Sun Cream And Nut Allergies

[Lucy P]

Hi

 

Just after anyone else's experiences with nut allergy sufferrers and sun cream.

 

This is the first summer that we have a child in attendance who has a severe nut allergy and it has just been brought to my attention that some sun creams contain nut oil.

 

I am now worried that although the child will have suitable sun cream for herself, what about when she comes into contact with children who have had an unsuitable brand applied.

 

We ask parents to provide sun cream for each of their children to ensure that the cream is appropriate to the individual. Should i return these bottles to the parents and provide suncream from the nursery to ensure it is suitable, however, am worried that this may not be appropriate for some of our children with skin conditions.

 

HELP!!

[Panders]

That sounds a bit of a toughie!!! I would talk to the parents of the child concerned and seek their assessment of the risk and if they are unsure ask them to seek the professional judgement of their GP or consultant as to how much of a risk it would be to the child.

 

Personally, I think I would also put out details to all your parents to do their best to check the contents of their favoured sun screen for nut oils and if possible to switch to another brand if it does contain nut oil but to advise the nursery of what they have done. I think you would then have to check individual bottles just to make sure against a check list.

 

You can only do what you can do to lessen the risk, but the risk may always be set at low, rather than minimal or none at all.

[Guest]

We had a little boy with a severe nut allergy a couple of years ago and we had to be very careful.......

 

in his case just being close to someone who had used a sun lotion with nuts in would have been enough for a reaction!!

 

I think I would check with parents if it was OK to tell other parents in a letter about the possibility of reaction and get everyone to check their lotions!!

 

Good luck!

[diesel10]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, my sun has a nut allergy and I hadn't even thought of sun cream. I will be checking every bottle now!

 

I think in the case of the boy at your setting you should check with the mum / his family doctor. Its better to be safe than sorry.

[SmileyPR]

Wow! Never thought of this!

[Smiles]

A staff member of ours also told me that hand cream she used to use contained nut oil.

 

smile

[narnia]

in which case, is this child's allergy severe enough to warrant your keeping an epipen on the premises?We had a child who needed one a couple of years ago, and the nurse at our GP surgery showed us how to use it and gave us a letter to prove we had been trained.

[Lucy P]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

 

Yes Narnia, the allergy is severe and we do have an epipen. Unfortunately the nurse who trained us didn't mention anything other than foods so we were not aware of this!

 

The child in question is currently stuck in the carribean due to the cancelled flights, so will not be back with us for another week, which will give me a bit more time to research this.

 

Smiles, thanks for mentioning hand creams, i will look into this too. I am now wondering about nappy creams, ezcema creams etc!

 

I will let you all know if i come up with any other info!

[Guest Spiral]

Hi Lucy,

 

I've attached an allergen checklist, although it mostly covers foods, it does give the other terms used for the same allergens. It's a scanned in doc and is a little blurred, sorry,

 

Spiral.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Spiral

[Cait]

Thanks for that, Spiral, it's a good start, have you any info for coeliacs from the same source? If not I may be able to find some - you'd be amazed at where gluten can turn up!