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Gluten Free Preschool Nyc - Need Parents Input!

Sofire

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Sofire Newbie
Sofire
Posted

I am creating a gluten-free preschool and would like additional parental input and suggestions before its launch.

About me

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StephanieL Enthusiast
StephanieL
Posted

I think it's a nice idea. I would worry about the liability of the claim "gluten free" but I am sure you have already dealt with that!

1) No home baked products brought in (even better if school parties/birthdays were no food for other allergies!)

2) Practicing good hygiene with proper hand washing and stuff.

3) Vett all art supplies well!

4) Advanced notice of special activities involving food.

Must of this is all stuff you already know though :)

Sofire Newbie
Sofire
Posted
  • Author

Thank you very much for your feedback! Actually, I hadn

mamaupupup Contributor
mamaupupup
Posted

:) You could always call it "virtually" gluten free or "as gluten free as we can be" or something similar. A good lawyer can help you iron it out and write a good disclaimer for parents to sign

Hidden sources of gluten:

- ALL pet foods in our house had to be replaced: aquarium fish flakes, dog food, bird seed, etc. There are fine replacements, we just had to carefully investigate.

- Medications

- Art supplies

- Play makeup (check on face paint)

You'll have to take a stand on things like oats or take the safest/most conservative stance.

Our kids do an outdoor preschool and we've had no gluten issues--lots of time outside is always good!

Wish you lived near us!

Sofire Newbie
Sofire
Posted
  • Author

Thank you sooo much! I had not thought of fish flakes! I will also have to reexamine the first aid kit! The feedback I have gotten has been invaluable!

You sound like you

mamaupupup Contributor
mamaupupup
Posted

:) Our girls have been recently diagnosed, so we are being conservative to start. We want to give their guts time to heal. For now, we are not feeding them oats. Over time (6-12 months) we will likely do a trial with certified gluten free oats. I have heard that some kiddos have a hard time at first but over time may be able to eat oats. I believe the oat-intolerance rate among Celiacs is about 5%.

...let me know when you decide to Homeschool ;) We are heading that direction with our kiddos!

Also, we had an excellent experience sendng the girls to our natural history museum's spring break camp. So you get the parent's perspective, here is the initial note I sent setting expectations:

I want to confirm that you know that A and B both have Celiac Disease. (We have had some additional medical diagnostics since the time of registration-so some of this will be in addition to what I entered when we registered).

Celiac Disease is hereditary and is not communicable. Celiac Disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to ingesting gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and some oats.

The best way to understand this is to think of a virus. Our immune systems are designed to kill a single virus. A crumb of gluten is enormous by comparison. The girls' immune systems won't miss a trace of gluten, and when their immune systems find gluten, it gets confused and damages their small intestine. This damage causes malabsorption and increases their risk of cancers and other autoimmune diseases.

From a practical standpoint at camp, please do the following:

1) Do not expose A and B to gluten.

2) Please have A and B wash their hands thoroughly before eating.

3) Please thoroughly wash any surface where they will work, play or eat if there is any chance gluten has touched that surface.

4) Allow A and B to use the restroom any time they request it.

5) Inform me of any exposures, concerns, or questions.

Thank you very much for taking good care of A and B and all the children you work with.

Sincerely,

Me

Other facts about gluten and Celiac Disease:

Sofire Newbie
Sofire
Posted
  • Author

Wow!!! Thank you very much! What an EXCELLENT letter! I will be using it as a reference for the development of a staff

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kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

Wow!!! Thank you very much! What an EXCELLENT letter! I will be using it as a reference for the development of a staff

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    • knitty kitty
      Son's legs shaking

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Blood tests for thiamine are unreliable.  The nutrients from your food get absorbed into the bloodstream and travel around the body.  So, a steak dinner can falsely raise thiamine blood levels in the following days.  Besides, thiamine is utilized inside cells where stores of thiamine are impossible to measure. A better test to ask for is the Erythrocyte Transketolace Activity test.  But even that test has been questioned as to accuracy.  It is expensive and takes time to do.   Because of the discrepancies with thiamine tests and urgency with correcting thiamine deficiency, the World Health Organization recommends giving thiamine for several weeks and looking for health improvement.  Thiamine is water soluble, safe and nontoxic even in high doses.   Many doctors are not given sufficient education in nutrition and deficiency symptoms, and may not be familiar with how often they occur in Celiac disease.  B12 and Vitamin D can be stored for as long as a year in the liver, so not having deficiencies in these two vitamins is not a good indicator of the status of the other seven water soluble B vitamins.  It is possible to have deficiency symptoms BEFORE there's changes in the blood levels.   Ask your doctor about Benfotiamine, a form of thiamine that is better absorbed than Thiamine Mononitrate.  Thiamine Mononitrate is used in many vitamins because it is shelf-stable, a form of thiamine that won't break down sitting around on a store shelf.  This form is difficult for the body to turn into a usable form.  Only thirty percent is absorbed in the intestine, and less is actually used.   Thiamine interacts with all of the other B vitamins, so they should all be supplemented together.  Magnesium is needed to make life sustaining enzymes with thiamine, so a magnesium supplement should be added if magnesium levels are low.   Thiamine is water soluble, safe and nontoxic even in high doses.  There's no harm in trying.
    • lizzie42
      Son's legs shaking

      By lizzie42 · Posted

      Neither of them were anemic 6 months after the Celiac diagnosis. His other vitamin levels (d, B12) were never low. My daughters levels were normal after the first 6 months. Is the thiamine test just called thiamine? 
    • knitty kitty
      Son's legs shaking

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Yes, I do think they need a Thiamine supplement at least. Especially since they eat red meat only occasionally. Most fruits and vegetables are not good sources of Thiamine.  Legumes (beans) do contain thiamine.  Fruits and veggies do have some of the other B vitamins, but thiamine B 1 and  Cobalamine B12 are mostly found in meats.  Meat, especially organ meats like liver, are the best sources of Thiamine, B12, and the six other B vitamins and important minerals like iron.   Thiamine has antibacterial and antiviral properties.  Thiamine is important to our immune systems.  We need more thiamine when we're physically ill or injured, when we're under stress emotionally, and when we exercise, especially outside in hot weather.  We need thiamine and other B vitamins like Niacin B 3 to keep our gastrointestinal tract healthy.  We can't store thiamine for very long.  We can get low in thiamine within three days.  Symptoms can appear suddenly when a high carbohydrate diet is consumed.  (Rice and beans are high in carbohydrates.)  A twenty percent increase in dietary thiamine causes an eighty percent increase in brain function, so symptoms can wax and wane depending on what one eats.  The earliest symptoms like fatigue and anxiety are easily contributed to other things or life events and dismissed.   Correcting nutritional deficiencies needs to be done quickly, especially in children, so their growth isn't stunted.  Nutritional deficiencies can affect intelligence.  Vitamin D deficiency can cause short stature and poor bone formation.   Is your son taking anything for the anemia?  Is the anemia caused by B12 or iron deficiency?  
    • lizzie42
      Son's legs shaking

      By lizzie42 · Posted

      Thank you! That's helpful. My kids eat very little processed food. Tons of fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs and occasional red meat. We do a lot of rice and bean bowls, stir fry, etc.  Do you think with all the fruits and vegetables they need a vitamin supplement? I feel like their diet is pretty healthy and balanced with very limited processed food. The only processed food they eat regularly is a bowl of Cheerios here and there.  Could shaking legs be a symptom of just a one-time gluten exposure? I guess there's no way to know for sure if they're getting absolutely zero exposure because they do go to school a couple times a week. We do homeschool but my son does a shared school 2x a week and my daughter does a morning Pre-K 3 x a week.  At home our entire house is strictly gluten free and it is extremely rare for us to eat out. If we eat at someone else's house I usually just bring their food. When we have play dates we bring all the snacks, etc. I try to be really careful since they're still growing. They also, of course, catch kids viruses all the time so I  want to make sure I know whether they're just sick or they've had gluten. It can be pretty confusing when they're pretty young to even be explaining their symptoms! 
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      Anti-endomysial Antibody (EMA) Testing

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      That is interesting, and it's the first time I heard about the umbilical cord beings used for that test. Thanks for sharing!
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