Childcare and your baby’s food allergy
Leaving your baby in someone else’s care can feel nerve wracking at the best of times. But when your baby has an allergy, this feeling can be more extreme. It’s only natural to have concerns about your baby’s wellbeing when you’re not there to look after them. But by letting your babysitter or childminder know as much as you can about your baby’s condition, you’ll be doing your best to protect them from potentially harmful situations.Whilst managing your baby’s allergy outside of the home may feel like an issue, around 7-8% of all children are actually diagnosed with food allergies. So accommodating their needs could be easier than you imagine, especially when it comes to starting nursery or spending time with a professional childminder.
Many babies attend some sort of childcare these days. So if you decide to start them at nursery you may find it reassuring to know that most are equipped to cope with children who have allergies and employ staff who are trained in allergy management.
Before you decide on a nursery, it’s a good idea to meet with staff to discuss your baby’s condition and needs. This will give you both the opportunity to work out how the environment can be made as allergen-free as possible. And it may give you the chance to find out if there are any other children with allergies in their care. If there are, you could ask staff how they deal with their allergy management on a daily basis and what they’ve done in emergency situations. Of course, this information may be confidential but they might be able to give you a general overview of the nursery’s practice and procedures, which could help put your mind at ease. It’s also advisable to provide the nursery, or anyone who looks after your baby, with a written protocol. This is a list detailing your baby’s allergies, symptoms, medication and a plan of what to do in the case of an emergency. The written protocol should be updated regularly to reflect your baby’s condition and everyone who looks after them, including family and friends, should have a copy. This will help ensure they know what to look out for and how to act if your baby comes into contact with an allergen.
Allergy UK, the leading medical charity for people with allergy food allergy, intolerance and chemical sensitivity, has a protocol template, on their website which you can download and use, along with more information about allergy protocols, which you might find useful.
In many cases the relationship between parents and child carers can become very strong as you build mutual trust and respect for one another. This can help information flow more naturally between you, so it’s worth taking your time to find the right nursery or carer for complete peace of mind.
With some extra planning and a little allergy awareness and education, there’s no reason why your baby’s social life outside of the home shouldn’t be as full and engaging as any other baby’s. But if you do have any concerns or questions, please contact our experts anytime on 0800 996 1000, or get in touch via Live Chat, our online messaging service, between 8am-8pm, Monday to Friday.