Being considerate to your child?

[PrettyCandles]

If your child cannot eat a food or food group because of allergy or intolerance, then, presumably, you would not eat that food in front of them - especially if it was something they particularly like, or if they were quite young. But at what age or after how long would you consider it acceptable to eat that food again, without worrying about them seeing it?

my son has allergies as do i. some are the same and some different...no food that anyone in our household is allergic to is bought or eaten, simply due to the fact that you can cause potential reaction if you are not careful. i have a nut allergy and my mum was the same and they were never kept in the house or any products containing them eventhough my siblings have no allergies. better to be safe than sorry imho.

I think it depends on how allergic the child is: difference between nut allergy that can cause death and a milder form of allergy that might just cause a rash; also depends on how worried the child is. Ds used to throw up every time he'd eaten kiwis, but he never had a reaction just from being near a kiwi, and he didn't mind me eating them, so I still did from time to time.

My niece had a milk intolerance, but wasn't at all worried by seeing other people drinking milk, as she wasn't that fussed about it in the first place. But if she had been tremendously upset, we would have thought of her feelings. Though as milk is a staple food in Sweden and there was no risk to her in coming into contact with milk, she would probably have had to get used to it.

I suppose it's different when the child has a life-threatening allergy.

But at some point, surely, there must come a time when a child needs to learn that not everyone is the same as him or her, and that not everyone lives accordingt o that child's convenience.

DD has a peanut allergy (among others) which meant that DS had to stop having peanut butter sandwiches which I found harder than giving anything up myself. She was diagnosed at around 7 months after swiping one of his sandwiches! and he wasn't yet 3 so cross contamination could easily have occured.

This one gets me - how long before I let DS have something he really wants if it's dangerous for DD? He still asks for peanut butter sandwiches ad it's been seven or so months...

It depends on the strength of the allergy.

I am horribly allergic to peanuts. DH is only able to eat his beloved peanut butter if he will not be seeing me the rest of the day as I have ended up in hospital from him kissing me after eating peanuts. He misses them so much!

But I am also allergic to eggs but that doesn't seem to bother me if someone else has them in the house.

You need to get the strength of the allergy assessed properly.

And if it is somthing they LOVE to eat, like chocolate (and yes, I am allergic to that too) then I think from a young age you should simply explain that it makes them ill and give them another treat instead. Don't hide it from them.

DS 14 is allergic to nuts and seeds from the age of 4 and I have never banned them from the house and always allowed DD to eat peanut butter even though DS can't eat it. My view is that these things are everywhere and he should not take anything for granted.
Thankfully he has grown out of peanut allergy but is still allergic to some treenuts.
It's never caused a problem and we have always given him something else as a treat.
DH has nut allergies as well.