Trust
When Natasha was little, learning to trust others to look after her was incredibly hard. Never more so than when the time came for her to start nursery. In her first year, I took an extended maternity leave and I then managed to negotiate a four day week when I returned to work. Not going back to work was unfortunately not an option for me.
Luckily, both grandmothers (my mother and mother-in-law) were able to look after Natasha for two days a week each, so it worked out really well. I drilled them both on all aspects of food allergies and all the potential issues that could arise surrounding them. However I was still nervous about meals, so every morning I gave them the foods she would need for the day, including snacks - all they had to do was heat up her meals.
When the time came for Natasha to start nursery, I was nervous but also felt excited about this new chapter in her life that she was so ready for. We visited all the nurseries in our local area and the more we visited, the more we were discouraged. I didn't trust any of them to keep Natasha safe, mainly because there was such a lack of allergy awareness amongst the staff and no allergy policies or lacking policies in place. In many ways I maybe wasn't that surprised, just hugely disappointed - we had up until then always felt very much on our own on Natasha's often frightening allergy journey.
A Compromise
Then, we found a compromise. It was a very small, private nursery school with maybe twenty children. They didn't have the most impressive building or facilities but the staff really cared. Natasha was very allergic to milk and they were the only nursery that was happy to serve juice instead of milk mid-morning when the children were still playing. The children were given their milk when they sat down to eat lunch instead and afterwards all hands were washed before starting their afternoon activities.
Pat was their one cook and she was solely responsible for cooking the children's meals. She had very little knowledge of food allergies but she wanted Natasha to be able to eat safely whilst at nursery. We came up with a plan that she would send me the weeks lunch menu in advance. Every morning I would prepare Natasha's lunch at home and give it to Pat in tuppaware. All Pat had to do was to heat it up and I made sure it was always as close to what the other children were eating that day as possible. She also had a cupboard full of drinks and snacks for the children - snacks that were also safe for Natasha. RESULT!
She was Safe…
Natasha was safe at her nursery school, not a single accident occurred in the time that she was there. All the staff received allergy first aid training and an allergy policy that I was happy with was implemented. They had a willingness to do everything in their power to ensure Natasha's safety and inclusion, something that was seriously lacking in the other nurseries we visited at that time.
Yet I am saddened that many families are still experiencing the same or similar issues that we were in 2004. We hear too many, often frightening stories where a lack of allergy understanding in nursery schools is not safeguarding allergic children. One mother recently told us that her child's nursery school insists on letting the children run around and play whilst holding their milk cups even though her child has experienced anaphylaxis to milk. How can so little have changed in all this time?
Tanya x
