Most people these days are aware of peanut allergies and as such the importance of not sharing nuts or nut products with other children. However, there are many other seemingly safe/normal foods that can make children very sick, suffer a bad rash, lose control of their behaviour or even need to go to hospital. Some of these foods can be milk, lollies, bread, peanut butter, eggs, biscuits, chips, cupcakes and even strawberries. So for this reason it is best as a whole that your child doesn’t share their food (whatever it may be) with another child.
Our key tips for staying food safe are:
- Encourage your child never to share their food with another child.
- If your child has an allergy work with them so they feel comfortable saying ‘No, thank you’ to the offer of any food not prepared at home.
- Make sure your child knows to wash and dry their hands thoroughly before starting to prepare or eat any food, even a snack.
- Put together a food allergy action plan – an example of one can be found via the following link.
- Help your child to read labels so they can recognise the presence of food/s they are allergic to.
- Talk to them about their experiences at school to uncover if there has been any bullying regarding their allergies.
- Ensure your child knows how to recognise the signs of a reaction and to make sure they tell someone as soon as possible.
- Finally stress the importance of not sharing their injector pen or any medication with any other children.