Anonymous wrote:Just a question (honest ignorance here): how would you go about "forcing" a school classroom to be peanut free?

I assume the school has a process...but how would you get to dictate the result?

My kids go to peanut free schools and have their entire lives. Preschool and elementary. I thought that was the standard.

It is impossible to be too insistent an advocate for your allergic child’s safety.

The idea that nut free environments are somehow less safe than others because people let their guard down is asinine. Would anyone argue the same about making schools weapon free zones? One of the most callous individuals I’ve ever run across was an ignoramus school administrator fixated on “severity” (which is irrelevant as PP’s discussed) and far more interested in covering their ass than in child welfare.

Epi-pens are too often viewed by the uninformed as magic wands, which they are not. The presence of epi-pens (even “unassigned” ones) does not offset the risk associated by not taking preventative measures to avoid nut exposure in the first place.

You (and your child’s school and ideally the teacher as well) each need a minimum of two epi-pens. One might fail mechanically or pharmacologically. Or the delay in emergency response might be long enough that the first wears off.

One nightmare scenario is a teacher or even a school nurse refusing to use the epi-pen out of fear or because it is “expired.” The literature confirms that “expired” injectors remain highly effective long after the label date and that in any event their contents do not turn into deadly poison with the change of a calendar page.

Another nightmare scenario is the child suffering a reaction and having to wait for someone to fetch their medicine and/or an “authorized” person from somewhere else. We saw scenarios where school personnel broke up our carefully packaged medicine set and removed the components to multiple locations, apart from the detailed physician instructions that accompanied them. One of the best days in an allergic kid’s life is when they are old enough to carry and use their own epinephrine. That puts them in charge and takes their fate out of the hands of third parties.

I have never understood the “nut free” table. Why don’t the peanut butter kids all sit together if the school insists on allowing it?

Good luck, OP. Kids are adaptable. They can learn to self-advocate, ask about ingredients, turn down third party foods, etc., look forward to treats at home instead of school and the like. You need to support them and set the example.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In terms of treats, the teacher will know that your child has a peanut allergy and therefore will not allow children to bring snacks for the class that contain peanuts (ie, no pb cookies for everyone).

OP here - I didn't even think about the treat aspect. Thanks!

how would you go about "forcing" a school classroom to be peanut free?

I didn't mean I would force them to be nut free, because I don't want them to. I just don't know if it is a school policy that if there is a child with a nut allergy, that the school forces the classroom to be nut free.

They shouldnt because the research shows that nut free schools are more likely to have accidental exposures BECAUSE everyone from top-down including the kid thinks its a "safe" environment.

Handwashing, tables, and no sharing of food is the best policy. You cannot educate other parents and kids to care about your kids' particular allergies. As far as treats go, you would be better off providing your own treats. Most teachers will let the allergy kid keep safe foods in their cubbies. Unless the school requires school safe foods most treats wont be safe because AGAIN you are relying on someone else to be educated, diligent, and responsible. Most schools require store bought treats that are labeled.

Wow OP, I guess you're not a regular allergy mom, you're a "cool" allergy mom. I hope your child doesn't die because you felt the need to be super chill about her allergy? I have allergies and asthma and I am so, so grateful I had a mom who advocated for me and took it seriously and didn't give a crap about how she appeared to other people.

People are incredibly judgmental. If it was my child and they were able to eat peanut butter I would ask for a food challenge. It is completely insane for people to share articles of people dying from their allergies. People die from many things all the time. You can't live in fear.

OP, are you with an allergist? Who? I would not be so blasé about this.

I'm "that parent". My DD has a peanut allergy. She has touched peanut butter once at age 1 and swelled up like a balloon from her hand to her toes with both eyes swelling shut. She has never ingested peanuts, but based on that reaction, her skin test and blood work, I worry about the reaction if she accidentally ingested or touched peanuts. We see a pediatric allergist in Bethesda and have never received a classification.

I am the reason your kid can't bring PB and J to school and I'm okay with that. This is life or death and I've had to get over feeling reluctant to push schools on this because I feel bad for being "that parent" and honestly, let's have some perspective. If you told me that something I was packing for my kids lunch was endangering the life of another kid at school I would not send it and and I wouldn't bitch about it.

We are only in preschool (3), but DD has been in daycare since 12 weeks old and everywhere we have had her already had a no peanut policy. I suspect it will be the norm for many schools from now on because this is serious and kids are dying.

What is your dd's RAST score? My dd's went from above 2 to well below 2. So her level went from Class 2 to Class 1. Dr. Wood at John Hopkins authorized her to have a peanut challenge which we did last year when she was 6. She was able to eat about 9 reeses pieces before her reaction started. First she sneezed, then coughed, that was followed by rash on her neck, then progressively rash all over her back, large amounts of mucous, stomach pain and not feeling well. She was treated with prednisone and benadryl, and eventually her reaction stopped after her body had digested all of the peanut. The nurse emphasized that her reaction next time could be different and that she could have anaphlyaxis next time. Because of Natalie Giorgi's death in CA, our action plan is to use epipen on any known exposure to peanuts.

So my dd's peanut allergy is only class 1, and I still consider that she could die if she ate peanuts. Not to alarm you, just that I am a few years ahead of you on this path. Most reputable allergist do not go by the class any longer because they have not shown to be predictive or valuable.

CLASS 0 (less than 0.35 KU/L)
CLASS 1 (0.35-0.7 KU/L)
CLASS 2 (0.71-3.5 KU/L)
CLASS 3 (3.51-17.5 KU/L)
CLASS 4 (17.51-50 KU/L)
CLASS 5 (50.01-100 KU/L)
CLASS 6 (greater than 100 KU

Mom of child with peanut and tree nuts allergies here. I have never heard of classes of allergies, and we see a reputable allergist in the DC area and we see Dr. Wood at Johns Hopkins each year. My only point being that I don't think the "class" of allergy matters much - if your allergist said that you need an epi-pen for your child's peanut allergy, then you need to treat it seriously (and calmly). To answer your specific question, here is what we do at school (MCPS elementary school). An epi-pen pack and benadryl are kept in the nurse's office along with the appropriate MCPS forms and an allergy action plan which you can print off the FARE website, and your allergist will fill it out with you. At the beginning of the year I send an email to my child's teacher alerting her of the allergy, and request a few minutes of her time to discuss. (If you can do this before school starts, that is better because then the teacher will usually include in her note to the class about snacks a request that they be nut free, but often at our school we don't find out our child's teacher until the day before school starts.) I ask the teacher and class room parents (a duty of which I always sign up for) to let me know when food will be served so that I can check it ahead of time to make sure it is safe for my child to eat, and if it is not then I'll send her with her own treat. This gets tricky b/c often people don't remember to let you know ahead of time about treats at school, and at our MCPS no teacher has ever agreed to keep a bag of nut free cookies in the classroom to provide to my child in the event there is a treat with nuts served (I get it - they don't want to attract mice or bugs by keeping cookies in the room). Sometimes that means she has gone without a treat when the other kids are getting one, but better safe than sorry, and she knows I'll give her a treat at home to make up for the missed treat (which I think cuts down on the temptation to eat it at school). The main times treats are served at our school are the Halloween and Valentine's Day parties, field day at the end of the year, and sometimes candy will be given out to kids as a reward for good behavior in the cafeteria (don't even get me started on that, although my beef is for health reasons, not allergy ones). There are always random other occasions as well which of course you don't find out about until the night before so it helps to keep a bag of nut free cupcakes/cookies in your freezer. But here's the most important thing we do with our child - and we refresh it every year before school starts and periodically throughout the year - we drum into her head that she is not to share food with anyone, nor is she to accept food from anyone unless we have told her it is safe to eat. We do not require her to sit at the nut free table at school - we did not want her to sit alone at the table back in K when she didn't know anyone, and we trust that she knows not to share food no matter what. My last tip is never to assume anything at MCPS - often the nurse will tell me the great procedures in place, and then I'll later discover the cafeteria workers have no clue what the nurse was talking about. There is very little communication within the schools on the allergy front, so each area where you see potential food matters, I suggest investigating it yourself or else talk to your principal to get confirmation that the correct info has been communication to the teacher, cafeteria, etc. GL.

In our school, kids aren't allowed treats that "may contain nuts." We have a few this year with allergies, and one with a severe allergy. Keeping the school as nut free as possible is the way things have gone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again -- thanks for the info. I didn't realize that a Class 3 was that serious. They said it's "only" a class 3 and at a class 2 they don't even consider that a food allergy, so it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain.

OP again. I don't mean they literally said it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain. That was just the impression they gave me. They did say "only a class 3" and told me that she also has a class 2 egg allergy that I shouldn't be concerned about because the numbers weren't high enough.

Who are you seeing - a pediatric allergist? Or your pediatrician?

Please try hard to get over your concern about being "that" parent. You are playing into the very thing that could harm your kid. You will learn this over time - you are the only person who will be able to adequately prepare and protect your kid. People who think of parents of kids with food allergies as "that parent" do not understand the severity of food allergies and are - from here on out - creating a danger for your kid. Don't be one of them.

Maybe if you didn't act like every parent with non-allergic kids is trying to sabotage your kid (and you probably treat them as such) they would be more willing to help. It's all about your attitude and how you approach people. Advocate for and protect your child, certainly, but don't look for reasons to be offended.

I see a lot of really defensive attitudes toward people who don't "get" allergies on this board. The prevalence of peanut allergies is a relatively new phenomenon and most of us didn't deal with them in our childhood, so a little understanding on both sides would go a long way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again -- thanks for the info. I didn't realize that a Class 3 was that serious. They said it's "only" a class 3 and at a class 2 they don't even consider that a food allergy, so it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain.

OP again. I don't mean they literally said it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain. That was just the impression they gave me. They did say "only a class 3" and told me that she also has a class 2 egg allergy that I shouldn't be concerned about because the numbers weren't high enough.

Who are you seeing - a pediatric allergist? Or your pediatrician?

Please try hard to get over your concern about being "that" parent. You are playing into the very thing that could harm your kid. You will learn this over time - you are the only person who will be able to adequately prepare and protect your kid. People who think of parents of kids with food allergies as "that parent" do not understand the severity of food allergies and are - from here on out - creating a danger for your kid. Don't be one of them.

I strongly agree with this PP. Being "that parent" when it comes to hovering over your snowflake at the playground or calling a teaching complaining about a bad grade is one thing. There is no "that parent" when eating a peanut could kill your child. Please go to the website linked about to learn more and please see a pediatric allergist if you haven't already.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again -- thanks for the info. I didn't realize that a Class 3 was that serious. They said it's "only" a class 3 and at a class 2 they don't even consider that a food allergy, so it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain.

OP again. I don't mean they literally said it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain. That was just the impression they gave me. They did say "only a class 3" and told me that she also has a class 2 egg allergy that I shouldn't be concerned about because the numbers weren't high enough.

Who are you seeing - a pediatric allergist? Or your pediatrician?

Please try hard to get over your concern about being "that" parent. You are playing into the very thing that could harm your kid. You will learn this over time - you are the only person who will be able to adequately prepare and protect your kid. People who think of parents of kids with food allergies as "that parent" do not understand the severity of food allergies and are - from here on out - creating a danger for your kid. Don't be one of them.

Anonymous wrote:OP again -- thanks for the info. I didn't realize that a Class 3 was that serious. They said it's "only" a class 3 and at a class 2 they don't even consider that a food allergy, so it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain.

OP again. I don't mean they literally said it was at the bottom of the food allergy chain. That was just the impression they gave me. They did say "only a class 3" and told me that she also has a class 2 egg allergy that I shouldn't be concerned about because the numbers weren't high enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School policies will vary. VA passed a new law last year requiring all public schools to stock "undesignated" epipens and empowering nurses/teachers to use them even on kids that don't have a medical authorization. But many schools still allow nuts in the cafeteria (although treats brought in from the outside are often banned).

We're pretty relaxed with our kid too (he's in K) because he doesn't have reactions without direct ingestion, but he knows that he can't eat anyone else's food and we provided the school with an epipen. The school policy is to jab them if there's any sign of a reaction and to call 911. The nurses/staff are not supposed to make any sort of judgement call (no wait and see, no benadryl-only).

What would you do if your kid had reactions (mild hives) from touching nuts? Would you still be as relaxed? (Hope that didn't come across as judgmental...just genuinely curious). Our allergy kid is not in public school yet, but at our older child's school, they don't disallow nuts and have said parents can bring in birthday treats for the class. We're in va too.

Then he would sit at a segregated table in the cafeteria. And they already disallow birthday treats so that's not an issue. But the best thing you can do is teach your kid how to be safe and how to recognize the symptoms (and as he gets older, how to jab himself with epipen.)