etc

Can you put a note in with things like homemade hummus to say "this was made at home and doesn't contain nuts" and list the ingredients?

I think since you've repeatedly broken the rule about seeds they are probably being extra vigilant.

• plan yoghurt with honey, blueberries
• cut up grapes
• chicken strips
• carrot sticks
• leftovers like fajitas, risotto, sweet potato
• steak strips
• cucumber
• apple slices
• pitta bread
• wraps

When DD was in Reception (and older) they had one child anaphylaxis allergic to milk products... and managed it without banning dairy (as they did in the preschool class apparently).

No sweets and chocolate is a pretty standard. Egg is the only unusual one really.... especially if its everything that might contain egg.

Sources of protein are still limited, especially if you remove UPFs.

They're just not though... Cheeses, yoghurt,.tofu, beans, pulses, lentils, chickpeas etc. all available as a choice

And it's only a few meals during the week.

I honestly thought the OP was going to say something like
No meat, no dairy, no nuts,.no seeds, no kiwi, no berries,.no sesame, no wheat ....

Bit realistically,it's no nuts, fish or egg.

.it's absolutely fine.

I don't think the list is that restrictive at all, and it's definitely not an "exhaustive list" as you called it. Chocolate and sweet restrictions are pretty standard and not due to allergy. So really it's egg, seeds/nuts and fish.

As others have said, just add a note to the lunchbox when it contains homemade stuff that the staff might (reasonably) assume could potential contain one of those allergens.

I get it's frustrating for you, but it's better than landing a child in hospital or worse.

Banning foods is not the way to manage allergies.

anaphylaxis campaign - leading serious allergy charity in uk don’t approve of ‘bans’ are they know they are unenforceable and create a false sense of security.

strict supervision, table hygiene, avoiding cross contamination when eating to ensure an allergic child doesn’t touch an allergen is how you do it….

I have a child with anaphylaxis to tree nuts, peanuts and eggs. Never stopped anyone else eating anything around them - but did supervise them and ensure they didn’t touch / eat others foods.

the nursery are wrong putting this onus on the other parents - they need to sort out what they do in their setting to protect and manage the children - not try and police all the lunchboxes.

little Kenny’s cheese sandwich may look perfectly safe - but could have been made on the same board as their fathers eggs roll and be contaminated with egg… they will never know how it was prepared and if deemed to be ‘safe’ by sight and the allergic child touches or eats it could be very serious.

you have to manage the child and the food they eat / touch - ensuring they only eat stuff you know is 100% safe (ir what the parent has supplied for their allergic child) a parent of an allergic child checks labels and avoids cross contamination in their sleep as you have no option but to learn quickly how to keep your child safe.

i would have serious issues with a nursery that is relying on other parents understanding and following all the procedures that you have to when preparing food for a severely allergic child.

That's hardly a long or difficult list. Who would send sweets or chocolate into nursery anyway?

I don't think the list in itself is too difficult to apply (although way more restrictive than any nursery we've been to).

But the list of food items they removed is ridiculous! They need to inform the parents, but have to trust the food they send rather than remove anything that remotely look like a seed.

The one time my children's nursery had a doubt, they just called me to check. And it was fair as it was a broccoli sauce which looked a lot like pesto. But they didn't just take the food away!

Do most children eat the food provided by the nursery, and you provide your own to avoid paying a consumables charge?

To be fair though, I doubt that the adults are likely to sneeze over the children with allergies in the middle of their meal or give them big, wet, sloppy kisses/bite them for taking a toy.

That and lots of places have the same rule for adults anyway, who normally follow it because they aren't fans of watching little Timmy die in front of them.

It’s not really a very restrictive list it’s just how the nursery are handling it. Send an email saying you home make everything and are aware of the banned food and compliant so they need to have some trust in the parents and not just take everything away just in case.

I’ve a child with the same allergies as yours and I agree only up to a point. I think being very little, as in this case, should be the exception to the no-ban rule advised. The small allergic child can’t be reliably expected to behave perfectly and touch nothing from another child’s lunch at this age. And small children are messier eaters and lunch can get on hands, faces and clothing.

So I think, for very small children, banning some foods does make sense. Though you can’t depend on it for the reasons you’ve outlined, it reduces the risk somewhat. The only other alternative is very close supervision while eating and that still leaves the problem of peanut butter getting on little Olivia’s hair and top before she goes to play with Rachel who is allergic. You can try keeping them apart I suppose? Change clothes? Difficult.

Things need to be a bit different at nursery level imho. The allergic child will still need to learn to be careful.

There's hardly anything on that list. You are being very dramatic

You say you can’t afford school meals. How much are you really saving by sending in packed lunches and snacks? Are you able to claim FSM?

What counts as egg? Pasta has egg in it, doesn’t it? My child has an anaphylactic wheat allergy AND an egg allergy, but she can eat free-from bread made with pasteurised egg white. I’d be asking for granular detail on this!

Pasta wouldn’t normally contain egg no. Homemade or fancy fresh stuff probably yes but regular supermarket dried is typically 100% durum wheat.

Just stick a note in saying does not include

Eggs is hard. And fish

we have no nuts or chocolate on our nursery lunch list

Yeah, it is so easy to not read the post and recommend houmous when it normally does contain sezam seads - and the OP's home made free-from one was refused as well.

And it's pretty stupid to recommend ham and crisps as a lunch for a three years old with health observant parents.

Isn't salad cream made of eggs?

To those saying bans on foods containing allergens - when I used to work in a nursery I knew the children couldn't be relied on to not eat the wrong foods / wash hands properly/ not kiss or bite and pass allergens along that way. I was glad we had a total ban on certain foods because it took away / greatly minimised the risk that I'd have to watch someone else's child choke to death just to make another parent's choices a bit easier re filling their child's lunch box. I knew about research suggesting bans aren't necessary, but frankly I'm glad the risk and some of the life or death stress was taken out of my hands over mealtimes.

It'll be because 3 year olds are likely to be touching other people's food, which they reliably grow out of eventually. We had it with our SEND kids, hyper vigilant and having to keep children apart (separate tables, somtimes separate rooms)because of allergens and the children taking others food . We could never trust anything homemade because we didn't know what was in it and couldn't take that risk. Couldn't take parents words for it either, from a safeguarding health and safety perspective it wasn't possible. Its annoying but talk to them about what will work from their view and yours. Nurseries want to work with families not against.