How Did Your Child's School Keep Him/her gluten-free In The Cafeteria?

[cgsimon]

Newbie here...please help!

My 5yr old daughter starts Kindergarten in August and I'm stressing out for her. The school has safety measures for peanut allergies - they have a designated "peanut-free" table in the cafeteria! Plus, the lunch menu is peanut-free. But the school has never dealt with gluten allergy before...the school menu is loaded with gluten-laden food! She knows cheating on her diet makes her sick, but if a Kindergarten classmate offers a cupcake, I don't think she'll resist. I hope she does, but I'm doubtful.

Anyone have experience with this? What did your school do? What did you do? Any advice or experiences would be so helpful!

Celina

blood test/biopsy dx 06/2004

Meagan

blood test dx 1/2006

[Guest nini]

my daughter is in kindergarten and coming to the end of her first year of public school... she's been gluten-free for 3 years. I pack her lunch every day, she knows she can get milk and vanilla ice cream from the lunch line but everything else is off limits. She freaks if someone even spills something near her that MIGHT have gluten, so I don't worry about her taking anything offered to her. She did that in preschool... ONCE. A friend offered her an Oreo and she had ONE bite before the teacher realized what had happened and took it from her, she ended up having such terrible gas, bloating, cramps and diarrhea from that one incident that she is terrified of it happening again.

One of the ways that I help her feel more "normal" is her teacher sends home the school menu every month and I try to prepare lunches that are as close to what the other kids are having as possible, or even better! She has done really well with this all on her own, I think you have to put some of the responsibility on her. She has to be aware what could happen if she "cheats".

Her teacher also sends home a list of birthdays and they have a snack calendar, and on the birthday days I send a gluten-free cupcake in with her, I supplied the teacher with a box to keep by the teachers desk of gluten-free snacks for her to have when the other kids bring in the class snack. When it's her turn I let her pick something normal that is naturally gluten-free that she can share with her classmates. Her teacher gave me the option of opting out of the snack calendar, but I felt that it would be good for her to share her snacks like the rest of the kids, she just knows that she can't have most of the snacks that the other kids bring in.

I did send in a letter at the beginning of the year to the other parents about snacks that would be safe for her IF they chose to send in that type of snack... but told them no obligation... it amazed me how many parents do try to send in snacks that she can have.

you just have to maintain constant communication with the school and the teachers and even the school nurse, there are some letters that you can print out for school staff... if you want them I'll find them for you.

my husband reminded me that you need to be aware of is PLAY DOH! Regular Play Doh has gluten in it and they get it all over their hands and little hands end up in little mouths and voila! gluten. I have a recipe for gluten-free playdough that I made at the beginning of the year and supplied the class with enough play dough for the year. I also provided a variety of gluten-free dried pasta noodles for crafts...