Kindy food restrictions - would you be annoyed?

My kindy has a "nude food" (no rubbish) policy, which I think is great and we don't eat much processed food so that is fine with us. It also has a no sweets rule - nothing other than fruit, not even home baked muffins etc. Again, that suits our style of eating well.

Then there are the allergy restrictions: no peanuts (fairly used to that), no tree nuts (again, common), no eggs (that made it hard to do savoury muffins and meant mini quiche were off the menu). But this year, they have added no dairy. All the allergy restrictions are because there are children with severe allergies attending the kindy.

What do you think of having a no peanuts, no tree nuts, no eggs and no dairy policy?

I'd like to see what a vegetarian or vegan family packed for their kids!

I really do feel for families with allergies (my DS2 had a dairy allergy until 21 months) and I of course will follow the guidelines, but I can't help feel annoyed. Would you?

Im already feeling empathy for the childcare for when my dd2 attends childcare because she is very highly allergic to diary eggs peanuts so i am not sure how they will cater for her as they provide food.

Dd1 is allergic to egg but not anaphylactic and she knows not to eat eggs and her kindy has a strictly no sharing food policy.

Sorry no advice.

I guess i would be annoyed too but if my child is anaphylactic to any of those food i would be really worried so maybe someone in your childs kindy is?

that would be incredibly difficult to accommodate.

Bloom, I'm a kinder teacher and that amount of restrictions annoys me too!
Yes, it's realistic to request no nuts of a child has anaphylaxis but its ridiculous if any of the foods you've listed are just allergies.
If they are just allergies then the centre should be putting in place risk minimization plans. Eg the child with allergies has a tray they use at the table to eat their food, everyone is educated in not sharing food etc.

There are some great resources on the allergy facts website as well as the ascia website. If you'd like further clarification on what is ok for the centre to implement you could call the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

For childcare:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/chil.../concerns.aspx

For kindergarten:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/chil.../concerns.aspx

Eta- I've just seen you're in Queensland so will try to find a number for you.

Eta 2- http://deta.qld.gov.au/earlychildhood/

I'll also ask my Australia wide teaching clan on fb to see there experiences and come back with more info ASAP.

It would very hard to accommodate, especially the dairy. That said peanuts/tree nuts are not the only allergen that can cause anaphylaxis or extreme reactions. My DD is severely allergic to peanuts and eggs and the egg is just as dangerous for her as the peanuts. I would feel more comfortable sending her to a carer that was completely allergen free because little kids share everything and it is so hard to monitor. But I do thank the universe dairy isn't an issue for us as that would be so hard to accommodate on top of egg and peanut.

Incidentally in many western cultures egg is a relatively new addition to widespread baking (as in post war) so most old-school recipes don't even have eggs.

Thanks F.L. - I'll do some research from the links you've provided - a great help!

It is just such a wide range of protein foods that are ruled out!

It suddenly occurred to me that even butter is off the list too - and I'm wondering what I can use to "stick" a sandwich together - no cream cheese, no peanut butter, no butter or marg, no jam/honey (kindy policy).

We have similar restrictions at my children's preschool. Nothing containing, or even processed in the same facility, nuts, eggs, dairy or chick peas. Given that we are also on a grain free and vegetable oil free diet that leaves very little my children can eat at school. Most of the things everyone else brings along or wants to make at school cooking projects don't work for our children. Fortunately they are only there in the mornings. They have fresh fruit and some coconut & honey biscuits I make.

Nuttalex is a vegan margarine type spread.

I honestly don't think I would be able to continue to send my children to that kindy if it were me. I do feel for those with allergies. It must be very difficult. We were asked not to send egg or nuts with DD and when we asked more about it, we discovered that the child with the egg allergy would only be attending on one day that my DD went and only had to be egg free on that day.

For "sticking" sandwiches - what about avocado?

Avocado is a good idea (though expensive!). In fact this whole thing could be expensive if I'm sending meat every day as his protein! He can have a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk for dinner instead of meat on kindy days. LOL.

I'm not keen on the vegetable oils and additives in Nuttlex.

Meow - that must be really hard for you! Not even processed at the same facilities would rule out our regular bread and crackers too. So your kids come home for lunch?

Yes- our preschool finishes at midday. They just go 9-12. I couldn't have considered the school otherwise. We liked it for the teaching philosophy but the food restrictions are hard core!

Sunbutter can be a good peanut butter alternative.

You can buy butter/marg that is dairy free. My sister is dairy free. You can use rice/almond/soy (I'd check on the soy) milk as an alternative in baking I think? And vegetable oil can replace eggs in cakes etc. I use about a half a table spoon for each egg.

Just check that the dairy free child can have soy. That is the usual alternative for people who are dairy intolerant/allergic. If not, rice milk & almond milk should be an option :)

Good old vegemite should be ok on sandwiches? Or are there nut traces in vegemite?

Thanks for the ideas Clover. Vegemite sounds like a good sandwich option though!

I've got to say that if we weren't already involved in the kindy, (he went last year), this would totally turn me off going there!

That would totally stop me using a centre.

I would be annoyed and would look for a new Kinder to send the kids to.

That would put me off too. My kids have had issues with dairy but only when ingested not touched. I would question the policy and want to know how severe the allergy was. It's often used as a sweetener and flavouring in foods including rice crackers. With no nuts, eggs or dairy it's a very restricted diet I would probably move too.

I think the no dairy needs to be clarified, we were smearable dairy free a few years back, so no yogurt, cream cheese etc or butter on biscuits but could have hard cheese, last year we had no egg or baked good which honestly was ridiculous, we're always nut, tree nut and sesame seed free.

How stressful! I totally understand why they are putting in place the restrictions, but how awful! Something like that would totally turn me off the school. The school my children attend is just a. " nut aware" school. There are plenty of different allergies (my friend is the canteen manager & has a massive list of what she cannot sell), but they do not restrict what children can bring. The individual classes however are restricted (DS1 has a classmate with anaphylactic nut allergies) and he is not allowed nuts, but DS2 can. This helps the children learn that not every place they go will be a "safe zone" for them. What happens at a playground, a park, even museums? Sorry, I don't really have ideas to help :( was going to suggest mayo for sandwiches but realised they have egg in them. Could you send salad wraps?

That is a pretty extensive list of exclusions - my twins have food issues due to ASD and if we had a kinder that put that many food exclusions for us then DS1 would not be able to take anything to eat as he has a very limited diet and your list pretty much wipes out what he would eat and DS2 has issues with dairy and fructose (which my other children don't have) and as the parent I would think that it is up to me to provide suitable foods for him and not exclude everyone else to accommodate him.

I have no idea how you will feed your child apart from finding maybe 1 or 2 safe foods and them sending that 'everyday'.

I would use it as an opportunity to try some new recipes but it wouldn't bother me that much.

I would check out some vegan websites for some ideas on baking. Do they include coconut in the "nut free"? Coconut oil could be spread if that's ok, or avocado or banana.

That sounds like our everyday life! No peanuts, gluten, eggs, dairy here so I'd be annoyed at the no tree nuts as that replaces a lot of things for my kids.

I think blanket restrictions are silly and think only if a child attending with severe allergy should foods be excluded. Would make life hard for some people when they are allergic to the alternatives otherwise.

Coconut oil is great instead of butter.

And Vegemite has worse stuff in it than nuttelex I'd think.

I know our preschool is the same, except for no dairy. But baked goods that contain eggs are okay, just as long as you don't send along eggs on their own (ie boiled, sandwiches). You might want to double check with your Kindy in case they're the same.

We are also allowed to send along cupcakes on birthdays, but children with allergies are obviously not given them.

If the child is older, as in about school age, then I think if the child/ren's allergies are not life threatening, then there should not be a blanket ban. But I can understand a bit more with a child in a day care setting. They are little, under 5, and often don't really know better, they can't take responsibility for themselves. I have experienced a child having an anaphylactic reaction to nuts. It's so scary, and really is instantaneous when a child has a severe reaction.

My DD had one at her school (as in big school, not day care). In the first week, I had been giving her egg sandwiches or a boiled egg in her lunch and got a letter saying that all nut products and egg products were banned. In speaking to the teacher later, I found out that the allergies the child has are life threatening, so I was ok with it (the kids actually had to sanitise their hands before entering the classroom in case they had touched or eaten nut/egg products at home before coming to school). But I think once kids can be accountable for themselves, then they should take care of themselves, by that age I think it should be expected!

Nutalex is a much better option than any other marg out there. No colours and no preservatives.

But in saying that, you don't have a whole lot of options, but there are quite a lot of vegan options out there (as that's what I make for DDs lunches). Muffins can be made easily without dairy milk(you could use oat or rice milks) and egg substitutes include chia seeds, flax seeds, apple sauce even mashed bananas.

It would be worth having a look on Pinterest. I get all my vegan recipes from there and there's a whole of of options available.

While DD was at Kindy there were one child who was anaphylactic to egg, but there wasn't a blanket ban on it. The teachers preferred self management on the instance of the child and close monitoring by the teachers.

DS2 is anaphylactic to dairy and egg. He starts 4 yr old kinder this year and the director approached me last year to ask what I wanted to happen. I appreciated that they wanted my input, but I feel like I have to teach DS2 that he can't eat others food. They decided that they wouldn't go dairy free, but would ask parents not to include yogurt in lunch boxes. I tried to argue that I was fine with it but they worry about some being smeared on something that DS will touch and he'll have a reaction. They said I might be understanding and fine with it, but they didn't feel comfortable that if he did have a reaction having to use his Epi pen in front of the kids (they are comfortable using the epi pen, just feel that the kids would be more traumatised seeing him having a reaction than going without yogurt a few hrs a day).

I get their point of view and maybe I am worried about upsetting the other parents, but I also feel like its only a few hours a day and surely their kids can have yogurt at home as a snack so that the teachers feel comfortable that my son is safe in their environment.

I also want to point out that I don't really think there should be food bans. Maybe if he reacted just by touch (like he did when he was younger) then i'd be a bit more concerned, but i feel like its my responsibility to teach him that he can't take food from people without checking with me or his dad first. I have a 4 year old that will ask people who try to give him food "does it have dairy or egg? what about cheese?" He has been asking these questions since he was 2.5. If they don't know he won't eat it and most times he won't take the food even if they do tell him it doesn't until he gets the ok from me or DH. One day he is going to be away from me and someone will offer him something. He needs to know that he has to check these things.

If it was me, i'd check with the kinder. All dairy?

We have no egg and no nuts but our food is supplied by the centre

Doesn't annoy me in the slightest. And different years at kinder were the same. With two children. And each school year has been different depending on who is in the class.

It's really not that hard. But if it's difficult for you send then elsewhere. But I'll never understand why people get angry about it. If a child was disabled in some way you would expect the school to work with that child. If a child was on the spectrum you would expect the school to work with the child. I see this as no different. The kinder sent home a list of appropriate snacks, both store bought and recipes for things to make at home. The list was huge. And no I don't think this child should be disadvantaged because of their food issues. I would say the same for immune suppressed children and those wig special needs. There is a huge difference between life threatening allergies and food intolerances.

I think whether or not it would annoy me would depend on the way it was handled. I think blanket bans are not appropriate, and should be appropriate for the individual situation. I would expect that the kinder send home a detailed list of snacks etc, because if it is a life threatening issue then it is vital that the parents all get it right, and expecting people to without giving detailed guidance isn't really acceptable.

I've been thinking some more about this, from the (very biased) perspective of a mother of a child with two severe allergies. I would feel very comfortable with a widespread food ban that covered my child's own allergies and it would influence which kindy I chose and which I passed by. That said I am not already involved in a particular kindy that has made changes to their existing policy, which would be hard.

I do think that alternative solutions such as only limit food types in the class/room/of the allergic child don't work because kids share stuff, swap stuff in the playground, they are little squirrels who store stuff in their pockets for later on... Also, and again my perspective is biased, if a child has a severe allergy then it doesn't matter what form or quantity the allergen takes. With DD's egg allergy she cannot even have a crumb from a muffin baked in a dozen lot with just one egg.

It is hard for all parties, allergic and otherwise. I think the extreme rise in allergies in a relatively short period means care givers are caught on the hop... Still working out the best approach that will protect yet foster inclusiveness rather than isolation.

ETA- yes, I think educating the child to protect themselves is paramount. DD is not quite 2 and I talk to her often about why she cannot eat certain things. But they are still so little even at 4 and 5 years old. it is easy to teach them to recognise and say no to say a milk drink or a snickers bar but they can be confused or distracted by something that looks innocent.

In this case I'm assuming it's not a blanket rule. The OP states clearly the reason is due to children who have allergies. Food is very hard to contain, depending on age. With small children and hygiene (as you'll know with colds etc and how quickly they pass on) it's problematic. And I seriously doubt anyone would have the time to clean every surface after feeding times, including floors and chairs. Which is often why kinder's have stricter rules than primary school (aside from nut allergies all other allergies are specific to the classroom) and in most cases in high school it's up to the individual to keep safe.

Ah sorry I thought I read blanket ban. I'm also looking at things from the perspective of a younger child, as is my own experience.

We're a vegan family and I wouldn't have any problem with that. We're already dairy and egg free and our play group is nut free, so it's not a big deviation from normal for us. Some of our non- baked lunchbox snacks are:
Veggie sticks and hommus/pumpkin dip/babaganoush
Baked beans
Roasted sweet potato or pumpkin cubes
Sugar snap peas
Cucumber rounds
Bliss balls (we use sunflower seed and oats)
Coconut yoghurt (home made but if this is too hard, make coconut custard with custard powder, or buy some)
Bread sticks (spiced baked sandwich crusts)

For sticking together a sandwich there are heaps of options. We use Nuttelex, if we're having vegemite, otherwise not. Hommus, sunflower butter, almost any Vegie purée, and lots of bean based dips. I make it up as i go along! They freeze well.

Such a hard situation!

I can understand how stressful it must be to have little ones with allergies, especially life-threatening ones.

But to have such tight restrictions makes everyone's life so difficult. And it's not like it's a one-off event - it's every day they are at kinder. A lot of the substitutes have undesirable chemicals (like nuttlex) or are really expensive (rice milk). And children need the opportunity to have a balanced diet.

I think as a bare minimum the kindy should be providing a detailed list of nutritionally balanced alternatives. But if it was me personally, I'd leave because it is just so hard.

Incidentally, the strange thing is that there is no way they can guarantee an allergen-free environment. People are bound to make mistakes. I wonder if it is more about liability than anything else?

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Incidentally, the strange thing is that there is no way they can guarantee an allergen-free environment. People are bound to make mistakes. I wonder if it is more about liability than anything else?

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I think this is part of it, we probably all know adults who have severe anaphalytic reactions to nuts (I do, and also to seafood) but there were never any food bans when they were children, the main difference is that attitudes towards liability are very different now.

A friends son has a massive list of allergies and many are anaphylaxis (egg, wheat, dairy, shell fish, nuts, beef, bannanna and more), so bad that if he gets kissed by someone who has eaten say cheezels he comes up in welts on face and at his kinder they did not stop others taking things. They all knew of his allergies and were very careful and kids are not allowed to walk around when eating, share and must always wash hands before and after eating and they had NO issues with him all last year in 3 yr old kinder (went 2 days a week). They even made playdoh that was allergy free so he could use it.

Kinder DS1 was at last year had the usual nut free and egg free but that was it. Was just no quiche and egg sandwich could still have egg in baked goods etc.

Firstly, I would clarify whether the bans are due to an allergy or anaphylaxis.

Our school (which begins at 3 year old kinder) has a no-nut policy but no other foods are 'banned' and allergies are dealt with by close supervision and education of all the children. There is a no-food-sharing rule and the kids do abide by it - to the point that I had to tell me own children that it's ok for them to share with each other!

Personally, and as someone who has dealt with many cases of anaphylaxis, I'm not sure that such a widespread blanket ban is the best way to deal with the situation. The measures feeb has outlined above sound like really good management.

Ultimately, if the bans are in place because of a child with a highly sensitive anaphylaxis I would suck it up - although I'm not sure what my kids would eat because although all the alternatives listed in this thread sound delicious to me, I can guarantee that my kids wouldn't eat 99% of them! If the ban is because the kinder has simply decide that this is the easiest way (for them!) to manage food allergies (as opposed to contact anaphylaxis) then I would be looking to find a new kinder.

What happens when the class is to go on an excursion? Or a school camp? Close management, except in the most extreme cases of anaphylaxis, seems to make a lot more sense to me.

Call me naive but seriously, what is our world coming to? We didn't have anything remotely like this when we were kids in the 70's and 80's. It's getting crazy.