Hello! Mom of a (new) PA kid

We have suspected since our daughter was 2 that she had a peanut allergy after eating a peanutbutter cookie and getting a bad stomach ache and having itchy ears. So we have avoided giving her anything with actual peanuts or peanutbutter in it. I have never gone so far as to check labels for foods prepared in the same area as peanuts. My daughter is 4 now and starting preschool, so I decided it would be best to be SURE about the possibility of this allergy before she went off to a school where I can't monitor everything she comes into contact with. And we got the results back today. My daughter has a category 3 peanut allergy, which I'm told is high. She can't ingest peanuts, or come into contact with them, but I was told by the nurse that her reactions to peanut dust will be minimal if at all.

I'm not nervous about this information, or scared for my daughter. She goes to a peanut free school, so even when she starts kindergarten and is eating lunch at school my worries will be small. Granted she could trade lunches with other kids that might have peanuts in their lunches, but she's known to ask "Does this have peanuts?" since she was 2. We didn't even have to prompt her to do that, she does it on her own. (I imagine the stomach ache she got after eating that peanutbutter cookie was pretty awful for her to ask without prompting about peanuts in her food. *sadface*) I have no doubt in my mind that my daughter will keep herself safe. And we will be sure that everyone she knows knows about her peanut allergy.

I decided to join this forum because I'm sure there are things that I don't know, and things that will happen that I won't be prepared for, and the support of a community that knows and understands is sometimes better than close friends and family that don't.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

~megdalena