Wait, so now sunbutter/ sunflower seeds and oils are an allergen?

[Anonymous]

In preschool we were asked not to send anything that looks like peanut butter due to allergies and concern of exposure. But that was a school run by moms, essentially. So would be a little surprised to hear of no sunbutter in ES and beyond.

Was not aware of a new emerging allergy, but at some age it is expected kids need to not share food, be aware and the school have a plan in place. I think a reasonable cutoff is 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the new advice was that allergen free environments are increasing allergies? My kids are crazy for nuts and it's been a big change to have to send chips instead of healthier options like nuts.

Are allergens going down as parents introduce them much earlier? With my oldest we were told no allergens until 1. By the time my youngest was born we were rubbing peanut powder on his cheeks when he was a few weeks old.

Well something is. What in the fresh h*ll is going on. Why all the allergies? I literally recall no one having allergies growing up. Sure they existed- but were rates. School cafeterias definitely served peanut butter sandwiches and those delicious peanut butter chocolate bars on a regular basis. Now schools have to have a special cabinet to house the plethora of EpiPens kids have to keep on hand

I knew kids with allergies growing up but everyone knew what allergy they had (teachers, other kids, other parents, there were few enough kids with allergies that it was not hard to remember "never give Sarah K. shellfish"), and it was addressed by teaching the kid to be self aware and then making sure responsible adults (teachers, school nurse, parents at play dates) knew where the epi pen was. So it's not like allergies are brand new.

But yeah, the proliferation of allergies is out of control. Something has obviously gone wrong. Yell at me if you want, but it seems obvious that:

1) Our approach to allergies is causing more allergies, or at least more allergy diagnoses, and
2) At least some of the kids who have allergies to the "big 9" or whatever would actually be fine being in environment with these allergens and might even benefit from it

Yet if I bring my kid a a PB&J to a playground, I may get literally yelled at by a parent who feels I'm endangering their kids life. I just do not know. I'm not insensitive to that kid's life -- obviously I don't want to harm a child. But I also don't think that child will be harmed if my kid eats peanut butter 20 feet away. I really, really don't.

Its not the eating. Its the lack of management of the PB- are you washing their hands and face afterwards? If not, the PB can get transferred onto play equipment. People didnt really eat that much outside of the house 40-50 years ago. Food is everrrrryyywhere now and the variety of food at each event is a lot.

And no the approach isnt the problem JFC. It's the environment. Black and non-white hispanic kids in urban areas are seeing the largest increases in allergy diagnoses. They also have the largest increases in eczema and asthma. Their diagnosis - as a cohort- tends to lag behind white suburban or white urban kids because of access to healthcare and/or education. So, it's not just uppity anxious white moms with special snowflakes anymore which is the vibe you get from most parents- as if it's done for attention.

Close to 5% of kids in the US have a food allergy. Adults can also have food allergies diagnosed in adulthood, without any issues previously. Our kids are constantly in environments with the top 9 but for kids under the age of 3-5 it is really hard to navigate being outside because of how much food is present in social events or even outdoor spaces.

I PROMISE you that you arent doing more than the parents of kids with allergies are and it does feel like a big inconvenience to be out of your normal, but again, almost all of the discussions on this board about allergy kids seems to make it their fault, the parents fault, or that they should just be excluded from any normal kid event. Your kids have more empathy for their peers than the adults do and it is frustrating because that lack of awareness and action trickles down over time.

I am the biggest proponent for getting rid of X free schools and environments but in return, there needs to be a general awareness that food doesnt belong in shared spaces for children without cleaning up after yourself, including your child and their physical body.

I'm not the PP but I really have to say- if a child will suffer an anaphylactic reaction to touching playground equipment that a child who had eaten peanut butter 10min ago had also touched, then that child is severely ill enough that being out in public in general probably isn't safe. Kids are going to eat peanut butter and banana on an english muffin at home for breakfast, and then get onto the school bus without thoroughly scrubbing their hands sometimes. Airports, malls, sporting events, Target, etc are going to be full of people who may have recently touched peanut product, or even may be currently eating peanut product. Not to mention grocery stores and restaurants. But I'm assuming a child with an allergy so severe that contact with a surface that another hand had touched earlier, when that hand had microscopic PB remnants on it, would cause a life threatening response, would never be able to enter a grocery store or restaurant. So saying that no one should ever be allowed to eat peanut products in public is not reasonable.

Signed, someone whose son had a severe anaphylactic milk allergy which we thankfully eliminated after years and years with an allergist, who never told other parents that they weren't allowed to give their infants milk-based formula in any public settings where other children might be present.

Did you read my post at all? I am against banning foods.

Right, I was commenting more on the part of your post where you said food shouldn't be in public spaces where children might be present, unless you practice excellent hygiene afterwords before touching anything (which is going to involve washing with soap and water since purell isn't going to get the allergen off of the hands). And I'm saying that expecting that level of vigilance from every member of the community is unrealistic and that if touching a door handle that was recently opened by someone who had recently eaten peanut butter crackers and not washed their hands with soap and water afterwords, is going to cause a severe reaction, that's a problem that needs a very complex management plan from an allergist. I'm not going to listen to someone berate me for my child eating peanut butter crackers in their stroller as we walk through the park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nephew was visiting and a neighborhood kid gave him some chocolate with nuts. He has a severe allergy, six years old, and parents didnt have EpiPen with them. He went to hospital and had to be sent to a children’s hospital.

Just a little caused a major reaction, it was scary.

So many issues here. A 6 year old with a life threatening allergy is waaaay old enough to not accept food without checking with a parent. And a parent of a 6 year who has a life threatening allergy to something so common, being out and about without their epipen, is breathtakingly neglectful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the new advice was that allergen free environments are increasing allergies? My kids are crazy for nuts and it's been a big change to have to send chips instead of healthier options like nuts.

Are allergens going down as parents introduce them much earlier? With my oldest we were told no allergens until 1. By the time my youngest was born we were rubbing peanut powder on his cheeks when he was a few weeks old.

Well something is. What in the fresh h*ll is going on. Why all the allergies? I literally recall no one having allergies growing up. Sure they existed- but were rates. School cafeterias definitely served peanut butter sandwiches and those delicious peanut butter chocolate bars on a regular basis. Now schools have to have a special cabinet to house the plethora of EpiPens kids have to keep on hand

I knew kids with allergies growing up but everyone knew what allergy they had (teachers, other kids, other parents, there were few enough kids with allergies that it was not hard to remember "never give Sarah K. shellfish"), and it was addressed by teaching the kid to be self aware and then making sure responsible adults (teachers, school nurse, parents at play dates) knew where the epi pen was. So it's not like allergies are brand new.

But yeah, the proliferation of allergies is out of control. Something has obviously gone wrong. Yell at me if you want, but it seems obvious that:

1) Our approach to allergies is causing more allergies, or at least more allergy diagnoses, and
2) At least some of the kids who have allergies to the "big 9" or whatever would actually be fine being in environment with these allergens and might even benefit from it

Yet if I bring my kid a a PB&J to a playground, I may get literally yelled at by a parent who feels I'm endangering their kids life. I just do not know. I'm not insensitive to that kid's life -- obviously I don't want to harm a child. But I also don't think that child will be harmed if my kid eats peanut butter 20 feet away. I really, really don't.

Its not the eating. Its the lack of management of the PB- are you washing their hands and face afterwards? If not, the PB can get transferred onto play equipment. People didnt really eat that much outside of the house 40-50 years ago. Food is everrrrryyywhere now and the variety of food at each event is a lot.

And no the approach isnt the problem JFC. It's the environment. Black and non-white hispanic kids in urban areas are seeing the largest increases in allergy diagnoses. They also have the largest increases in eczema and asthma. Their diagnosis - as a cohort- tends to lag behind white suburban or white urban kids because of access to healthcare and/or education. So, it's not just uppity anxious white moms with special snowflakes anymore which is the vibe you get from most parents- as if it's done for attention.

Close to 5% of kids in the US have a food allergy. Adults can also have food allergies diagnosed in adulthood, without any issues previously. Our kids are constantly in environments with the top 9 but for kids under the age of 3-5 it is really hard to navigate being outside because of how much food is present in social events or even outdoor spaces.

I PROMISE you that you arent doing more than the parents of kids with allergies are and it does feel like a big inconvenience to be out of your normal, but again, almost all of the discussions on this board about allergy kids seems to make it their fault, the parents fault, or that they should just be excluded from any normal kid event. Your kids have more empathy for their peers than the adults do and it is frustrating because that lack of awareness and action trickles down over time.

I am the biggest proponent for getting rid of X free schools and environments but in return, there needs to be a general awareness that food doesnt belong in shared spaces for children without cleaning up after yourself, including your child and their physical body.

I'm not the PP but I really have to say- if a child will suffer an anaphylactic reaction to touching playground equipment that a child who had eaten peanut butter 10min ago had also touched, then that child is severely ill enough that being out in public in general probably isn't safe. Kids are going to eat peanut butter and banana on an english muffin at home for breakfast, and then get onto the school bus without thoroughly scrubbing their hands sometimes. Airports, malls, sporting events, Target, etc are going to be full of people who may have recently touched peanut product, or even may be currently eating peanut product. Not to mention grocery stores and restaurants. But I'm assuming a child with an allergy so severe that contact with a surface that another hand had touched earlier, when that hand had microscopic PB remnants on it, would cause a life threatening response, would never be able to enter a grocery store or restaurant. So saying that no one should ever be allowed to eat peanut products in public is not reasonable.

Signed, someone whose son had a severe anaphylactic milk allergy which we thankfully eliminated after years and years with an allergist, who never told other parents that they weren't allowed to give their infants milk-based formula in any public settings where other children might be present.

Did you read my post at all? I am against banning foods.

I'm the PP who you originally responded to, and I read your post, and I don't understand it.

You say you are against banning foods but then you argue in favor of keeping these foods out of "shared public spaces" so I actually don't quite understand what you are arguing for. Should people be able to send foods with allergens to school, or consume them in public, or not? Yes we should encourage hand washing and proper hygiene but unless you are going to require people to wash or sanitize their hands before entering public spaces, you will never get 100% compliance.

As the PP said, unless you literally ban peanuts as a substance, you won't be able to control whether kids consuming peanut butter or peanuts in private homes or their cars thoroughly scrub their hands before going to school or the playground. So what is the difference between that and a kid eating a PB&J at the playground (far from your kid with an allergy) and then playing on the equipment?

I don't know what the answer to this situation is, but I don't think it should be try and keep the general population from eating any food that might contain an allergen in a public place.

I am the biggest proponent for getting rid of X free schools and environments but in return, there needs to be a general awareness that food doesnt belong in shared spaces for children without cleaning up after yourself, including your child and their physical body.

So let me get this straight, HANDWASHING is too big of a road bump for kids and their families, to protect kids with allergens and also themselves from colds and viruses?

Parents of kids with allergies should just not go to shared public spaces because instead of asking people not to eat the allergen (which sounds crazy to me as well and also not effective) we also cant ask that people just wash their hands and their kids hands, specifically?

BTW, us crazy allergy parents, do literally everything - at a huge expense to our finances and times and work and personal lives and risk to our children- to do things like OIT requiring biweekly visits for 4 hours per day, Xolair, food challenges, daily dosing, sublingual therapies, yearly blood draws, etc to try to get our kids to grow out of it and train their immune system to not go crazy over their allergens but its a step too far for kids to wash their hands after they eat. Which BTW is also self-protective and generally known to be the biggest advancement in humankind and our survival but OKAY!

Where am I supposed to wash my child's hands with soap and water when we are at the park having a picnic? Or when we are waiting for the bus? I'm telling you- it is not realistic. It just isn't. I am ALL FOR having handwashing stations fully stocked with soap and paper towels at every street corner but that isn't the reality we live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew was visiting and a neighborhood kid gave him some chocolate with nuts. He has a severe allergy, six years old, and parents didnt have EpiPen with them. He went to hospital and had to be sent to a children’s hospital.

Just a little caused a major reaction, it was scary.

So many issues here. A 6 year old with a life threatening allergy is waaaay old enough to not accept food without checking with a parent. And a parent of a 6 year who has a life threatening allergy to something so common, being out and about without their epipen, is breathtakingly neglectful.

Honestly, not having the epi pen handy is the least absurd part of the story here. It doesn't make any sense. It is impossible to imagine this happening because (1) I don't know any people who would offer a total stranger's child, who they just met, anything with tree nuts in it, and (2) I don't any kids in K or older who won't say, the second someone offers them food, "ok I have a nut allergy does this have nuts in it actually can you talk to my mom I'm not supposed to eat food from new people at all until my mom talks to them thanks."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you want people to thoroughly wash their hands after they eat a Snickers bar at a park with a playground?

Ideally, yes. People should wash hands before and after eating. In a lurch, where there is no sink or soap available, commercial wipes are sufficient to remove most proteins. https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/cleaning-methods Hand sanitizer with water doesnt work as well.

My kids use hand sanitizing wipes to clean their hands before they eat a snack outdoors, but I don't expect them to wipe after they eat because they get their hands dirty in other ways. (If they ate in a messy way, that's another story.) I certainly wouldn't expect them to wash their hands if they ate something out of a wrapper.

I won't pretend that I know anything about being an allergy mom, and I'm sorry that this is the hand you were dealt. I do have an autistic child though, and I realize that the world doesn't revolve around him, and I can reasonably expect certain accommodations, but it's on him and me to manage his needs. I think it's similar in your case. It's unreasonable for you to expect people to wash hands after having a snack at an outdoors venue. It's on you to find an alternative if your kid cannot handle a trace amount of an allergen.

Autism doesn’t run the risk of spontaneous death caused by going to lunch.

If you're worried about spontaneous death at the school cafeteria or playground, you absolutely should not be sending your kid to school. This is not about morals or empathy, as you're trying to make it to be. You cannot expect 100% compliance from 100% of the people 100% of the time. That is actually insane. Is it fair to you or your kid? No, but unfortunately life is not fair.

OR you could just not pack peanuts for lunch and then my child could be a part of society. You prefer to treat people like lepers as a “solution”. Seems like you just don’t want to be bothered.

Ok but now you're making it sound like it's just peanuts, because of just your kid and kids like him. But it's not. As other posters have pointed out, milk allergies are similarly prevalent and with similar severity. So now are we banning milk at school? No more milk cartons with school lunch? No more cheese on anyone's sandwiches? Shellfish and eggs might be easier to avoid in schools, but what about wheat? Soy? Or do you just care about peanuts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you want people to thoroughly wash their hands after they eat a Snickers bar at a park with a playground?

Ideally, yes. People should wash hands before and after eating. In a lurch, where there is no sink or soap available, commercial wipes are sufficient to remove most proteins. https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/cleaning-methods Hand sanitizer with water doesnt work as well.

My kids use hand sanitizing wipes to clean their hands before they eat a snack outdoors, but I don't expect them to wipe after they eat because they get their hands dirty in other ways. (If they ate in a messy way, that's another story.) I certainly wouldn't expect them to wash their hands if they ate something out of a wrapper.

I won't pretend that I know anything about being an allergy mom, and I'm sorry that this is the hand you were dealt. I do have an autistic child though, and I realize that the world doesn't revolve around him, and I can reasonably expect certain accommodations, but it's on him and me to manage his needs. I think it's similar in your case. It's unreasonable for you to expect people to wash hands after having a snack at an outdoors venue. It's on you to find an alternative if your kid cannot handle a trace amount of an allergen.

Autism doesn’t run the risk of spontaneous death caused by going to lunch.

If you're worried about spontaneous death at the school cafeteria or playground, you absolutely should not be sending your kid to school. This is not about morals or empathy, as you're trying to make it to be. You cannot expect 100% compliance from 100% of the people 100% of the time. That is actually insane. Is it fair to you or your kid? No, but unfortunately life is not fair.

OR you could just not pack peanuts for lunch and then my child could be a part of society. You prefer to treat people like lepers as a “solution”. Seems like you just don’t want to be bothered.

I'm fine not packing peanuts.

What I struggle with is not packing peanuts, any other tree nuts, anything with soy, anything with gluten, anything dairy, anything with eggs, anything with fish, anything with sunflower seeds or oil. At that point it's not so much that I am "bothered" as my kid is melting down at midday at school because she's hungry and isn't allowed to eat food at school, and I need to feed my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew was visiting and a neighborhood kid gave him some chocolate with nuts. He has a severe allergy, six years old, and parents didnt have EpiPen with them. He went to hospital and had to be sent to a children’s hospital.

Just a little caused a major reaction, it was scary.

So many issues here. A 6 year old with a life threatening allergy is waaaay old enough to not accept food without checking with a parent. And a parent of a 6 year who has a life threatening allergy to something so common, being out and about without their epipen, is breathtakingly neglectful.

Honestly, not having the epi pen handy is the least absurd part of the story here. It doesn't make any sense. It is impossible to imagine this happening because (1) I don't know any people who would offer a total stranger's child, who they just met, anything with tree nuts in it, and (2) I don't any kids in K or older who won't say, the second someone offers them food, "ok I have a nut allergy does this have nuts in it actually can you talk to my mom I'm not supposed to eat food from new people at all until my mom talks to them thanks."

I actually give more of a pass to the kids- a kid without allergies isn't going to think twice about offering some chocolate bar to a kid he just met that he's playing with. The kid WITH the apparently life threatening allergy is obviously old enough to say he has to check with his parent before taking it, but, kids make mistakes. The only person who is unforgiveable here is the parent who just flat out didn't bring the epipen with them. Can you imagine the parent of a diabetic bringing the kid out for the day and just not bringing any insulin or any fast carbs, because they were like meh it will probably be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew was visiting and a neighborhood kid gave him some chocolate with nuts. He has a severe allergy, six years old, and parents didnt have EpiPen with them. He went to hospital and had to be sent to a children’s hospital.

Just a little caused a major reaction, it was scary.

So many issues here. A 6 year old with a life threatening allergy is waaaay old enough to not accept food without checking with a parent. And a parent of a 6 year who has a life threatening allergy to something so common, being out and about without their epipen, is breathtakingly neglectful.

Honestly, not having the epi pen handy is the least absurd part of the story here. It doesn't make any sense. It is impossible to imagine this happening because (1) I don't know any people who would offer a total stranger's child, who they just met, anything with tree nuts in it, and (2) I don't any kids in K or older who won't say, the second someone offers them food, "ok I have a nut allergy does this have nuts in it actually can you talk to my mom I'm not supposed to eat food from new people at all until my mom talks to them thanks."

I actually give more of a pass to the kids- a kid without allergies isn't going to think twice about offering some chocolate bar to a kid he just met that he's playing with. The kid WITH the apparently life threatening allergy is obviously old enough to say he has to check with his parent before taking it, but, kids make mistakes. The only person who is unforgiveable here is the parent who just flat out didn't bring the epipen with them. Can you imagine the parent of a diabetic bringing the kid out for the day and just not bringing any insulin or any fast carbs, because they were like meh it will probably be fine.

The parent also let their kid play with a total stranger and was not supervising well enough to intervene if food was changing hands. Which, if your child has a life-threatening allergy to a very common food item, you would do! I've said "sorry no shared food! she has allergies!" like 7 billion times at playgrounds, which is part of how you train your kid to speak up about their allergies too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew was visiting and a neighborhood kid gave him some chocolate with nuts. He has a severe allergy, six years old, and parents didnt have EpiPen with them. He went to hospital and had to be sent to a children’s hospital.

Just a little caused a major reaction, it was scary.

So many issues here. A 6 year old with a life threatening allergy is waaaay old enough to not accept food without checking with a parent. And a parent of a 6 year who has a life threatening allergy to something so common, being out and about without their epipen, is breathtakingly neglectful.

Honestly, not having the epi pen handy is the least absurd part of the story here. It doesn't make any sense. It is impossible to imagine this happening because (1) I don't know any people who would offer a total stranger's child, who they just met, anything with tree nuts in it, and (2) I don't any kids in K or older who won't say, the second someone offers them food, "ok I have a nut allergy does this have nuts in it actually can you talk to my mom I'm not supposed to eat food from new people at all until my mom talks to them thanks."

I actually give more of a pass to the kids- a kid without allergies isn't going to think twice about offering some chocolate bar to a kid he just met that he's playing with. The kid WITH the apparently life threatening allergy is obviously old enough to say he has to check with his parent before taking it, but, kids make mistakes. The only person who is unforgiveable here is the parent who just flat out didn't bring the epipen with them. Can you imagine the parent of a diabetic bringing the kid out for the day and just not bringing any insulin or any fast carbs, because they were like meh it will probably be fine.

The parent also let their kid play with a total stranger and was not supervising well enough to intervene if food was changing hands. Which, if your child has a life-threatening allergy to a very common food item, you would do! I've said "sorry no shared food! she has allergies!" like 7 billion times at playgrounds, which is part of how you train your kid to speak up about their allergies too.

I noticed that too. How did this kid manage to take food from a stranger and eat it without their parent noticing, if eating certain foods will kill their child? I mean, I guess that's the type of parent who also doesn't bring their child's epipen with them. Here is a PSA to all allergy parents out there: giving the epipen IMMEDIATELY leads to astoundingly better outcomes than driving your kid to the ER, parking, registering, and then telling the triage nurse "my kid ate peanuts about 60 minutes ago and his symptoms keep worsening". Like that will actually be the difference between life and death for some kids. So, if your child has a severe anaphylactic allergy, and you actually do forget the epipen for some ungodly reason, and your child actually does manage to eat food from a stranger without you intervening, what you need to do is call 911 to get him the epinepherine as soon as humanely possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you want people to thoroughly wash their hands after they eat a Snickers bar at a park with a playground?

Ideally, yes. People should wash hands before and after eating. In a lurch, where there is no sink or soap available, commercial wipes are sufficient to remove most proteins. https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/cleaning-methods Hand sanitizer with water doesnt work as well.

My kids use hand sanitizing wipes to clean their hands before they eat a snack outdoors, but I don't expect them to wipe after they eat because they get their hands dirty in other ways. (If they ate in a messy way, that's another story.) I certainly wouldn't expect them to wash their hands if they ate something out of a wrapper.

I won't pretend that I know anything about being an allergy mom, and I'm sorry that this is the hand you were dealt. I do have an autistic child though, and I realize that the world doesn't revolve around him, and I can reasonably expect certain accommodations, but it's on him and me to manage his needs. I think it's similar in your case. It's unreasonable for you to expect people to wash hands after having a snack at an outdoors venue. It's on you to find an alternative if your kid cannot handle a trace amount of an allergen.

Autism doesn’t run the risk of spontaneous death caused by going to lunch.

If you're worried about spontaneous death at the school cafeteria or playground, you absolutely should not be sending your kid to school. This is not about morals or empathy, as you're trying to make it to be. You cannot expect 100% compliance from 100% of the people 100% of the time. That is actually insane. Is it fair to you or your kid? No, but unfortunately life is not fair.

OR you could just not pack peanuts for lunch and then my child could be a part of society. You prefer to treat people like lepers as a “solution”. Seems like you just don’t want to be bothered.

Ok but now you're making it sound like it's just peanuts, because of just your kid and kids like him. But it's not. As other posters have pointed out, milk allergies are similarly prevalent and with similar severity. So now are we banning milk at school? No more milk cartons with school lunch? No more cheese on anyone's sandwiches? Shellfish and eggs might be easier to avoid in schools, but what about wheat? Soy? Or do you just care about peanuts?

90% of milk allergies are outgrown by age 3. Not that common in school.

[Anonymous]

So much ignorance on display here. All of you people giving judgmental “advice” without personally having a child with allergies should probably listen more than you preach.

1) food allergies are unpredictable and a kid that is believed to have a “mild” reaction could have a severe reaction the very next time even with similar exposure so not everyone is prepared for a severe reaction even if their child has allergies

2) the epi pen can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars and they expire every year. You need at least 4 every year. Not everyone has the luxury of affording such an expense and they sometimes stretch beyond the expiration date etc to get by

3) shit happens and people can forget an epi pen or drop it or a million other situations that are not neglectful so spare us your judgement since you have no idea

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much ignorance on display here. All of you people giving judgmental “advice” without personally having a child with allergies should probably listen more than you preach.

1) food allergies are unpredictable and a kid that is believed to have a “mild” reaction could have a severe reaction the very next time even with similar exposure so not everyone is prepared for a severe reaction even if their child has allergies

2) the epi pen can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars and they expire every year. You need at least 4 every year. Not everyone has the luxury of affording such an expense and they sometimes stretch beyond the expiration date etc to get by

3) shit happens and people can forget an epi pen or drop it or a million other situations that are not neglectful so spare us your judgement since you have no idea

All of that is a reason to supervise a kid with allergies and remind him regularly to never take food from friends or strangers. That's why I think it's weird the parents let this child play with neighbor kids while on vacation without supervision. It would have been better to have an epi pen on them, but stuff happens, however in that case the only way to protect him is to pay attention to what he's eating and make sure he doesn't eat nuts.

I'll also note, bringing this back to the actual conversation, that this was not a case of child accidentally coming into physical contact with trace amounts of an allergen due to another child failing to wash their hands after eating. It's a situation where a kid was directly given, and consumed, a food with whole versions of the allergen in it. And this happened in a neighborhood playing with a neighbor kid.

So one solution to this problem its to pass law that makes it illegal to have peanuts or other tree nuts at all.

Another solution would be for parents of kids with severe allergies to supervise their kid and make sure he doesn't eat nuts.

[Anonymous]

Our very small school implemented frequent, regular handwashing for younger grades. There is a child in one of the classes with many severe allergies. They wash hands before and after snack and lunch. No foods are banned at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you want people to thoroughly wash their hands after they eat a Snickers bar at a park with a playground?

Ideally, yes. People should wash hands before and after eating. In a lurch, where there is no sink or soap available, commercial wipes are sufficient to remove most proteins. https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/cleaning-methods Hand sanitizer with water doesnt work as well.

My kids use hand sanitizing wipes to clean their hands before they eat a snack outdoors, but I don't expect them to wipe after they eat because they get their hands dirty in other ways. (If they ate in a messy way, that's another story.) I certainly wouldn't expect them to wash their hands if they ate something out of a wrapper.

I won't pretend that I know anything about being an allergy mom, and I'm sorry that this is the hand you were dealt. I do have an autistic child though, and I realize that the world doesn't revolve around him, and I can reasonably expect certain accommodations, but it's on him and me to manage his needs. I think it's similar in your case. It's unreasonable for you to expect people to wash hands after having a snack at an outdoors venue. It's on you to find an alternative if your kid cannot handle a trace amount of an allergen.

Autism doesn’t run the risk of spontaneous death caused by going to lunch.

If you're worried about spontaneous death at the school cafeteria or playground, you absolutely should not be sending your kid to school. This is not about morals or empathy, as you're trying to make it to be. You cannot expect 100% compliance from 100% of the people 100% of the time. That is actually insane. Is it fair to you or your kid? No, but unfortunately life is not fair.

OR you could just not pack peanuts for lunch and then my child could be a part of society. You prefer to treat people like lepers as a “solution”. Seems like you just don’t want to be bothered.

As others have commented, it isn’t JUST peanuts. It’s a lot of things. Kids can have severe allergies to many common things. Where does the banning end? If you bring your kid in public: to playgrounds, restaurants, theatres, museums, public bathrooms, public transit, other countries, etc. nothing is banned and I assure you they are touching surfaces where unwashed hands have touched and food residue may be present. Schools can mitigate exposure by not allowing classroom snacks (seriously, it’s unnecessary and makes a mess anyhow), and keeping kids with allergies separated at lunch.