Food Program and Wheat Free

[littlemommy]

I am working on moving my license since we have relocated. I can't remember from before what the rules are on food intolerances. Our son is wheat free, but has never been diagnosed with an allergy. We did an elimination diet and have found that he gets very gassy and doesn't sleep well when he has wheat. Will I need a Dr's note for him to be on the food program?

I also have several kids who drink almond milk instead of cow's milk. None of them have actual allergies, but it's their parent's choice to have them drink almond. I don't remember almond milk being on the list of milk. I'm not sure if they can get Dr's notes or not.

[melilley]

I have a dcb here who has a gluten intolerance (they think he does because his brother does) and also only drinks almond milk-he is dairy free. My food rep only had me fill out a form that she gave to me and the doc signed it, but for intolerances, any medical pro like a nurse can sign it, but if it's a life threatening allergy, a Dr. needs to sign. I'm not sure if almond milk counts or not (I want to say no but, I'm not sure), my food rep might just be letting me slide on that one. My dcp doesn't want soy because of the hormones in it.

Also, it depends on income, but you may not have to count your own child in the fp if your household makes too much. I can't count my children.

[littlemommy]

I will be Tier 1, and have the same rep as I had before (who was suuuper nice!!) These parents also want to avoid soy because of the hormones. I don't blame them! I just don't want to go through the hassle of getting licensed for the food program and then not have any of the kids count because of the almond milk!

The rep I had before never even looked to see what kind of milk I actually served, she just took my word for it. I always served cow's milk before though

[MissAnn]

I have a dcb here who has a gluten intolerance (they think he does because his brother does) and also only drinks almond milk-he is dairy free. My food rep only had me fill out a form that she gave to me and the doc signed it, but for intolerances, any medical pro like a nurse can sign it, but if it's a life threatening allergy, a Dr. needs to sign. I'm not sure if almond milk counts or not (I want to say no but, I'm not sure), my food rep might just be letting me slide on that one. My dcp doesn't want soy because of the hormones in it.

Also, it depends on income, but you may not have to count your own child in the fp if your household makes too much. I can't count my children.

You are right, almond milk is not credible. I use lactose free milk. Not sure if soy is credible. Has to have the same nutrition or higher than 1% and had to be either 1% fat or nonfat.

[butterfly]

In my area, there isn't an almond milk available that fits the nutrition guidelines necessary to claim almond milk as a milk substitute.

I have 3 with milk allergies. I give them soy milk. My own son who qualifies for the food program when present during meals (SA), is gluten free and dairy free. I just had to have a doc sign a form. If the parents are ok with soy, just a note from the parents was acceptable - since the soy milk meets the nutrition requirements.

If the milk option doesn't meet the nutrition requirements then a dr's note is necessary and it's at the food program's discretion if they will allow it or not.

I went round and round with the food program here. I didn't think it was legal for them to tell me that the dr's note wasn't good enough. I wasn't going to go against dr's orders... the other option is not claiming those children's meals and giving them the almond milk per the parent's or dr's request.

[Unregistered]

I am working on moving my license since we have relocated. I can't remember from before what the rules are on food intolerances. Our son is wheat free, but has never been diagnosed with an allergy. We did an elimination diet and have found that he gets very gassy and doesn't sleep well when he has wheat. Will I need a Dr's note for him to be on the food program?

I also have several kids who drink almond milk instead of cow's milk. None of them have actual allergies, but it's their parent's choice to have them drink almond. I don't remember almond milk being on the list of milk. I'm not sure if they can get Dr's notes or not.

Almond milk does not have protein

[melilley]

You are right, almond milk is not credible. I use lactose free milk. Not sure if soy is credible. Has to have the same nutrition or higher than 1% and had to be either 1% fat or nonfat.

That's what I thought. My fp rep must not care because I told her that dcb drinks almond milk because his mom doesn't want him to drink anything else and she said ok. Believe me, I wish dcm would have used the lactose free milk. Dcb has had almond milk (when he didn't have or ran out of breast milk) since he was like 9 months old and, well, that's a whole other story.

[JoseyJo]

Our fp will also not allow almond milk. We have one who is lactose intolerant whose mom doesn't want to have soy. We serve her goat milk.

[heyhun77]

I have 2 kids who are gluten free and the parents don't want them drinking soy milk. My food program rep found it in the book that i can serve them kefir as a milk alternative. It actually has more protein than soy or regular milk.

[JoseyJo]

I have 2 kids who are gluten free and the parents don't want them drinking soy milk. My food program rep found it in the book that i can serve them kefir as a milk alternative. It actually has more protein than soy or regular milk.

Hmmm, that is very interesting! I wonder if my food program would allow that...

[Michael]

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60154

[littlemommy]

One mom is saying she can get a Dr's note from her chiropractor, but doesn't use a family doc or pedi. I wonder if a chiropractor's note would be sufficient?

[MissAnn]

As far as wheat free goes....my daycare is not totally wheat free. I have a child with gluten intolerance and I have it as well. We use corn tortillas, rice cakes, masa harina flour and gluten free spaghetti noodles and cereal. I found it so much easier to feed all the kids the same thing. Not a fan of gluten free bread.

[butterfly]

One mom is saying she can get a Dr's note from her chiropractor, but doesn't use a family doc or pedi. I wonder if a chiropractor's note would be sufficient?

Check with your food rep. When I first started a chiropractor's note was just fine. When we got a new food rep, it could only be signed by an MD (not a nurse or anyone else in an MD's office.)

[butterfly]

As far as wheat free goes....my daycare is not totally wheat free. I have a child with gluten intolerance and I have it as well. We use corn tortillas, rice cakes, masa harina flour and gluten free spaghetti noodles and cereal. I found it so much easier to feed all the kids the same thing. Not a fan of gluten free bread.

Have you tried UDI or Rudi bread? I really like Rudi's bread - it has a sweeter taste than UDI. I believe Rudi has some bread that is NOT gluten free though - be careful if you purchase this, to get the correct one.