Food sensitivities and school

K&H

I know several of the families here are working on food based behavior type stuff. So I'm wondering how you all handle school and food? We think we mostly have E's food issues under control, she cannot eat corn or have too much dairy and we don't do any candy other than m&ms which seem to be fine. We limit carageenan as it makes her insane, BHT as it makes her foul, and corn because it makes her itchy. On this plan she seems to do well most days.
Today, however, was "school Thanksgiving", and I have no idea what she ate. She told me she didn't eat the meat (yay!), and that she had biscuits with butter but she couldn't rememebr anything else. She has been INSANE all day. Just as a small example, she is currently in the bath singing at the top of her lungs about how she is going to take her butt off... Over and over and over and over and over and over and over... And then mingle in some screaming and throwing her body around. She has not been able to stop moving since she came home 7 hours ago. Just constant jittery motion for seven hours.

Ok, so all that to say.. How do you deal with this kind of thing? I want to call the school and ask what she ate, but I'm sure they don't know. I want to put her on lock down and restrict every bite she eats, but H assures me that that is not a good long term plan. So what do you do? Just deal with the fallout but let her eat crap?

Shanny

Because Kate's school is montessori, they follow guidelines that eliminates about 90% of the worry for me. Because the only food she eats at school is snacks and "food work" I know she is never getting much of her big 2 that I worry about - rice and oats. We also avoid dyes but that's never a worry there and carrageenan but that's in Tom's toothpaste for goodness sake (they brush their teeth at school and to avoid crap toothpaste I sent in a toms which I later learned about the additive. Sigh).

We avoid other additives and I'm sure not every parent buys organic when they shop from the required snack lost but I know most do and that eliminates a lot of the junk.

How often might this happen? Every time there is a birthday or holiday? That would probably make the difference for me.

K&H

So far this year it's been twice. So I guess that's once a month?
She went to bed without issue, so maybe I'm just reading more into it than it needs to be..
Her play school unfortunately has not so great ideas about food. There are three kids with nut allergies, and the surrounding community tends to be very mainstream white food based, so for snack every day they have crackers. We had to provide all her own crackers so that she didn't have "itchies". That's it. Crackers. Every time. It's shocking to me, but we've just rolled with it because they do so many other things that we do believe in.

K&H

And, actually, side note.. Do they not do rice and oats in the water/sand table? Would those bother Kate if they did? I find the food stuff to be so interesting!

EMG_REL

I don't have advice, but I am still laughing about her taking her butt off. Priceless.

K&H

EMG, we're 'all about that bass' around here!

coryandamanda

We send in a note that goes to every person that will have interaction with our children that they are to eat nothing except food we send in unless we approve it ahead of time. If they have parties I find out what all they are eating, make our own version of whatever they cannot have and tell the teacher what, if anything, they can have that they are serving. We have a list of when there are birthdays in their classes so we can send our kid in with their own treat of their choice to have in place of whatever the child might bring in to share. We also have some cupcakes and brownies frozen at the school for the teacher to pull out for them in case we forget or something comes up unexpectedly. They use m&ms and such occasionally as rewards so they have a supply of that stuff on hand as well. And of course we pack their lunch every day.

Shanny

No sand table in a Montessori classroom. That actually made me giggle!

When she was going to go to the public Montessori I did what C&A described and she was to have nothing that didn't come from home. I don't have to worry about it now though, phew.

When her intolerances were a little worse and harder to track - mostly dairy and egg she had a teacher with food intolerances/allergies who was very helpful and supportive. She was allergic to sugar - I shudder at the thought!

There is a little girl in Kate's class with several sever food allergies so the only thing allowed for birthdays is fruits and vegetables. Popcorn has been brought in for the last 2 parties and even that is pushing the envelope for a Montessori classroom.

C&A - do your kids eat m&m's? I thought food dye was a major part of Feingold?

coryandamanda

No they eat Sundrops instead to replace the evil M&Ms

Shanny

Ok, I just thought maybe I was confused.

Yes, pure evil in this house too

K&H

Ahhhhh, she woke up so blessedly normal this morning!! So calm and easy going.
Now to call the school and figure out what in the world she ate.
My suspicion is TBHQ.

coryandamanda

Good luck. Glad she got over the reaction so quickly. It is so hard to figure out the issues sometimes. If we hadn't done Feingold I never would have suspected that apples could turn my kid into an emotional nightmare. Oh, and paprika. Go figure.

Kari

If you can get a doctor's diagnosis that she has food intolerances, you can devise a 504 Plan with the school for a child with a medical condition. It has to be followed while parental requests are wishy-washy (not legally binding documents). That said, my son's school has been told not to feed him anything not provided from home. I provide daily substitutes and emergency goodies in the freezer. But - and this is a big issue - this would have only been communicated with the classroom teacher, secretary, and nurse if I hadn't sent out an email to everyone in the school due to HIPAA (sp?) privacy acts.