Morning,

I've personally lived with a food allergy for 20 years or more, I likely had it when I was a kid, but I didn't have a good Mom and she just passed off all my problems as me trying to get out of my chores. My own daughters have food allergies and sensitivities as well. I could be a little more relaxed because things have been fine with my daughters and I, my daughters are teens now. Our allergy can become anaphylactic at any point as well, in fact, I do get swelling of my tongue and lips. I had to stop eating eggs completely because the allergy was getting worse.

The child in question has survived my home daycare for a few months with peanuts being offered to the other children and has had no attacks. The child has never had anaphylactic shock, just a rash/hives, the doctor/allergists say it may or may not ever get to that point. The child's last attack there were no signs of anaphylactic shock. That was the child's 3rd exposure (at least), and it wasn't a small amount, the parents fed the child about a handful of peanuts. Testing showed the child was only allergic via ingestion, not touch or smell.

The parents have known for 2 months the child was allergic to peanuts, the parents knew 2 months ago my home and daycare were not going to be peanut free and they were fine with that, saying they still served peanut products to their oldest child. I've had the family in care for 2 years, so they know that I only serve peanut products about once every 2 to 3 months. So my problem isn't that the child has an allergy, or that I am not willing to take precautions to ensure that she doesn't eat peanuts in my care, but the problem is the parents didn't even ask me if I was willing to make changes, or discuss if there precautions that can be taken etc. All I get is an email the first time I serve peanuts after the diagnosis.

I can't help but believe all the attacks have happened at home, despite that I have served peanuts in my daycare. Is it a possibility that I can continue with the precautions I take and everything work out? I'm not prepared to become peanut free, but replacing children is also very difficult to do right now. So I'm kind of stuck.

The biggest problem still is the parents didn't even talk too me about their concerns and expect me to make changes without trusting me that I am taking precautions.