Peanut Allergy - Beverly Hills,CA

"Mommy, why did my best friend have to die? I miss her so much." "I know sweetie, it's terrible. I'm sorry I sent you to school with a PB&J sandwich, which you ate at lunch. Then you held hands with your best friend during recess and she had a fatal allergic reaction to it." I think THIS is a scenario that ANY rational, reasonable person would want to avoid at all costs, don't you? Unfortunately, THIS could be the reality of severe peanut allergies. I'll never understand how one child's "right" to eat peanut butter is more important than another child's "right" to live.

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Peanut allergies are especially serious because the allergen can stick to a surface for DAYS if it's not cleaned properly. This is because things like peanut butter are so sticky and the allergen is contained in the oily part of the peanut products. So it's not that a child needs to be taught not to eat their neighbor's sandwich, it's that that neighbor could spread the allergen all over the classroom inadvertantly and the allergic child could get really sick just by touching a toy that the peanut butter eating kid used right after lunch.

As a result, I'm OK with the restrictions on peanuts in classrooms. Most other allergies don't have the same "stickiness" factor and aren't banned the same way.

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Children with peanut allergies can DIE from accidentally eating a product that has even traces of peanut, or from putting their hands to their mouth after touching the fingers of someone who has held a peanut recently or after picking up the wrapper from a packet of peanuts etc etc. (A child at our school was hospitalized recently after touching fingers with a kid who'd brought peanuts to school.)

You can answer this question easily yourself: if it was YOUR child who could DIE as a result of clearing away a friend's lunch wrappers, what would you want his/her school to do? It's not hard to keep nuts out of lunch boxes, there are many other alternatives. Save them for snack time at home. My child has several serious food intolerances (thankfully no allergies, he's not in danger of a fatal reaction) which limit his diet a lot but I've still never felt the need to put nuts in his lunchbox.

Btw, please tell me how to "teach" a four year old not to pick something up, on pain of their lives. Without reading the detailed ingredients list on the packet, kids don't have a hope of knowing what contains peanuts and what doesn't.

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It's not about teaching them not to eat it. If I come onto contact with peanut reside, I can literally die. And I'm not exaggerating, it's happened before. You can teach kids not to eat things until you're blue in the face, but the danger is exposure.

You are completely marginalizing how serious peanut and tree nut allergies can be. This is TOTALLY different then a "bad for some" food. A diabetic doesn't die from touching sugar. A person with celiac (yep, I have that too) doesn't tie by touching gluten and wheat. It's not a matter of simply eating it. It's a matter of needing to not be ANYWHERE near it.

As a person with a life-threatening peanut allergy...I can't avoid touching other people and avoid touching everything they touch. This is the danger. I touch a faucet handle the kid who just ate peanut butter touches and I hope to God I can get that epipen in me fast enough.

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I think a nut ban in schools is great! Wish my daughter's school banned nuts, as she's severely allergic. It's a fatal allergen, and it's not her fault or mine either. I'd feel terrible if I sent my child to school with a PB&J sandwich and it put a kid in the hospital.

Kids who can eat peanuts can eat them at home just as well. Have the PB&J for breakfast at home, and wash hands and face well afterward. It's only one meal a day and a possible snack when a child is asked to refrain from having nuts.

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I think if you ever saw a child go into anaphalatic shock from inhaling peanut dust you would reconsider your opinion. I love nuts, and peanut butter was one of the few lunch foods that my kids would eat, so I feel your pain....but if you have ever seen someone struggle to breath through a swollen airway you might be more sympathtic.

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Since things that contain peanut don't always look like a peanut, I think it's an okay rule. We were at an italian restaurant one night for dinner when I learned just how serious a peanut allergy can be. There was a family sitting next to us and the dad had ordered a calzone. When he cut it open, some of the sauce squirted out onto the face of his 4 year-old little boy. I couldn't believe what happened next. The little boys face immediately started to swell and within seconds he was in anaphylactic shock. His parents were prepared with an epi pen and paramedics were called. Apparently, peanut oil was used in the preparation of the calzone and this little boy was allergic to peanuts. Although his parents were very aware and careful about what he ate this still happened. My kids don't have any allergies but I will 100% respect that some kids do. There are plenty of other nutritious food they can take to school but peanuts are for home.

Updated

You are still missing the point. Of course banning them isn't 100% fool-proof but that's like saying why have a sex offender registry since they are everywhere and you can't avoid them. We as adults have a responsibilty to all children, not just ours to make sure the are they are as safe as they can be. Of course this can't always be done but the more people who have an ear, eye or hand out to help our kids the better. My kids will grow up understanding that different people have different needs and although they will want things, sometimes it just isn't the right place or time and they will be okay with that.

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The fear isn't that the child might eat it. Most kids with severe allergies know what they can and cannot have. It's that even being in the same room as a peanut can cause certain children with very sensitive allergies to go into shock.

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I totally agree with the school placing a ban on peanuts/nuts if there is even just ONE child that is allergic. I am blessed that neither of my childern have this allergy, but I do have two nephew and a very close friend whose son is allergic. If they were to come into contact (not ingesting) peaunts or nuts they suffer a severe allergic reaction and their air intact becomes compremised and if not treated immediatley it can be fatal. Just think if it was your child that was the one that was allergic. Not having peanuts at school is just a small sacrafice to insure the health of all of the kids, if your kids are OK with eating peanuts then just offer them the snack at home.

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Please reread your post, and look within! You're talking about children that depend on the adults around them to keep them safe! It is not possible to put the allergic child in a bubble at home for the rest of his life. My son has a severe nut allergy (peanuts and tree nuts), and he has been taught not eat anything other than what we send to school with him w/few exceptions monitored by his teacher. He always asks if food that is given to him contains nuts and he will take the initiative to sit away from kids eating PB&J at school. He is 6 and has been aware of his deadly allergy since the age of 3, however, there are parents like yourself that don't take this very serious because it's not directly affecting you. I try to have a good attitude and educate people about the severity, but your outright selfishness and question about "respecting the ban" is completely ridiculous. If it saves ONE life, then the ban is worth it...PERIOD!

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Personally I have no problem with peanuts being banned. It's not just 1, 2 or 3 kids in a whole school anymore. It's more like 1, 2 or 3 per grade level. My sister was terribly allergic and it closes her throat. If she was near it to smell it her throat started to itch. Most of the children that have peanut allergies at school have to have an epi pin in their classroom and the teacher has been taught how to use it. I think it is a precaution so that a child doesn't die, yes, die! So I say ban away, I would want that for my child if they had that allergy!

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I doubt that touching sugar on the outside of someone's body or smelling it would put a diabetic in a coma....but touching or smelling peanuts or nuts can be enough to send some kids into anaphylactic shock....so I would not say it is the same (plus when you are talking little kids, thumb sucking and putting things in one's mouth comes into play too -- a totally other scary topic for the parents of allergic kids). We teach our peanut-allergic daughter to NEVER accept food that is not packed for her by us or given to her by me, my husband, her teachers (who are WELL INFORMED and have a stock of safe snacks forher) or our nanny. Plain and simple. She is almost 4. Her school also does a good job teaching the other kids to never offer her food and that our DD and the other kids do not share foods. When she gets to kindergarten they allow PB & J and the thought scares me to death...

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Don't know a lot of kids that can die from exposure to sugar.....
Here we go again!

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The good news is that kids can have seeds even at nut free schools. There are tons of recipes using seeds instead of nuts. Sunflower butter from Trader Joes is delicious and nutritious.- www.weelicious.com

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Hello, I understand what you are saying. My son was allergic to milk products. I was careful to keep him away from things containing milk and eventually, he had to be the one keeping away from it. However, the peanut allergy (as I understand it) is much more serious and can be a problem for children if they touch something which has peanut oil on it and then touch their own food and eat it. I would hate to see something happen to a child when they didn't even see it coming.
K. K.

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I am fully on board with the peanut ban. I think your statement is rather blasé. You obviously know (at least you do now) that a child can die from an allergic reaction to peanuts, so WHY WHY WHY is this even a question? Why not have a safe environment for all children at school, especially one that is within our control.
I think other posters have begun to educate you on this matter, so I won't duplicate. No my child is not allergic, but I know one who is. Yes, they are taught at a very early age that they can die from a food. They carry an epipen in case of emergencies at all times, which may not even save their life. I think it's parents and kids of non-allergic families that need to be educated.

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It's an interesting question. Our pre-school doesn't ban peanuts (thankfully because it's all my son will eat - I've tried the alternatives in case the ban was ever put in place), and I know there are kids with allergies (perhaps there are none with peanut allergies though). My guess is that they separate these children??? Which, while is a solution is also a sad one because then these children can feel like there's something wrong with them - having to sit at the 'special table'. However, if our school did enforce the ban, I would follow it because I get that it's a very serious thing. However, I would have absolutely no idea what to feed my son for lunch - he is incredibly picky - he would basically be forced to eat snacks like applesauce and yogurt. I'm mostly baffled by the amount of peanut allergies there are nowadays. I don't remember a single child at my many schools who had any sort of allergy. What is going on that our children are developing all these allergies? Are we being TOO careful while pregnant? Is it something to do with our food supply now? Is it that children in the past did have allergies and we just never properly diagnosed them (hard to believe considering the severity of peanut allergy)? I am truly baffled by the number of allergies. Today, my son had to go to a back-up care arrangement and the food allergies are so bad and so many (peanut, eggs, etc.) that they request we don't bring any food and they will feed them everything. So, I don't know what he will be eating today (because he's so picky) and the control for my child's lunch has just been taken out of my hands (in this case, it's not an issue for me, but I could see how it could be if he were being fed something I don't agree with) because of children's food allergies.

I know most airlines don't serve peanuts anymore for this exact reason. So, do people with severe peanut allergies just not fly Southwest? Because they do still serve peanuts (yummy ones too). There has to be a solution to all these allergies - but, as I've said, I'm totally baffled;)

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I think it's a perfectly good rule. But then again I know someone who can die from a touch of peanut butter. We can't eat anything with peanuts around him and have to wash our hands and face before touching him if we have eaten anything with peanuts in it. He can't even go to some resturants because the peanut products in the air would put him into anaphylactic shock.

I know it's hard to understand the importance of this rule if you've never known someone with this allergy. It was hard for me too until I met my friend. Leave the peanut and jelly sandwich for an "at home" meal.

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I have no problem with the peanut ban it's much easier for a diabetic to avoid sugar. They aren't going to get high levels just from picking up a cupcake wrapper but a child with severe peanut allergies could die if that wrapper was from anything containing peanuts.

It's banned in my son's class but hardly enforced. Peanut butter sandwiches make it into lunch boxes and so far the teachers haven't noticed. I think it depends on the school. Some will have your kid eating lunch in another state if they realize he brought a peanut butter sandwich to school.