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admin
02-08-2011, 03:39 PM
Hi everybody!

I simply wanted to bring up food allergies.

How do you deal with them on a daily basis?
Do you feel it sometimes limits the meals you can serve children?
Is it ever okay to ask parents to make their own meals in case of severe or multiple allergies?

Play and Learn
02-08-2011, 04:06 PM
In the past when I worked at daycare centers, we accomidated children with allergies. While working as a nanny, I had 2 out of 3 children who had severe allergies.

As a childcare provider in my own home, I do not have a nut-free home, as I'm not telling my husband he cannot have peanut butter.

Mrs. Laurie
02-08-2011, 05:36 PM
I too do not offer a peanut free home. My heart goes out to families that have to deal with this on a daily basis especially trusting your child's life in the hands of others whether it be a home daycare, daycare center or your child's school.
Home is the one place my children can eat what they want without reading labels and yes peanut butter is one of our favorites even our dog Shadow loves it.
The hard part is if you already have a child in your daycare and then they develop the allergy. That happened to me once.....little Scott (he was so cute!!) but likely he only came in the afternoon so his mom sent his snack and I made sure we had fruit for afternoon snack.

Momof4
02-08-2011, 07:43 PM
I had a little girl in care for over 2 years with a peanut and tree nut allergy. Every where we travelled I had to carry her epi pen but thank goodness I never had to use it. I had to read every label, but I mostly cook from scratch. I know a daycare provider who has to eat a gluten free diet and that's what she has to cook for all of her daycare children for the sake of her own health. She spends a fortune on food in order to do that though.

bright sparks
02-09-2011, 05:52 AM
I'm not entirely sure why someone would need to cook gluten free products for all her children because of their allergy. I wasn't aware that you could have a reaction from touching the food I thought it was just from consuming it. Its not like the peanut allergy. Both my husband and myself have gluten intolerances which are quite substantial but not an allergy as such so I can only imagine this person must have some major problems and that must be hard.

I have had a child with a severe allergy to dairy who required epi-pens...their mother sent alternative milk and yogurts in, and I cook all my meals from scratch so this never presented a problem. I have a child now who is allergic to nuts and even his parents aren't a nut free home. They keep all nuts well out of his way and if they eat them they wash their hands well afterwards. I do the same here and have never had a problem. Also I have children who are allergic to cream cheese and salmon. I make my menu's on a 3 week rotation so I can make everything weeks in advance and freeze it and I just take these things in to account. I have recently had an inquiry from a parent whose child has peanut and wheat allergies. I have said I will charge a slightly higher daily rate to cover the cost of gluten free products and that I will cook this for him. It's no big deal to me as I am wheat and gluten free to so I know a lot of products out their but I will just cook and freeze portions of brown rice and rice pasta so when we have a meal this child will be unaware that they are eating any different from the other children.

Play and Learn
02-09-2011, 08:41 AM
I'm not entirely sure why someone would need to cook gluten free products for all her children because of their allergy. I wasn't aware that you could have a reaction from touching the food I thought it was just from consuming it. Its not like the peanut allergy.

I was going for nanny interviews a couple of years back, and the mother had severe gluten allergies, so I couldn't bring in any outside food, just incase I forgot to clean the counter. Lets just say I didn't take the job!

daycaremom
02-09-2011, 09:32 AM
My 8 year old daughter has a peanut allergy, so our home is 100% peanut/nut free. As a daycare provider I will take kids with peanut allergies since I have experience with that allergy, and l tell all parents not to feed their kids peanut butter before coming. I don't think I would be able to care for kids with other allergies since it is hard enough dealing with the peanut allergy.

Sunflower
02-09-2011, 11:38 AM
I had a little girl who was severely lactose intolerant. Her mother brought her soy and rice milk as well as soy cheese , yogurt etc. I did order from a caterer, so sometimes I had to prepare her a separate meal when there were dairy products in the meal.
However I have to admit that I would not be comfortable caring for a child that has life threatening allergies. We eat a lot of peanut butter, fish etc and I also agree with "play and lean". There is no way I could tell my spouse to give up peanut butter lol

playfelt
02-09-2011, 01:38 PM
For the most part if I have a child with an allergy I just make something different for that child and as much as possible make foods that everyone can eat. I had a child with a rice, carrot and dairy allergy. That was very difficult because rice flour is used in a lot of commercial baking products from cereals to pancake mix to crackers. I was limited to only one kind of chicken nugget that didn't have dairy or rice in the breading. The worst was wanting to use leftovers that I had made for my own family the night before and then having to come up with something equivalent for her. Since she moved on to a preschool/daycare the mom has to supply her meals because the allergy is just too time consuming and hard to deal with given the realities of foods available - now she thanks me for my efforts whereas while I had the child she just assumed that was my job.

disbrina
02-09-2011, 01:48 PM
Personally I don't provide care for children with peanut allergies. My children are very fortunate to not have any allergies to anything. I have had to turn down jobs when it came to peanut allergies. My husband refuses to let go of the peanut butter. lol. I don't think I would have any problem with a mild milk allergy or intolerance. But I too would ask parents to provide soy or the alternatives. the only other way i could take them would be to charge more to purchase these items.

Emilys4Guppies
02-09-2011, 03:57 PM
I also won't take children with allergies. We eat a lot of nuts, dairy, and wheat here. I wouldn't want to assume the risk.

Tot-Time
03-04-2011, 01:50 PM
I'm not entirely sure why someone would need to cook gluten free products for all her children because of their allergy. I wasn't aware that you could have a reaction from touching the food I thought it was just from consuming it.

1) I have an egg allergy (and my oldes has an egg intolerance) and all the food served to my daycare children is egg free. Not because I will have an allergic reaction to touching the eggs but becasue it is 100% torture to have eggs in the house and not be able to eat them. I ask that all my families suppliment their children's diets at home to include egg and egg products.

2) yes some allergies are via touch vs injested. I have a severe allergic reaction to tree nut if it touches my skin, but have no problem eating tree nuts. In a centre I worked at a child could drink milk but couldn't touch milk. It may not be as common but people do have allergic reactions by touching allergins.

Tot-Time
03-04-2011, 01:53 PM
I am choosy with what allegies I will work with. My home is not a nut free home, but I do not serve nut products until the child is 2 yrs old. I will 100% work with an egg allergy because that is 2nd nature now, others I would have to think about.

Another way I view allergies is, although we can make most foods with egg substitutues (such as apple sauce and yogurt), if I added a second allergy to the mix, how limited would our food choices be? I want the children to be able to experience a variety of foods.

I work with environmental allergies with ease.

mamaof4
03-05-2011, 04:27 PM
My kids have food allergies and I do as well. It makes things.. shall we say interesting. How do you feel about doing a taco bar or a make your own pizza thing with appropriate ingredients?

We are a peanut tree nut free house these days mostly because I am getting lazy about prepping

playfelt
03-05-2011, 07:26 PM
I had a child allergic to rice, milk, carrots, cherries, fish, and a few other things that didn't matter as much. The rice was the hardest to deal with since it is hidden in so many foods to make a smoother batter. The difference was that her reaction was stomach and diaper rather than anaphalctic so the worst that happes was she would get sick for me. The problem was because little ones dont' understand including her that some foods would make her sick so she couldn't eat them and got something else instead or she didn't feel like she was missing out it just became easier to not serve some things such as no rice krispie squares for two years except for the weeks she was on vacation. It meant a lot of reading ingredient lists at the store for things like milk in baked goods and breading on chicken nuggets, etc.

BCParent
04-12-2011, 12:04 AM
I do not take children with allergies unless the parents are on the same page as I am. I have had too many issues with parents that are too rigid from their own fears and forget that they are in my home. I believe if you are that fearful, that you should not trust 'outsiders' to care for your child because you'll never be comfortable and perhaps it's time to change your life, not mine, to accomodate your child. My own son is anaphylactic to peanuts (but is thankfully outgrowing it as it's getting less and less) and I have gone toe to toe with other parents over this - I firmly believe that the parent of the child needs to be educated and they need to educate their child and that no one should be sheltered because the world outside of daycare/school does not share this lifestyle and we cannot depend on others to be as aware as what we might be. Besides, I am greatly resentful of the fact that because of these nut bans (and late introductions to peanuts that are recommended) that the peanut allergy is growing by leaps and bounds because we are not exposing children to nuts while their immune systems are developing that by the time it is introduced, the body thinks it is a foreign object and fights it rather than accepts it and voila, an allergy is born. And my son who ate nuts, stopped because he wanted to be sympathetic to the allergic kids and support the ban, created an anaphylactic allergy in himself. But I live with it and so does he and I do not expect anyone else to and I certainly wouldn't want anyone else to expect me to deal with it on their behalf either as I don't want to hold anyone else's life in my hands like that on the off chance that I have an accidental exposure because I wasn't paying enough attention for a split second for whatever reason. I know that my thoughts are never popular opinion but alas, that is why I try to avoid allergic daycare kids these days.

playfelt
04-12-2011, 08:43 AM
I will work with children that have allergic reactions and food restrictions provided the reaction is not anaphalactic. I am all alone in my daycare home as the only adult on site so if I have to devote my full attention to a child that is literally dying right in front of me with their reaction, my attention is not on the other children in my care at all and that puts them in an unsafe condition - who do you tend to - the reacting child or the one climbing on the table because your back was turned - either child could die from their situation should the other child fall onto the ceramic floor below. I usually suggest to parents when they mention this kind of allergy that is is safer for the child to be in a daycare centre where there are many adults present as well as a controlled kitchen. My kitchen is subject to my own family and while they are pretty good about not putting certain things directly on the counter etc it isn't guaranteed that they won't forget. Also other parents may not wash a child's face well enough after peanut butter for breakfast for instance and I can only ask other parents to help out not control them. For this reason I deal more with intolerances than allergies and work my menu as best I can so that everyone eats the same without denying the other children a balanced meal. I too believe we do kids a disservice by not introducing them to all the foods earlier in life.

Rhonda
04-12-2011, 01:43 PM
Peanut allergies aren't the only allergies that are anaphylactic. If I eat too much egg then I go into anaphylactic shock, if my daughter has red food dye she does as well. Funny this morning I was looking up egg allergies and apparently it is the 2nd most common allergy for children, milk being the first. I was shocked that pea/nuts weren't the first.

I think while we have choices regarding allergies each caregiver needs to decide for themselves what they are willing to and what they can work with. For example peanut butter is a staple in my house which means working with a peanut allergy wouldn't be easy and would require not only my business to adapt but my whole family. With many areas such as school and extracurricular activities being pea/nut free, this is their home and the one place they can freely eat nuts.

I also think our experience/comfort level with allergies should be a key factor in our decisions.

I am not up on the technicalities of discrimination, but it isn't meant to be discriminatory against families with allergies, it is what it is in the best interest of my family, as they have to live here. In 10 years, I don't know where I will be in life and will have to face things as they come :)