Childcare issues with anaphylactic kids

[JenM]

Hi all,

Just wanted to get a thread started to discuss childcare issues.

Sam (now aged 2 years) entered childcare at 10 months, at about the time we discovered his severe food allergies. We found the care he received and the dedication to keeping him safe just wonderful whilst he was in the Baby Room and, as he grew, the Junior and Senior Nursery rooms. However, since his 2nd birthday, and being put up into the Toddler Room (for kids aged 2 and 3), we have become increasingly nervous about his safety. Suspect it is more to do with his growing independence and the increased supervision it takes to keep him safe than to do with any lowering in standards at the childcare centre. However, a new centre director with a seemingly lower understanding of allergies, combined with the fact that being down to one day a week at childcare means that his allergies are less ever-present in the minds of the carers don't help us feel more secure about his safety.

We have decided to withdraw him from his one day a week in childcare for the time being, as I am at home with our new baby girl.

Would love to hear any experiences others have had with childcare, and the changing levels of supervision required as our little ones get older....

[nemosmum]

Hmmm this must be very scary for you, my son has allergies too and has been hospitalized several times because of them but thankfully he is not anaphalactic:hugs:

I work in childcare and at my centre we take alot of precautions to keep children safe.
These measures dont vary from room to room, all the teachers are aware of the seriousness of allergies and have training to be able to deal with any emergencies etc

But like you say some people are still very blase about allergies which is really frustrating.

It took a letter from my sons paed. at the allergy clinic he attended for some staff members to take my sons allergies seriously:no:

My only advice is too go with what works for you, if you dont feel comfortable leaving him in care then dont,

I hope things work out for you.

[JenM]

Thanks so much for your post. I really like the idea of getting a letter from the allergy specialist to help drive home the seriousness of the allergies to the childcare director. I think some people really do think we are over-reacting, so I think a letter from a specialist would help.

To be honest, we do feel that the workers themselves are fully aware and very careful, but we do have concerns about temporary staff (of which there seems to be a lot at the moment) and also are concerned as the centre director seems comfortable with only a couple of staff having had EpiPen training, whereas we'd like every member of staff to have the training.

As you say, we just have to go with what feels right, and at the moment that means no more childcare. Find it a bit sad for Sam as he is very open, sociable little man who really enjoyed his time at childcare, but I am planning to enrol in a playgroup and/or some fun toddler music/dance groups, so hopefully we can give him the social outlets elsewhere.

[PhAnToM]

Hi JenM.
My DD has anaphylactic reaction to nuts. She is now 3.5 yo, but started childcare a year ago. While in the Toddler room there was one carer who ws absolutely fantastic. She would read EVERYTHING 100 times before allowing my daughter to go anywhere near it. If something appeared to be questionable, she would turn the kitchen upside down to find something she can make to replace the meal. (why they were making things for little kids that may have nuts in it, is beyond me. :confused:
But she was great and would often tell me "I had to make a jam sandwich for her because the others were eating cake and i didn't want to give it to her."

The director i thought was a little blaze about it. So I made a point of expressing how concerned I was. We had found out about the anaphylaxis through hospitalisation a year earlier, so i didn't want to live through that again.

Anyway, I had always ensured they had the epipen jr... but i made a point to give them the action plan and also arranged a day and time i could go in and train EVERYONE in the centre on what to look for and what to do.
Other than the director, everyone was great and showed heaps of attention. Tge Director seemed to think in such a case, someone else would worry about it. Thankfully she left a couple weeks ago and one of the others that has always been great with DD (and better suited to the job) has taken over. She has stuck the Epipen in a place they could all see it and grab it quickly in the kitchen. (when i went to train, i asked for the epipen, and found it took them nearly 10 mins to find it iin one of ther medication icecream containers. Now we all know, THAT'S NO ON!!! :shame: Had they needed i, it would have been too late! :mad:

Anyway, the new director has suggested they make the centre a Nut Free Zone. And DD is very aware of the nut situation and has always known to question things given to her before touching it and eating it. I try to provide alternative sweets for her when i think there is a brithday cake or something coming also.

But I would make sure you provide a very clear and detailed Action Plan. More to bring attention to the importance and care they need to show.
It's a shame you will have to Sam out of there.

It's so hard dealing withe such severe allergies, isn't it? :thumbsdown:

Good Luck!

[nemosmum]

Our whole centre had to go through training re: anaphalaxis and epi pen etc when one child was diagnosed since then we have three children who are anaphalactic.
Every staff member had to attend the free training session (even our casual staff) other wise we had to go get training and pay for it ourselves (a great way to get everyone there LOL;) )

Our centre is a nut free zone and parents/visitors can hardly miss all the signs up lol they are everywhere.

The meals are prepared by our cook who has a list of all childrens allergies.

Each room has an updated action plan for individual children who are anaphalactic, this plan also has a photo of that child on it so every staff member from different rooms knows what the child looks like iykwim.

But of course we cant control everything, I always worry that some one will feed their child peanut butter for breakie and come in with a trace of nuts on their breath etc it is very scary!

[JenM]

It is a constant worry, isn't it? But at least your centre sounds prepared if anything happens, which must help you feel a lot more comfortable. As they say, the best thing is to prevent an anaphylactic episode, but if it does happen the next best thing is to be prepared to treat it quickly and calmly.

Our latest fright was the day that we dropped our little man off, and 2 of the usual 3 staff in his room were sick, leaving him to be cared for by 2 very young temp staff and one of his usual carers. We spent the whole day worrying (and ringing the centre!), and thankfully he was fine. We spoke to the centre director who assured us she had spoken to the temps before we even arrived, but speaking to the girls themselves didn't make us confident that they understood the seriousness of the issue.

Does your centre have a written or at least a set policy for educating temporary staff the minute they walk in the door? I'd like to work with our centre to get some set policies, and would love to hear if anyone already has something like that.

[nemosmum]

We have permanent casuals to fill in when the staff are programming and we also have two full time staff who are floaters and fill in for people who are sick or on a RDO.

Thats the good thing about our centre all the staff are regulars iykwim and parents see the permanent casuals around a fair bit coz we are such a big centre there is always some one having an RDO etc

But like i said every staff member needed to attend the free training session before the child started at our centre. We havent had any new staff start since then But I imagine they would have to undergo the same training.

[JenM]

Sounds like you have a wonderful centre there. I love the idea of permanent casuals and the floating staff too. It would be so good to know that everyone that was going to be caring for Sam had full knowledge of his allergies and what to do in case of emergency. I also read on another forum or blog the suggestion that the centre has an "Epipen drill", much like a fire drill, to ensure that everyone knows what to do, where to find the pen, etc. Great idea.

Had a long chat with the centre director on Friday, and they have decided that all staff will be getting training for Epipen use (finally!). They will be doing this in a few weeks time. This is a great relief to us, and I'm sure to the 3 other parents of anaphylaxis kids at the same centre. We are more comfortable now that he would be safe and may consider putting him back in there later this year, as he really does love it there. For the time being I'm keeping him home with me!