Food Allergies & Play dates

[luckyno7]

My 5 yo is allergic to peanuts and eggs. Anytime we've we played with other kids it's been with friends so we all hang out together. He's now started to get invited to other kids homes from preschool for play dates and birthday parties.
My only concern is we are not always invited. He's only had 1 reaction when we first discovered he was allergic.

What do you do to prep your child? Right now he knows to ask me if something has nuts, but I am sure if there is a lot of excitement he may not remember to ask another adult.

What do you say to the parents? This is probably my worst fear. It's hard to let go, but I know I can't be there 100% of the time.

Thanks.

[sjh722]

"Sure, Bobby would love to come over. I should let you know he's allergic to peanuts and eggs. If you'd like, I can send a few safe snacks along for him."

I don't know how severe his allergy is, if you have to read food labels closely to avoid cross-contamination, or if it's just that he can't eat something with peanuts or eggs in it? My nephew is allergic to certain milk proteins, but he can have butter - my SIL just told me what to look for on the labels. I would think most people don't mind doing that?

[lurknomore]

A friend of DDs has celiac. I know about it so I asked ahead of time if certain snacks were ok. She also sent 2 bags of a popcorn thing that were ok-one for each of the girls. I would suggest letting the patent know as well as sending something safe for your S to share. I was prob overly stressed that I would give the friend something she couldn't have, even tho id cleared some things with her mom ahead of time.

Eta: same friend also brought her own cupcake to DD's bday party. It was no big deal at all.

[Deleted]

Ditto the pp.
I'd just say, "He would love to join you. Just so you know he has a pretty severe allergy. I would appreciate it if you'd look for X,Y,Z on the labels or don't feed him G H F. I'd be happy to send a treat along."

And your kid might be better about it than you think, so keep practicing and encouraging. My nephew who is 6 has some pretty severe allergies and he's great about "I don't think I can eat that. Do you have Y instead, thank you." or "What did you put in this when you make it?"

[InBetweenDays]

Anytime we have a child over that I don't know well I ask the parents if they have any food allergies or restrictions.

If they don't ask you I'd definitely let the parents know.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using proboards

[redpenmama]

I would definitely tell the parents. I would want to know if a kid I was having over had a food allergy. I tend to not serve anything with peanuts out of caution these days, but knowing any specific allergies would certainly be helpful. I wouldn't be put off if you told me -- I would appreciate it.

[meij]

My daughter is also allergic to peanuts so I understand the fear!

I'd of course tell the parents and offer to supply the snack (for both kids so they are eating the same thing). And tell her not to feed him anything else.

Does he carry an epi pen? You'll also have to make sure she knows how to use it and is comfortable doing so. It sucks because they need to know all this stuff but you also don't want to make hosting him a stressful thing so he doesn't get left our

[MadamePresident]

I always ask about food in advance and almost always bring my own for my kid. People try to understand food allergies, but depending on what it is, they don't always get it.

[SpartanGirl]

I think letting the parents know and offering to provide snack are great ideas. I always ask about food allergies when we have a new friend over.

DS has a friend that carries an epipen for nut allergies. The first time she came over her mom gave me a quick lesson on when and how to use the epipen and brought over snacks. It was totally fine. I think (hope?) a lot of parents are more aware of food allergies these days and will be cautious if given a heads up.

[beefjerky]

Two of my boys have celiac and my oldest also has a dairy allergy. I send food with them and let the other parents know. We've actually never had any issues with play dates or parties. School is another story though, ha ha.

[cinco]

We used to tell the parent and provide an extra snack and Benadryl just in case. Now that she is older (8.5) she will read the ingredients on her own. We had a friend over the other day and her mom packed her some snacks b/c she prefers organic and no dyes. Sounds good to me, b/c I'm not sure what I would have given her. I have nut free, egg free, dairy free thanks to my girls and their allergies, but we don't always have organic.

[zeewifeandmama]

Jan 17, 2015 9:27:10 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

"Sure, Bobby would love to come over. I should let you know he's allergic to peanuts and eggs. If you'd like, I can send a few safe snacks along for him."

I don't know how severe his allergy is, if you have to read food labels closely to avoid cross-contamination, or if it's just that he can't eat something with peanuts or eggs in it? My nephew is allergic to certain milk proteins, but he can have butter - my SIL just told me what to look for on the labels. I would think most people don't mind doing that?

This is what I'd like to hear as a parent. I think just giving a heads up to the parents is fine.

[h]

I have a 7 yo with a nut allergy. I just let the other parent know that he has a severe nut allergy and that he has an epipen on him. My DS is really good about asking if something has nuts before eating it. I would work on training him to ask--the sooner you feel like he is on too of his own allergy, the less nervous you will be letting him go out on his own.

[ECB]

I'm cooking a GF pizza as we speak because DS (who has celiac) has a party to go to in 2 hours. So... as you see, I send food with him. DS is 6 and is a very good advocate for himself. He won't eat anything that he doesn't KNOW he can eat.

For playdates, I'll let the parents know and I usually just SAY "I'll send a safe snack for him" even if they'll have stuff he can eat. And for parties, I say "don't include him in the head count for food- we'll supply his food".