Food Allergies and School: Back-to-School Checklist

Back- to-school time is exciting but for the parent dealing with food allergies, elementary school or any new school can be scary to contemplate. After all, you'll be dropping your child off at school with the knowledge that they will be around food and situations that may pose risks. I've found that early communication and check-ins throughout the year help to minimize those risks and situations.

If you keep open communication with the school and stay on top of things like parties, you will be one step closer to ensuring a safe and enjoyable school year for you, your child, the teacher and everyone in the class.

Late summer is a good time to get started -- for those of you who begin school in mid-August, you'll obviously want to get in touch sometime in July. If your school office is currently closed, try setting up meetings via e-mail for later in the summer. The important thing is to make contact early so that you can iron out details before the first day of school.

Here are a few things to do well before school begins:

•Schedule any doctor's appointments and have your allergist complete important paperwork such as Food Allergy Action Plans, notes and other medical documents that you need for the school nurse (such as an Individual Health Plan (IHP) or a 504 Plan. Make sure to include recent photo of your child (such as a school portrait) that can be glued/taped onto their emergency plan. FARE has Food Allergy Emergency Action Plans on their web site. Click this link and scroll down: you'll find many school resources here.

•Schedule a meeting with the principal and district nurse to take place before school begins. Many schools offer these meetings for parents to discuss everything at one time. This meeting would also be a time to discuss things like peanut-free tables or restricting certain foods in the classroom. You will usually need a doctor's note to back this up attesting to the severity of your child's allergies, so be ready with any documentation about reactions or allergy tests.

• Review your current epinephrine auto injector prescriptions and renew them if necessary. Have at least TWO auto injectors for school--one for the health office and one for your child's classroom.

•Make sure your child has a Medical ID bracelet (or other medical ID jewelry)such as you'll find at MedicAlert (www.medicalert.org) or Allermates. If your child feels fashionable, her or she will be more excited about wearing this important item.

•Stock up on lunch gear for all those packed lunches you'll be making. I love all of the eco-friendly (and cost-saving) reusable lunch container choices out there right now. The "bento style" lunch containers look cool for kids plus they keep your costs down--no more buying disposable bags. Check Target, Whole Foods and online at places like Lunch Bots.

Food Allergies When Crisis Hits: Emergency Preparedness Is a Must

I had another post planned for today but the tsunami in Japan got me thinking about so many things. My heart goes out to everyone who has been touched by this tragedy, including those in the affected U.S. regions who must now wait out the oncoming storm. I hope they are all safe.

This incident reminded me of a post I did when we were hit with severe weather that caused lengthy power outages here in Chicago. Luckily, this was nothing like what they are facing in Japan or in other places where earthquakes have occured, thank goodness. However, when you've got food allergies in your family, more common weather emergencies like hurricanes, flooding, blizzards and tornadoes require a bit more preparation.

Weather disasters and other emergencies aren't pleasant to think about but since they don't happen when you expect them, it's best to be ready.

Here's a few tips for keeping on top of food allergies in an emergency:

1. Have a good stock of "safe," non-perishable food items that can be eaten by the entire family. Soy milk (if you can have it) doesn't require refrigeration and bottled water is always good to have on hand in case you can't use your tap water for any reason. I like to have cereal, crackers, pretzels and slow-spoiling fruits like apples and bananas on hand in case of a blackout. SunButter, if you can eat it, is also good to have as is non-refrigerated cheese and crackers (if you aren't allergic to dairy). Anything from Enjoy Life like trail mix and granola is safe for the Top 8 food allergens, gluten and sesame. These foods will keep well and give you much-needed energy if you are low on food and stressed.

2. Make sure all your prescriptions are up-to-date and well-stocked. Check to make sure that you have several epinephrine auto-injectors, a bottle of Benadryl and whatever asthma or seasonal allergies your child needs well before a crisis hits. In the event of extreme bad weather, you may not be able to renew these prescriptions in a timely manner, so get them now. Keep them in a plastic resealable bag so they don't get wet.

3. Keep a nice supply of cleaning wipes and antibacterial hand wipes. If the worst happens and you have to leave your home for any reason, you'll be able to remove allergenic residue from surfaces. In addition, hand and face wipes will come in handy for personal use.

4. Get the "Go Bag" ready. At a FAAN Conference I attended a couple of years ago (sign up now for the 2011 FAAN conferences coming up soon!), a dad who used to work with NYC on Emergency Preparedness discussed the need for a "Go Bag" that you have ready for your child in a convenient area of your home. This bag would contain up-to-date medications in addition to safe, unperishable foods and drinks.