Back to School: Food Allergy Edition

It’s that time of year again…back to school! While most parents are concerned with clothes, binders, and backpacks…food allergy parents are consumed with thoughts of something else entirely.

“How can I keep my child safe this year when I’m not around? What if another kid gives my child a contaminant while riding the school bus? What about the school lunches…are they safe?”

The fears don’t subside once August passes. Soon comes October…Halloween month. This means trick or treating and classroom costume parties. Followed by November’s Thanksgiving celebrations and December’s Christmas cookie and candy gifts. Valentine’s Day exchanges, Easter candy, and all the classmate birthdays in between…the worry…never…STOPS!

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to eliminate 100% of peanut allergens from my son’s school. So, in addition to having an emergency response plan in place, it’s my job to raise awareness and educate my son, as well as others. By doing this, I hope to make this school year just a little bit safer for my son and others out there like him. So please, if you work at a school, or are the parent of school aged children…listen carefully. This post was written to you.

Consider Yourself Warned

The best way to avoid a tragedy is with prevention, not intervention. For this reason, my son takes cold lunches to school every day to avoid cross contamination. But, what if there was such large group of awareness surrounding my son that the chances of him being exposed to contaminates are greatly reduced in the first place? With your help, it’s possible.

Bracelets, buttons, iron on patches, keychains, stickers, and so many more products have been created in order to help warn others of present food allergies. For example, my son has an “Allergic to Peanuts” warning keychain attached to both his backpack and his lunch pack. He also has medical alert bracelets that he wears on higher risk days, such as field trips. On these days, he’s likely to be surrounded by people other than his usual group of watchful eyes. But how useful are these warnings if no one is looking at them?

There’s even been times when the medical paperwork I fill out at school registration isn’t enough. It’s up to the parent, to make sure that everyone reads the paperwork, sees the warnings, and is aware of the risks. Never assume they know just because they should. For these reasons, I’ve found it crucial to assemble a school “Super Squad.”

What’s In Your Lunch?

The top 8 food allergies are milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, wheat, soy, and fish. Chances are pretty good that you, or the food allergy sufferer in your class, won’t have all 8. At the same time, there could be other allergens not listed here. I’ve personally known people allergic to strawberries, bananas, and rosemary. For simplicity purposes, just focus on the specific food (or foods) that pose a direct threat in your situation. In our case, it’s peanuts.

In the beginning, replacing peanuts/peanut butter was a huge challenge for our family. It wasn’t until we found SunButter that our lives became a little bit easier. SunButter is made from sunflower seeds, tastes very similar to peanut butter, and has no cross contamination risks. In fact, the brand is free from all top 8 allergens!

SunButter comes in 6 flavors, including chocolate, that makes using it as a peanut-free substitute easy peasy. We use SunButter in place of peanut butter in sandwiches, scotcheroos, cookies, puppy chow, and more. Anything you can make with peanut butter, you can make safer with SunButter!

Whether your class is dealing with a peanut allergy, one of the other top 8, or one of the odd ones…there are so many amazing, safe substitutions out there to choose from. So next time you pack your child’s lunch, or send them to school with birthday treats, please consider taking the time to make the swap. Think of it like your life depends on it…because someone else’s might.