Child with new allergies

[lilcupcakes09]

What would my fellow providers do in this situation?

I have a dcg who has just been found to have many many food allergies after a slightly severe reaction(thankfully at home). I normally provide all meals for my dcks, but her list is so large, I'm not comfortable feeding her at all. In my 6 years of daycare, I have never had a child with a food allergy.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to tell parents they have to start providing all meals for her....

[childcaremom]

I guess for me it would depend on the allergy and the severity.

I tell parents that I can't accomodate nut allergies or provide a safe environment so if there little one has one I won't enroll them, likewise if one were to develop I would have to discontinue care.

If it was something other than nuts, (eg: eggs, milk) I would have them send meals and food from home. If it was a severe reaction (needing epi pen) then I would have to reconsider if I could provide a safe environment for them. I would hope that parents would take this into consideration, too. This is all in my policy book so would not be a surprise to them. I go over this in interviews extensively, as well.

(I am legally unlicensed, in Canada, so am not bound by any rules and regulations in this area.)

[lilcupcakes09]

All types of nuts were positive for allergy. Funny thing is this child eats peanut butter and jelly a couple times a week up until the reaction. At drop off this morning it's really no big deal to them when I ask if little girl has eaten breakfast yet....as I'm thinking Mom will be considerate since I don't have a full list of allergens yet. Nope, her response..."Oh she can have cereal". Um sorry but we don't eat cereal every morning and I don't run a restaurant either!

[Baby Beluga]

I have a clause in my handbook regarding allergies and my home not being nut free. I also state that parents are responsible for providing all meals and snacks if their child has food allergies.

Do you know if her allergy is also a contact/inhaled allergy as well as an ingested one? That would be a huge factor in my decision to keep her or not. If it was just an ingested allergy then I would likely keep her and have the parents provide all food and snacks. If her allergy was contact/inhaled then there is no way I would keep her.

[Unregistered]

Peanuts are not a nut.

It can certainly be scary to provide care to a child with severe food allergies. However, there is ample information about learning to read labels and how to work with a food allergic child. I'm sure the parents will be happy to provide meals from home, but at some point you might become comfortable enough to serve items that you know are safe. There are literally hundreds of lists available of safe foods for each allergen. Kids with Food Allergies or KFA, has lots of excellent information about how to avoid the big 8 food allergens, resources for education and tutorials on the use of Auvi-Q & EpiPens (the regular & junior are the same except for dosing).

Also, this child may be having different food than the rest of the children, but it's not a reason for exclusion unless they have contact or inhalation reactions - which is extremely rare, but can happen. You can easily alter your activities to be accommodating to a child with food allergies.

[Unregistered]

I have a forms for allergies. An emergency plan that required a doctors signature. I have it in my handbook. They are also required to provide the child's meals according to the USDA'S recommendactions and I provide them with those requirements.