how to survive Nursery school free milk

[caralee]

I have two children both of whom are allergic to cows milk and must remain dairy free even traces cause reactions which place them in hospital. The school has helped as far as they see fit but will still seat my son next to others consuming milk and then wonder why he does not attened school for the following week. does any one have any suggestions as to how to tackle a disbelieving school board who ;) all asume that milk is good for us all!!! ;)

[ellsie]

Go to the top. try writing to the local education board and include a letter from your doctor and your son's absence record. Try to find the name of the head of governers and the head of school and send copies to all! Hope this helps.

[matt]

gently remind them about the kid who died whilst with the playschool because he was allergic to milk and they gave him some. they were prosecuted. say you'd hate for them to get into trouble or sued for damages for injuries to your son. no threats just gently reminder. they should get the message.

if not then they are allowing your son to be injured which is neglect so then start to shout loudly to social services, governors and so on. but only if everything else fails. easier to deal with people who are on your side.

just my 5p worth of thoughts.

[Lan]

Hi all,

I think that the school's attitude is terrible. How can they condone letting your sons sit next to children consuming milk, when they are obviously being made ill.

My suggestion would be give them the website address and let them see what we all think. It may re-inforce the idea that you are telling the truth.

You could also try writing to you local MP, maybe he can do soemthing to try and help your situation. I also agree with Ellsie to take the matter to the top and get the backing of health officials where possible.

I wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep us posted.

Kind Regards,

Lan. :hug:

[caralee]

After your advice I have finally managed to get the head teacher my sons teacher and a token member from the school board to sit down all be it for 5 minutes and read a letter from both his peadiatritian and the pead. dietitian. I have now been promised that they will take the matter more seriously and i have been invited to come and supervise at a lunch to over come the next hurdle of perswading the dinner ladies to allow Jason to sit elsewhere and to convince them of why its required so we shall have to wait untill september to see if the bossy mum approach actually helps at all. So glad that the summer hols are here and i can control his food properly. :cheers:

Jason has however started to stand up for himself now and will tell other people off if they have any dairy nearby. And in a very selfless act of brotherly love stopped a cousin giving his 11 month old sister some cheese (she also suffers although they havent decieded if she has allergy or intollerance latest idea was severe intollerance but no challenges until 30 months! so who knows) and landed himself in bed for a few days BUT AVOIDED HOSPITAL. SO MAYBE HIS CHALLENGES AT SCHOOL HAVE ATLEAST DESENSITISED HIM SLIGHTLY - ALTHOUGH NOT RECOMENDED!!

[ellsie]

Good for you for grabbing the bull by the horns---- and now your son is copying you and making his own stand .Well done! :beer:

[michaeljjj]

Caralee,

I have good news for you, but you will have to work for it.

I too have two chidren who are allergic to milk and eggs. The eldest started school this year (September 2003). Soon after he had his first allergic reaction at school (no idea why).

Soon after it happerned again. Both times I would describe as minor incidents (but that only shows how bad he's been during the major incidents).

Then the school asked for my son not to attend lunchtimes and afternoons because they could not guarantee his safety. I took this as a step back to begin with, but it turned out to be for our benefit.

For the last year we (the school and us) have battled to get extra funding from the government, to provide a dedicated assistant for children with allergies.

After alot of time and effort (over 6 months) we have a grant from the government and my son's class has a dedicated helper (as opposide to a shared helper) who is trained in first aid. The next step is lunchtimes (at the moment my wife is visiting the school everyday and taking my son out of school for lunch), the funding is in place so it's just a case of the school organising lunchtimes.

My son not being at school (in the afternoons) once he was five was the biggest factor in getting our grant (I believe that children of five must be in fulltime education or the local council gets in trouble).

If your sons are seriously allergic to cows milk then I would suggest speaking with the school and asking for assurance (get it in writting) that your child is safe at the school (I believe it is the law that every child must be safe at school). My son's school was so worried about being sued that they didn't risk saying my son was safe when he wasn't. At this point we were in a strong position.

All this would not have happerned without the support of my son's school whilst we did alot of work they did more. They were very supportive but did have difficulties with the local governers.

I must add that we had to work ALOT and be VERY patient to get this moving. It seems to stall at every opportunity.

I hope you get as much co-operation as we did.

Good luck,

Michael