Do you personally feel that your child/you are at ANY risk if he/she is around a "may contain" item or do you only feel that there is a risk if you/your child actually ingests a "may contain" item?
Personally, and simply IMHO, I do feel there is still the 1 in 5 chance of there being peanut residue left behind. Not comfortable with that for my son.
He's not comfortable with that for himself. Yesterday, both children purchased pre-made loot bags which were labeled on the outside but then the candy inside was again labeled.
The caramels were "may contain". Jesse grabbed them (2 of his, 2 of his sister's), threw them in the garbage and went and washed his hands.
I told him not to freak out, that there was only a 1 in 5 chance that the caramels had traces of peanuts and even then, they were still wrapped.
There was a gum filled lolly in the loot bag as well and it was not labeled at all. Jesse gave me his.
This comes to me from questions being raised on the board in other threads, and it is a pretty common question. What to do about those pesky "may contains" especially in school situations?
I also saw it again to-day, when I went on the field trip with Jesse, that there were a lot of "may contain" products in the snacks/lunches of his classmates.
To me, it seems like a no-win situation (or I'm not winning anyway).
But that's not the question. Do you feel there is ANY risk involved in you/your child being near a "may contain" or do you have to actually ingest it and then consider a 1 in 5 chance of risk?
Many thanks and best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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![http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]](http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]){kind=link}
Personally, I feel there is only a risk if I ingest it. And the only reaction I've had was when I did ingest it.
I have may contains in my home all the time. The only thing I don't allow is store bought bread products because in my personal experience they almost always have enough sesame seed to send me into ana. shock. (Been there, done that [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img] ).
But I have a question for you. I realize Jesse threw them out (and if it were my son I wouldn't have argued about it) but you weren't comfortable with them in your home either. But, they were in a bag with other candy that he ate. If I weren't comfortable with them in my home, or with other people eating them, I wouldn't eat the other candy that they were rubbing against.
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On a personal note; I know you didn't argue with Jesse about throwing out the candy. I stated that I wouldn't argue because, since I'm telling you I'm comfortable with may contains in my home I also wanted to state that if it were my child who was pa and he/she was not comfortable I would not force him/her to live with may contains in our home. Like you, I would have told him not to freak out, but I would not have argued about throwing them out.
Also, not arguing about whether the other candy in the bag was safe or not. Just that following the logic of may contains being dangerous in the house, I PERSONALLY feel their biggest danger is what they have been rubbing against.
I personally am okay with "may contains" in my home - but not with Cam ingesting them.
I have always allowed everyone else to eat may contains around Cameron - Cameron has touched many times "may contain" products and it has never been a concern to me. This is by my experience only, he has never reacted to may contains - if he were to have unexplained reactions, then after exhausting all other possibilities, I would then have to reconsider the may contains.
[img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
I am okay with 'may contains'. I have been around them and have never had any problem.
I would not eat them, but I have never been concerned about being near them.
When I was in high school, I worked in the school store and we sold chocolate bars (including bars with peanuts - Snickers, Oh Henry, etc)... handling these bars never caused me a problem, although I was quite good at hand washing (and still am).
And we did not eat any products in the store.
I am comfortable with them and will allow my non-PA son to eat them. My PA daughter, however, is not and feels it is absolutely necessary that he wash his hands immediately. She is very cautious around may contains at school as well. Since she is taking more ownership for her allergy now, I feel her comfort zone is the important one, not mine so we respect her need to be careful.
deb
Since my daughter is only 2.5 years old now, I am not comfortable with may contains. I have to worry about keeping her away from medications and cleaning products, I don;t want to have to worry about Candy Bars too. She is going to be in many places where people are going to be eating things that she cannot have, I don;t want to have to experience that in my hoome. In addition, when my in-laws babysit, they know that everything is ok for her to eat.
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Ellen
Allergic to Shellfish/ Mom to Jesse 9/01 who has PA
The reason I keep "may contains" out of my home is just loyalty to my son. I just feel it is safer all around to keep the home his one island of total safety.
This means I bump up against grandma all the time since she gets pi**y if I throw food away, or even give it away. But I think the message to my son is more important.
Peg
I realize I did not answer your question.
No, I do not feel that DS is at risk if may contain foods are around. We all feel more comfortable though if they are NOT around.
I do agree with AnnaMarie, if they are rubbing up against any other foods then watch out, so I keep them out of the house period.
And in the dead of night if I sneak very quietly down to my pantry I find all sorts of foods "rubbing up against" each other!
Peg
I don't feel my child is at risk with "may contain" foods in our home. We do have many "may contain" foods around. We eat these foods around him and we are all comfortable with that. If we are having something he can't have, I always make sure there is something extra special for him. We have always done it this way, and I do discuss it with him now and then to be sure he's comfortable with how we're handling it.
Quote:Originally posted by Peg541:
[b]And in the dead of night if I sneak very quietly down to my pantry I find all sorts of foods "rubbing up against" each other!
[/b]
ROFL [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/biggrin.gif[/img]
I keep 'may contain' items out of our house. I too feel the need to know that my house is the safest it can be.
However I don't freak out on simply being around 'may contain' items. For example a birthday party where the cake came from a bakery but doesn't actually have nuts. Of course I don't allow my son to eat the cake but I'm fine with him being around others eating the cake.
I too would have done what Jesse did and just throw away the uncertain candy and be comfortable giving Dougie the rest of the candy to eat.
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Cher ~
Dougie 12/14/01
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