AIBU to be pissed off that the head teacher has banned nutella in the school for one child?

[eddiejo]

The story.... one boy (hers) has allergy to nuts so now nutella is banned . I totally understand the whole anaphlaxis thing but as mum to year 1 boy with multiple food allergies - i would never expect the rest of the school to stop eating what he is allergic to.

Nutella was one of the few spreads which he could eat and made the bread edible. not healthy I know but more important to get energy in him.

What do you think?

Most schools don't allow peanut butter

Not one school in this town allows peanut butter, honestly.

Remember, kids start school at 4, not 14.

eddiejo - is it just this one product that has been banned, or all nut products?

onager - I haven't heard of citrus allergy whereas peanut allergies are more common in varying degrees. Can't comment on other allergies.

Agree you can't ban everything but where there is a known risk I think a sensible reasonable request to not bring in peanuts or eat nut products is acceptable.

How is chocolate spread on bread healthy anyway? Is ours the only school on the warpath about healthy packed lunches?

I've never heard of nut alergic people not being able to go on trains or busses, or to the cinema.

LOL at stopping nut imports!!

Our local ballet school has a sign up that peanuts are banned. Good on them! I wouldn't mind the inconvenience to my children if it meant keeping another child safe.

Don't see the 'need' for Nutella at school anyhow.

Is complete treat nonfoodstuff and should be reserved for mums with PMT only.

I wish, can't have it in the house...........for similar reasons that schools ban it I would have thought.

Peanut butter isnt banned at any of the three schools my kids have been to.

What about the nuts/trace of nuts in certain types of bread, cereal bars etc

I appreciate that a child with a nut allergy is at risk, But banning nutella from lunch boxes isnt going to protect them

How do nut allergy kids cope when they go to the park, go on the train, live a life outside school - I agree with wannabe

YANBU
My son has treenuts and seed allergies and we have never asked anything to be banned. He learnt from a very young age always to question foods particularly chocolate where hazlenuts are hidden.
The school would be better off educating the children properly about allergies ie washing their hands after eating nuts etc

DS friends were very vigilent of him even when they were 7 or 8.

Deaths from nut allergy even those with severe anaphylaxis are extremely rare and it tends to be teenagers that most at risk, mainly because they are at an age where the believe they are invicable and are more likely to take risks.

Haven't you wannabe?

Planes are the worst due to the air-con and not being able to leave factor.

agree with that beachcomber....nutellas a load of tooth rotting crap and should be banned on that basis alone.

just thought I would say......not all schools ban peanut butter. ds eats it in his sandwiches and has through all his schooling. he is now 16 and has never been stopped from having it.

but Wannabe - you don't often see people taking a swipe/bite of someone elses food in the cinema/on the tube/bus do you - whereas you will frequently see primary aged children "sharing" their lunch

Interestingly it's the parents with kids with allergies that the op is NBU

No they havn't banned all nut products. I trult do understand the seriousness of it and didn't make my annoyance clear enough.

I would be eternally gratfull if they school banned something that my son was servely allergic to but he would still need teaching how to avoid them himself.

He asks what is in foods all the time ( he's 5) and refuses all foods that people don't know about.

I send him in treats and bits for when other children have birthdays etc so he is not singled out and made to feel different.

I think the school is right to ban all nut products if this is the case - it's just the way it was done.

So why not educate the kids about not sharing lunches

What about eddiejo's lo who has MULTIPLE allergies and very limited options in what he can eat for lunch - why do none of you seem to care about him?

What about the risk to him of whatever may be in somebody elses lunch?

I think once you start banning one thing because of one child you may aswell ban everything - make them eat dust

I am bit undecided on this one.

Ds is severely allergic to tree nuts,so nutella a big no no.

I am grateful that his school is nut free as it makes it safer for him but I also do not expect the world to be nut free for him.
I educate him to follow rules to keep him safe.
Not to share food wash his hands etc.
He has to face nuts regularly when we socialise (friends putting bowls of nuts out)and that's a good thing for him to get used to.When he was younger I would've found it too worrying but now he's 6 he has to learn to cope in a room with nuts.

Thing is that whilst severely allergic children are young, when they are out and about, their parents are generally there to be vigilant FOR them (rules our lives indeed).

At school there are no parents. Any action to reduce risk factor is important (and relieve a little stress from staff who are shitting themselves at the thought of administering an epipen to someone else's kid).

FWIW I would ban all rubbish from lunchboxes - killjoy that I am

But ds quite enjoys telling other kids "Thats white bread - Its bad for you!" etc

FAQ but the point was made further down the thread that the nuts must be banned because children with nut alergies cannot even be in the same room as nuts, and therefore they must be unable to function in society because of the people in the street/on the trains/busses who might have eaten nuts. And that is clearly not the case.

If a child with a severe nut alergy is not educated in terms of not sharing others' lunch/not eating food before being aware of the content, then that child is never going to learn to be risk aware, so is far more likely to eat something that will affect him/her.

The key is not banning, it is education.

If one child is alergic to nuts then maybe that one child should have supervision at lunchtime to ensure he/she does not do something irresponsible and share food with other children, and children should be encouraged to wash hands etc.

But banning nuts isn't gong to make that child, or the other children, aware of his alergy.

yurtgirl....you're talking rubbish.

how can a few mid-day supervisors keep an eye on 60 odd 5 year olds?.. even 5 year olds that have been "educated"..is it really worth the risk?

There is a massive difference between a food intolerance, and a nut allergy.

Children with nut allergies can die from contact with nuts. Even indirect contact.

Children with a food intolerance do not die from contact with the food.

So YABU. Banning Nutella is no biggie IMO; it's not like they're banning water, or something actually essential for survival.

I think your right. Maybe there should be more supervision. I know for a fact other children feel sorry for him and offer him their food

He was even given a danish pastery in pre-school and the dopey NN thought they were prob free from everything!! (very ill for a week after and still had to pay fees in absence!)

You can't win either way.