- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Working Moms
fitmom82
member
peanut butter at daycare
fitmom82
member
in Working Moms
I have some major concerns with our daycare serving peanut butter and jelly for lunch every other week. I've expressed my concern, they coninue to serve it. I'd rather not look for another daycare. Has anyone hear if there are any rules with licening about peanut butter?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: peanut butter at daycare
In Texas, it is daycare specific. There aren't any licensing restrictions.
Daycare regulations are set by the state but many states don't regulate being nut free.
If so, how do they deal with serving it and the child that has an allergy?
If no one has an allergy, it shouldn't be a concern.
My son is allergic to peanuts. His daycare up to four was nut free. I was happy that this was the case because I can't imagine ensuring toddlers didn't stick their peanut butter covered hands in each other.
His school now is not nut free but he is very good about being cautious of his allergy so it is not a big concern.
Bottom line, if it is a concern of yours and they are not putting you to ease, you need to switch.
Extremely allergic children are more common than you think.
We aren't a family of food allergies. I still support nut free schools. There are other good sources of kid friendly protein.
That's just off the top of my head. My kid hates meat. I get it. But there are other sources.
Actually, strawberry, nut, and milk allergies are exactly the same. They can be triggered either by ingestion or contact, depending on the kid and the severity. But I haven't insisted no other kid in the school have strawberries because my kid has an allergy. And again, I said if there actually was a kid with a severe allergy, I could understand it. But my kid doesn't need to live in a peanut-free bubble because some fictitious kid who does not exist in our school might have an allergy. I have a close friend who stops breathing if he comes into contact with milk. Like, any contact, not just ingestion. So should milk products be banned from daycare too? Again, no kid in my kid's preschool has a contact milk allergy, but gee whiz, shouldn't we be safe just in case?
The other examples are just...silly.
Yes, where did The OP go?
And other children get vegetarian because their religion doesn't eat meat.
So perhaps I'm just used to accommodating schools.
Some districts are but free, others aren't. Ours is. It just seems easier to me to avoid nuts as a school.
DS's preschool was nut free, but none of the kids were allergic. His kindergarten classroom is nut free, but the cafeteria is not.
It seems like at least your classroom should be peanut free. I would discuss an allergy action plan with your doctor, the director, and your child's teachers.
Anaphylaxis is SCARY. And although the advent of epinephrine auto injectors has improved mortality rates greatly, every year children and adults die from anaphylaxis.
My two year old has multiple food allergies. Her daycare went peanut free when she was diagnosed. I'm very grateful for this, because my daughter can have a reaction based on contact. Do you know how hard it is to completely clean peanut butter residue off a table, chairs, and anything else 10 squirmy little two years olds have touched (their hair, their shirts, the toys etc. etc. etc.) My daughter's other allergies means she has to eat snacks/lunch in a highchair away from everyone else, but I'm less concerned about her other allergies because 1) she's only anaphylactic to peanuts (so far) and 2) it's a lot easier to clean spilled milk than peanut butter and 3) the other parents haven't been sending chickpeas and sesame seeds in their toddler's lunch boxes.
To the OP, if your center is not taking this seriously, I would have your child's allergist write up an Allergy Action Plan and then schedule time with the Director to go over it. Pound it into their heads how important it is to keep your child away from peanuts. If they don't want to go nut-free, then they can do A,B,C, D and E instead. (Usually, it's just easier for everyone to go nutfree)
In DS1's elementary school we got a note that a child in his class is allergic to tree nuts so we can not send anything with tree nuts as a snack. For lunch the children with allergies eat at a separate table in the cafeteria I think (that's why we can still send PBJ as lunch - but the kids need to know exactly what is being sent as lunch vs. as snack).
Actually it did. I had phenomenally serious grass allergies when I inhaled grass clippings. And I had less severe contact allergies (hives), meaning I couldn't play in wet or just mowed grass. I could play in other grass because allergy shots desensitized me enough that I could deal with the effects with Benadryl. My experience being a highly allergic kid is part of the reason this topic irks me. Peanuts are not the most dangerous allergy out there. They aren't even the most dangerous food allergy in terms of deaths. In a year, 150 people in America die of all food allergies, and the vast majority of them are adults. From the hysteria, you would think there was a child dropping dead every week from another child having peanut butter. To put it in perspective, 130 people a year die from run-ins with deer. In fact, the peanut-free when there isn't an allergic kid movement is believed to be increasing the incidence of peanut allergies/sensitivities and pediatricians are now encouraging earlier exposure to common food allergens, including peanuts. Which was my original point. Accommodate like mad when there's something to accommodate. But don't try to create a bubble when you don't have to. Like, if your kid is allergic to fish and nuts, don't make the facility latex-free as an added measure. It's not going to do anybody any good and really doesn't make sense.
I can't go outside in the fall because of fucking leaves. It isn't the same thing as severe peanut allergies where cross contamination can kill insanely quickly.
I just don't know how that isn't sinking in.
Sorry to keep beating a dead horse - but were you anaphylatic to grass? If not, then I don't think your analogy works. As to your whole "dear kill more people" analogy, the difference here is that you can take active steps to prevent deaths from being in contact with peanut butter, whereas I'd think deer run-ins are mostly accidental.
I agree with you that you shouldn't go out of your way to wrap your child up in a bubble - at some point, one's child has to learn to live with his/her allergies. When DS is old enough to go to school, our choice of school would not be dependant on whether the school is nut-free, because by then he should be able to take active measures himself to prevent coming in contact with his known allergent. But while he is still young, you bet I'd ask the DC to go nut-free, and would remove my child if it isn't.
I can't go outside in the fall because of fucking leaves. It isn't the same thing as severe peanut allergies where cross contamination can kill insanely quickly.
I just don't know how that isn't sinking in.
No the proper term in the case of grass is asthma attack, asthma attacks can kill. I have been to the hospital several times with my asthmatic child due to Timothy grass ---and once overnight and very serious due to fall hay play at school ---than my previously blood tested, skin tested peanut confirmed child. Ds was tested moderate and no longer shows any sign of any nut allergy. She has a point. Serious is serious but rare, regardless of the allergy--she is not discrediting that. Grass =sniffles more times than not, just like it is common for peanut allergies to mean (as was the case with my DS) he can be around it but not eat it. She is just saying to take it serious when necessary otherwise keep a level head. Btw-- I understand the world is a very scary place to navigate with a child that has severe allergies to something that is so common as a PB sandwich. I am sorry you are dealing with that.
I'm quite aware of how asthma and allergies work and how serious asthma is. Is there where I toss out the # of hospitalizations, nebulizer treatments and shit to prove my asthma street cred too?
At any rate- this post was about accommodating a single classroom that has a child with a known and easily avoidable allergy. We seems to have lost track of that with the numerous strawman arguments.
I am dumbfounded at the resistance to accommodating an allergic child (general population and not a passive callout, btw).
This is still a ridiculous straw man argument that doesn't relate to peanut allergies at daycare.
That's my point.
Environmental allergies that are not easily avoidable is not the same, in terms of accommodating, as an easily avoidable known food allergy.