My son is 7 months old. I have a home office and I take occassion day trips with my job. My husband also has a home office. Right now my mother looks after him 3.5 days of the week. We just discovered that he has a peanut allergy (no reaction to peanuts, but positive skin and RAST tests...we are not taking any chances).
My mother is only here for the winter. Starting in May, we are planning to nanny share with a family down the street (2 days here, 2 days there). The other family and the nanny know that our son has a peanut allergy and that they are serious, but we are not sure that they understand the potential severity of a reaction. They have said they will make their house peanut and nut free. We plan to sit down with the family and the nanny and have a serious talk. We are not sure whether the nanny will want the liability of our son, but we do not know what her response will be.
Our current plan to to ensure that one of us is always in our home office when our son is here, or down the street. We would provide all food for our son. Also, as I mentioned, the other house is going peanut free.
Does anyone know of any good literature that I could provide them before the meeting? How comfortable would you other pa parents be with a childcare situation like I have described? I am all new to this stuff but we are trying to be very careful.

When you say the home will become peanut free, do you mean just peanut butter (as in pb&j sandwiches) or completely peanut product free. There is a HUGE difference. It seems that if you provide the food for your child that is a plus, but, what are the other children going to eat? Also, snacking....what kind of snacks will be served? Peanut trace products and cross-contamination are huge problems for PA children. Getting as much literature from your allergist or pediatrician concerning this and educating the nanny is extremely vital. The Food Allergy Network offers many brochures and videos that you can purchase on this subject check them out. Also, you didn't mention an Epipen, do you have one? You MUST show the caregive how to properly administer the injection if needed, of course. (FAN offers an Epipen trainer) Education is the key and you should feel 100% confidence in the day care situation for your child. Don't feel you're ever over doing it.

Has anyone obtained an official Day Care policy to deal with PA? I need one to share with the Director of ours.

Like Julia, we too have posted the brightly laminated poster regarding all emergency information pertaining to our 17mos. old in his daycare. Be sure to put his/her picture on it as well. You never know when a substitue teacher or aid may be watching over your child. Our Director also used our practice epipen to teach all staff how to use it. I never trust that they will keep his room totally peanut free, so I send all his food and snacks with him. Good luck!

I have a 13 year old son extremly allergic to nuts. When he started school we made it clear to everyone he was to eat only what I would send for a day. Never let anyone near him until they washed their hands from peanut butter or any food he may react to. He has grown up with this and We have found that the children he is around are very concerned about him. we met with the school and told them what procedures to take in an emergency. Never give money for the snack bar because the child may be so excited about a treat that they eat it before the teacher is aware. My son has never purchased a school lunch,and he is fine with that. I always send in his own holiday treat,and that works just fine.

Claire,
I was happy to see your post. It is great to hear from someone with a 13 year old! You've been going through it a lot longer than most of us. I hope you will post regularly! Lisa

My daughter is turning 3 in April (allergies to peanuts, eggs, & food dye's). My husband feels strongly about her attending school, although I'm wondering about home schooling. Anyone have an opion on home school? I have investigated several pre-schools. Boy, I wish there were a list of safe schools out there! Anyone want to volunteer a school they approve of (North Seattle area)? Today's I was at La Petite Academy. It turns out I just missed the Ambulance taking a peanut allergic child to the Hospital. Why? Well, they don't check the food that the parents pack for their children and two kids brought peanut butter sandwiches. The little boy is, Thank God, okay. But, what about the trauma?! This daycare/preschool has five peanut allergic kids with signs everywhere. I don't know how I can protect my daughter from all the lazy, stupid people of the world. I've also been calling private schools. It seems everyone has peanut allergic kids attending, (doesn't sound like peanut allergies are all that rare after all) but they ALL have incidents of a reaction requiring use of the epi-pen and an ambulance. Of course, I'm thankful that they are trained and competent to save lives. But, shouldn't this have been prevented in the first place?! I don't want my daughter to suffer from such devastating attacks. How do you send your kid to school? I just pray I win the lottery, if I do you'll see me on the news opening an Allergy Free School.

We are "homeschooling" our soon-to-be 3 year old- and yes, it is ENTIRELY because of the PA issues.
We had two lucky experiences with daycare providers... and only two minor reactions (contact) during the months she attended. Our daughter like daycare a lot, but she also likes being home with me.
Our daughter gets to work at her own pace, and that's OK with me. We suspect she may be gifted in mathematics (abstract/geometric thinking is apparently about third grade level right now) and she is beginning to exhibit some basic phonics skills (sounding beginning letters of words and guessing based on context). So we feel she is doing very well.
We wanted to try preschooling at home to see how well she (and I) respond to doing things this way. So this is a sort of trial. I have spent a lot of time (maybe four hours each day) doing preparation and study of my own, too, since early childhood was not my specialty. It has actually been a lot of fun to think about developmental concepts like these- but I can also see how it could be intimidating in some ways!
If you are thinking of homeschooling, this is certainly easier than ever before because of the internet and because you can buy "prepackaged" curricula now... but its probably not a bad idea to consult someone with specific early childhood training for some consultation. (Especially if your child has any other special needs- social skills or a particular academic giftedness, for example.) Even with a gifted child, though, its important to keep in mind their REAL age, and to keep instruction age-appropriate and in short sessions (our 3 year old would happily do some educational activities for several hours, but I don't always let her. I "school" for no more than two or three hours a day, and that is usually in very short increments.) With very little ones, let them have lots of free play time! And set everything up so that as soon as they tire/are finished with one thing, you can hand them something else to work on if they like.
Much of what I said here is based on my mother's advice to me (she has a MS in elementary ed and several special certifications as well, so she's a great resource for us!) lucky DD has a retired teacher for a grandma- and my mom MISSES teaching!!! (Things are looking very good from my seat right now! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] )