Thankful Thursday - Food Allergies

Today I want to show my thanks and appreciation to the school Little M will be starting at in the fall.  It is a Catholic elementary school with a *fabulous* reputation.  It's been around forever and my mom actually graduated from there!  It was everything I wanted and more for my little girl.  But I was still scared.

Because not only do I have my very first baby going off to preschool {EVERYDAY!!} but that precious sweet babe of mine also has a sever peanut allergy.  And the thought of handing her over to complete strangers who might not respect the severity of her allergy was enough for me to start researching homeschooling.  But I know plenty of people with epi pens, and they all made it through school unscathed, so I had to keep hope.

A few weeks ago the school had an orientation for all preschool parents.  Skip had to work so it was just me heading over.  I was determined to get some concrete ideas and plans of how they would handle Little M's allergy.  And yes I know lots of kids have peanut allergies these days, but it's MY baby we're talking about.  I also get a little more nervous since she will break out in hives if she even touches it, or touches a kid who just ate it, or touches a toy that a kid who just ate it touched. 

I brought the issue up twice that night, once in the classroom with the teacher and other parents, and again with the principal and head of the early education department.  They could not be more wonderful.  I felt validated in my concerns, and they kept promising they would take good care of her.  Because it's a Catholic school, and not public, it's really up to them to set their own policy on this...it's not state mandated there.

This is the plan we have come up with.
- One of her epi pens will be kept in the nurse's office and the other will be kept in the classroom.  When the class goes to specials {gym, art, music, etc} the classroom epi pen will go with her.
- Both the nurse and teacher are certified to use the epi pen
- I can also send in Little M's Benedryl to be kept in the classroom
- Little M will wear her "peanut allergy" medic bracelet every day to remind everyone
- I will send in separate snacks for Little M on days of kids birthdays.  I will leave a back-up snack there in case I forget to do this
- Nothing the teacher or school will give her has nuts of any kind
- The principal and teacher asked parents to NOT bring in snacks with birthday parties and will remind them through the year {I will still send in the snack though in case they forget}
- Anytime Little M's goes on a field trip {this is a school wide policy} Skip or I has to go as well, or she is not allowed to go....this was something we were going to insist on anyway, so I'm really happy that they have this policy.

I felt soooo much better after I talked to everyone.  Things will change a bit when she goes to pre-k 4 {she'll be in the 3 class in September} as that is an all day class involving lunch.  Next year will be a nice transition in with just half-days and no lunch to worry about.

So other food allergy moms, what policies do your schools have?  Is there anything I should discuss with the teacher that I'm missing?