2 Preschool Question - Food Allergies and Will delaying until 3 be bad?

Kevin will be 2 in July. I haven't even started looking at preschool programs.

Food Allergies -
I'm nervous about sending him to preschool because of his food allergy and the fact that the school would have to know how to administer a Epi pen in case he has a reaction. Are today's preschools up-to-date on handling food allergies?

Delaying Until Three -
We've only done Mommy and Me programs, no separation classes yet and I'm worried that he's not going to handle being without me at school (I know this is stupid). Will he be behind if we wait until he turns three or do some programs have sessions that start in January?

Re: 2 Preschool Question - Food Allergies and Will delaying until 3 be bad?

Most Preschools are very well prepared to handle allergic reactions -- they are so common now!

The usual age to start preschool is 2.9 -- so waiting until next year is totally normal! This year would be early.

Re: 2 Preschool Question - Food Allergies and Will delaying until 3 be bad?

DD's school is very well trained in how to use the epi-pen. She has a kid in her class who is allergic to milk and has an epi-pen just in case. Her school is also nut free.

Re: 2 Preschool Question - Food Allergies and Will delaying until 3 be bad?

If it is a NYS licensed center, then there has to be at least one person there that has gone through a medication admininstration training class, this allows them to give your child medicine, with your permission and trians them on epi-pen.

Re: 2 Preschool Question - Food Allergies and Will delaying until 3 be bad?

My dd has severe food allergies, just had a reaction this evening from milk leftover in a kitchen sponge So I know what you mean about being so fearful of sending your child out into school.

I have my dd signed up at a local school and although I'm nervous a little, I am confident she will be in good hands.

FAs are so common nowadays I'm sure most schools are able to handle them. I would just meet with each school and speak with the director, teachers, etc and get a feel for how well they'd handle emergencies.

At our school, they have 1 class where almost half the class has FAs. So they are all trained on epipen use, benadryl, etc. I am also going to print out info from FAAN to bring to the school and the director will send out a note to the parents in the class about my dd's allergies and request that no milk be brought in for the time. Apparently this is also common for kids with FAs.

Re: 2 Preschool Question - Food Allergies and Will delaying until 3 be bad?

Hi, Ava will be 3 in July and has a peanut allergy and needs an Epi-pen.

I have really done my research on pre-schools and day care.

Most (not all) schools are peanut free. I don't know what your sons allergies are. Many schools are MAT certified and are trained on allergies and how to administer an Epi-Pen. Ava's allergist said NEVER let an allergic child be cared for at a center that is not certified!!!

Ava goes to Tutor Time in West Islip and I am very happy with them. I feel that they go above and beyond to make sure that she is safe.

I don't know where you live, but Cross of Christ in Babylon and Carousel in West Babylon both have great 2 year old programs and are MAT certified.

I try to make informed decisions when it comes to Ava's allergy, while at the same time I want her to experience everything that every other child can- just within limits...

Find a good school that understands your situation and you will feel comfortable sending that cute boy to school!!!