Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Information - Blog

I hope Easter was as safe and fun for everyone as it was for us this year. We had a great time catching up with family and friends. I ended up scaling back our Easter party so I could enjoy watching the kids play together. It was a great day, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. They were definately exhausted at the end.

With the Easter holiday break nearly over, we have to make some hard decisions about schooling next year. We have lots of options: public schools, private schools, home schooling or delaying school for 1 year to allow for greater maturity. Not a lot to think about!!!!! Actually we have been discussing this topic for about 3 years! Armed with school prospectuses, enrollment forms and my own experience as a teacher, I have formulated a list of questions that we will be putting forward to the Principals at each interview. We will in fact be interviewing them, not the other way around - at first anyway.

I am thinking of covering topics and questions such as:

- Does the school have any previous anaphylaxis experience?
- the need for staff training
- the need for his teacher’s level of awareness
- playground/ lunchtime supervision
- Is the junior school separated from older kids?
- bullying with food and bullying in general
- hand washing of his class prior to entering classroom after lunches
- medication use and storage
- supervision before and after school
- Do they have a school nurse?
- their ability to provide a safe, inclusive education

I have lots of questions, but the main one that I have I don’t think they will be able to answer: Will my boy be safe here?

I have read lots of literature and watched lots of television footage about children going to school with peanut allergies. I have read how schools “ban” peanuts. This information really is not applicable or practicable to dairy anaphylaxis sufferers (or soy, wheat, egg or the countless other allergens). More literature about integrating children with food allergies where the foods can’t be “banned” is desperately required.

Our investigation begins next week, and I hope to have some encouraging news to report…. for all our sakes!!

Well, a big thanks go out to Declan’s preschool. We have gone through the first term without consequence. It is such a joy to reach the holidays and know that the term was reaction-free. So much credit goes to the Teacher and Assistant for being understanding, compassionate and determined to take responsibility for our son. We are fortunate to have a teacher who has a strong understanding of “duty of care”. All teachers have a duty of care, but as we have discovered, not all of them uphold the full meaning of the phrase. We really do appreciate the effort the centre makes for Declan, and all of the children.

The Easter Parade celebration was met with some mixed reactions as one parent was not completely understanding of the fact that chocolate easter eggs were a danger for us. When she wanted to hand them out, I very calmly and very directly explained that Declan stops breathing when exposed to dairy. I still don’t think that it was fully comprehended, and the parent still wasn’t satisfied that the other kids should delay eating the eggs until they got in the car. But, with the help of other understanding mums, and the teachers, the eggs were put away to hand out when the kids left. YAY!!! A small, but very significant win for dairy anaphylaxis understanding. I realised that some people just don’t get it, some people will never get it. I expect more issues at future gatherings, however, I will not stress over the prospect of this until it happens.

Last Easter we didn’t feel comfortable staying long at the Parade with so many people milling around eating the “wrong” food. But, by following routines adapted to accommodate us, we were able to stay and enjoy the celebrations. Our kids were able to stay and play after the food, as the kids had washed their hands, as per the normal lunch routines. The toys, play equipment and books also benefit from all the hand washing as they are not covered with food and drinks from dirty hands.

There are three terms to go until the end of preschool. Fingers crossed these next few terms will be equally as successful.

Thank you to Declan’s teachers for thoroughly cleaning up after the Easter Fun Day. Before we left on the day I expressed my concern about the chocolate covered hands of the kids playing on the outside play equipment after the Easter Egg hunt. I asked if the teachers could be extra vigilant in their monitoring the following day as the risk of a contact reaction would be very high.

To my absolute delight, the following morning I was informed of the rigorous cleaning activities of the teachers earlier that morning. After several chux cloths and a lot of disinfectant they felt comfortable enough that Declan would be safe from the chocolate contamination.

As a token of my appreciation, I bought them a beautiful flower each. I also gave a flower to the two mums who tried their best to make the fun day a ’success’ for us. They all said that I don’t need to do that. But, when you face people everyday who don’t seem to care of the situation, I always like to acknowledge the people who do. I will continue to do so. They make life a lot easier. They are treasures.