Kids Food Allergies Blog

For those of you still planning to fly with food allergic children this summer — I urge you to check out an interview on traveling with children with severe food allergies on the DeliciousBaby.com blog.

Some of the tips are straightforward common sense to those of us who have been doing this for some time.  But other recommendations made me think.  Of particular interest to me was the documentation recommended we have on hand about our children at all times.  It’s precisely the information schools are asking for that I cannot provide.  (What will happen to the child if allergen X is inhaled, touched, or ingested.)  The more vigilant we are as parents in removing these allergens from our children’s lives to create safe environments for them — the more difficult it is to predict how that child will react under conditions to which they have not been exposed.

He also offers some smart suggestions on things I never thought about: choose flights in the morning to avoid allergen exposure, and research contact information of a pediatric allergy specialist in your destination city before you leave.

Things to think about.  Happy travels.

Apparently, we’re not the only food allergic family who has had difficulty with the airlines.

This trouble even extends to esteemed members of the Senate.

At the 5/14 hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) recounts:

(W)e fly a lot, obviously, going back and forth to Connecticut a lot, and without naming any particular airlines, the difficulty sometimes of getting them to understand that peanuts — calling ahead of time, stopping at the gate before you get in, getting on the plane, invariably the flight attendants have not been told by anybody, so they then look at you with annoyance.
We actually had a flight one time where the flight attendant told us we had to get off the plane, because they hadn’t — every other flight they serve peanuts on. We were in Phoenix, Arizona on our way back home to Connecticut — a long day with a 2-year-old — well that’s not a 2-year-old — a 1-year-old and said we had to get off the plane, because that was the choice. Needless to say, we stayed on the plane and there were no peanuts served, but nonetheless it took me battling to do it. I shouldn’t have to battle this to let it happen.

My family’s not planning to fly again any time soon.  But for those of you who are, FAAN posts useful information on flying with food allergies:

Based on correspondence with airline representatives, FAAN has concluded that the following airlines do not serve individual packages or bags of peanuts:

Domestic: Air Tran, American, Jet Blue, Northwest, United, US Airways, USA 3000
International: Aer Lingus, Air France, British Airways, El Al, JAL, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines

I wish someone would talk to Continental.