More Considerations for Accommodating an Allergic Child

Last week, I wrote a post about accommodating a child in one of my classes with wheat allergies by making cookies with spelt flour. Through the resulting discussion, I got to know about Gina Clowes and her site for families with allergies, Allergy Moms.

The point of my post, was to let other parents know that making a small change to include someone who is often excluded is no big deal. Gina told me that most parents who have food allergic kids would prefer you not bake or cook for them due to the risk of cross-contamination.

There is a lot to consider.

Any surfaces, tools and utensils you use must be absolutely clean. “It really requires knowledge that every single item has to be 100% free of any contamination,” says Gina.

Then, you have to be certain to use only new packages or containers of ingredients. If you’re baking for a child with wheat allergies, for example, use a fresh tub of margarine or package of butter to ensure that there aren’t toast crumbs in it.

Gina says preparation is everything.

“Let’s say you want to use strawberry jelly in a thumbprint cookie. You use all safe and clean utensils and bowls. However, you made a peanut butter sandwich the week before and you dipped the knife into the jelly jar after you put the peanutbutter on the sandwich. You cant see anything. You cant taste anything but that amount of contamination could be deadly,” says Gina. ” Dr Robert Woods once had to give himself 5 shots of epinephrine once after he took a bite of a cookie that was lifted off a cookie sheet by a contaminated spatula that had previously been used on peanut butter cookies,” Gina told me.

If you’ve decided that making cookies at home is too risky for an allergic child at school or daycare, go shopping for ready-made treats to take and share for your own child’s birthday.
“Sometimes buying specialty products is often the best of both words,” says Gina. “There are even products like popsicles, or popcorn balls or certain candies that are safe for almost all allergies and some are produced in facilities with out other major allergens.”

As long as you do your research, specialty products need not be a lot more expensive than regular brands. Nestlé Canada, for example, maintains a peanut-free facility for the production of Aero, Kit Kat, Coffee Crisp and Smarties.