Food allergies and school lunch

[daisymae]

My dd is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and will start kindergarten this fall. I'm curious as to whether the school is likely to provide her with a safe lunch? Of course I will ask them about it, but I was wondering what other people's experiences had been with school lunches and allergies.

[StaceyTX]

Kaden takes his lunch most of the time, but our school lunches are peanut/treenut free. Our cafeteria was really good at sharing things with me regarding their menu.

Kaden has had both the pizza and chicken nuggets.

[jan21]

Our school does serve pb once a week, other than that they are nut free. The cafeteria staff have pictures of all the kids with allergies and what they are allergic to.

If the parents request, their children can sit at a nut free table. My dd is not allergic to peanuts - only to some (but not all) tree nuts so we have never requested she sit at the "allergy" table. Actually she doesn't WANT to sit there - and since she is careful and her allergies are ingestion only that's fine with me. She is actually starting to ask if we CAN NOT tell her new school (middle school) about her allergies because they make such a big deal of it when she is perfectly able to manage it herself. But then she won't be able to have her Epipen (which she is carrying herself next year - the nurse didn't want to let her do this at 1st but apparently it is state law for middle/high school to let a child carry their own emergency meds if they wish to).

Our school also had some nut free classrooms over the past few years (not in my dd's grade) - there must have been a child (or children) with severe allergies whose parents requested it. So the kids couldn't bring anything with nuts for snack either. And the school has always had a no food for birthdays rule.

[StaceyTX]

Janice brought up some other things.

Kaden's teacher made his class nut free - for all classroom things.

I was okay with Kaden sitting at the table with someone eating peanut butter because his brother eats it and he's always been fine. And he knows not to eat things that aren't in his lunch/snack bag.

[spring]

I think you'll find that there is a really wide spectrum of how schools handle food allergies - so the thing that I think I'd do is to try to visit the school and talk to the school nurse before school starts if you can. Once school starts, you might also want to visit during lunch and see how the cafeteria works.

Our dd is allergic to many foods (including peanuts). At our school, we found it much easier to deal with the peanuts allergy simply because the school (at the time our dd entered kindergarten) had had quite a few kids come through with peanut allergies and there was a lot of info available on peanut/tree nut allergies, but other food allergies weren't as common. So our school automatically made classrooms peanut-free and had a peanut-free allergy table in the cafeteria. I only mention the other foods because at that time, we were going into a school that was totally unfamiliar with many of the allergies we were dealing with and which wasn't receptive to making accommodations for them. It helped us most to first really educate ourselves, then not over-advocate for things that we could get by without, but stick firm and have loud voices when it came to the things our dd *really* needed. I also mentioned it because - kindergarten was really scary going in knowing we wouldn't have the accommodations provided that we felt our dd needed, and it was a tough first few years while she was very young and extremely allergic - but - the good news is - we made it through!

Re the cafeteria, our dd ate at the allergy table. I didn't particularly like the idea of it from a social standpoint (our dd is extremely extroverted and her life revolves around her friends)... at our school, the allergy table is peanut-free, the same table is always used, it's wiped down specifically before lunch, the nurse sits at the table, and only kids with allergies are allowed to sit at it (they can't invite friends). Peanuts and tree nuts aren't allowed at the table, but other foods which the kids are allergic to are allowed - but the nurse did a great job of making sure the kids maintained safe space between lunches, didn't share foods, and she also did a bit of educating and helping them feel ok about their allergies so for our dd, from around kindergarten up through 3rd grade, it was a good experience. When she was still contact allergic I wouldn't have ever felt she was safe at the regular tables because kids were all over each other. With one exception, each of the kids at the allergy table for all of the years dd has been in school have always brought their own lunches from home.

There is a federal law that says something to the effect of requiring schools to provide a safe lunch to children with medical issues that is nutritionally equivalent to what is being served to everyone else. The way it works in our school reads (on paper) like it would work ok, but in practice it isnt implemented in a way that works very well. What we have to do at our school is to go in (as a parent) and read the list of ingredients of each of the foods that are served. Then you have to watch the menu and decide if there's anything on the list your child can't eat, and tell them not to eat it. There is a flag on their lunch record and the staff is supposed to be aware of which foods have allergens and not serve them to your child, but that doesn't work well for a number of reasons - the staff isn't always terribly observant of what's being chosen when there are bunches of kids going through the line and they're trying to get everyone through in a very short 20-minute lunch period, peanuts and dairy were easy for the staff to recognize in some foods, but when they appeared as hidden ingredients (in baked goods for instance) or when you were trying to avoid foods like corn and wheat, the staff just didn't even attempt to bother to know or pull foods - that responsibility fell back on the parent and the child who was choosing. Last thing - all our district does or attempts to do is to prevent food allergy-containing foods from the child's lunch - they do not substitute nutritionally equivalent foods. So for instance, if your child is allergic to dairy, they were not provided with an allergen-free milk option.

THe other thing that comes in as a factor in school is each child's personality. I have a second dd who also had food allergies but not as many, not as serious reactions, and she didn't have contact reactions. We chose to have her not sit at the allergy table on purpose because we felt she was safe (no contact/airborne issues) and also because we wanted our dds to socialize with friends, not just with each other. We did have issues at the regular tables - because our younger dd was very jealous of other kids' food and she and her friends shared food. DD knew she wasn't supposed to but she did it anyway, and more than once!

Good luck to your dd - I hope she loves her kindergarten class!

Best wishes,

spring

[Cel2]

DS always takes his lunch due to the number of allergies. The lunches are nut free and they serve sunbutter. The menus and ingredients are available online. He eats st the allergy table but wants to eat with his friends. Not sure that will work but will talk to the nurse at the allergy meeting in a few weeks as well as observe in the cafeteria.

[Dreamcatcher]

Here there are no school cafeterias so the kids take their own lunches. Ds has always been in a nut free classroom. He is allergic to peanuts but has to ingest them so I have become a bit more relaxed. Ds will always ask if something has any kids of nuts in it, he always has even before we found out that he was allergic to peanuts. We have never had any problems with the teachers or administration.

[daisymae]

Well we had our open house yesterday and the news isn't good. The school basically doesn't have a nut policy at all. They are not nut free, do not have any nut free classrooms or nut free tables at lunchtime. They do not forbid parents from bringing nut items and allow them to bring anything they want for every child's birthday to be served to the children. The only concession I received was the teacher asked the parents at the open house that if they send peanut butter to let her know so she can sit that child away from mine. But that is putting it on someone else's parent to keep my child safe by notifying the teacher if they send peanut butter!!! I am so livid right now and have been crying about this. I feel like we are putting our child at risk by sending her! She is only five and to put the responsibility of handling her own allergy on her is just too much to ask!! We have told her "no food sharing, no taking food from other kids EVER" but she is #1 HUMAN and #2 ONLY 5 YRS OLD!! I don't make the right food choices for myself sometimes, how can I expect her to - in what could be a life threatening situation. Oh the other bad thing is the school shares a nurse with the whole district so the teachers are the ones responsible for the Epi-Pens. I am wanting to send her to private school now. The only thing is she is a twin so I would have to come up with $13,000 to send them both to private kindy. And school starts tomorrow so I've got to hurry up and decide! What would you do??

[Blondie8]

I don't know where you live but most school districts/school boards, Department of Education have rules and laws (legalese) that govern these things. The issue for most parents is working with the school and teacher regarding enforcement of the rules, not whether they exist. Your DD is likely not the first child they've had with a nut allergy so what have they done before? Are there any parent allergy groups where you live? I'd check with them. I'd also speak with your Doctor as they will likely be able to help with clearly expressing what accomodations your child needs. For example, though my son has an anaphylactic allergy to tree nuts he is luckily NOT airborne allergic or touch allergic which greatly reduces his chances of reaction as he has to consume it. A letter from your Doctor will help matters as well as clarifying with the school that the current plan for your DD is not acceptable and chances are, does not meet the legal standards either. (Though again, you need to know what the rules are in your community) We don't have f/t nurses in our schools either and it's the teacher's that have to administer ánd I'm fine with this as they are closer to the children anyway and more accessible should they need to give it.

[Cel2]

Section 504 plan may be what you need to do, it's federal and will require the school to make accomodations. There are some people in my allergy grp who are dealing with this in other school districts (not ours). There was an email about it recently. After the kids go to bed I will try to find it.