E.-
Sorry this is so long but I have several suggestions for you. I worked for an Allergist before I decided to stay home with my son. One of the best things I ever saw was a little girl with a peanut allergy among other things. Her mom bought her a fanny pack that she and her mom decorate with puffy paint and whatnot that she wears everwhere! In the pack is a laminated picture of herself and on the bottom, her mom wrote...I am allergic to _____. There was also the epi-pen in there along with the directions on how to use it in big clear pictures so anyone could help her out if she needed it. She also could keep benadryl and her asthma inhaler or other things in there for just in case. The mom also made sure her daughter could use the epi-pen if she needed to, but also made sure she took the practice one into school and showed her teacher how to use it and made sure the school nurse knew about her allergy. The little girl loved wearing her fanny pack. Mom did make sure the little girl knew that the pack and the epi-pens were not toys to be taking out to show people, but medicine that she needed if she got in trouble. You also may have to sign a permission form with the school that says she has permission to carry her epi-pen with her.
If your child uses a cell phone and knows how to text (which lots of kids do nowadays!!!), you could also have a code that she can text to you such as 911 or her birthday (ex 124 for Dec 4th) if she's having trouble breathing and no one is around (say she's in the bathroom at school or or home alone or something). Then you can call her back or call someone at the school or daycare or a neighbor or whoever who can find her and help her out. This suggestion might be something that would work better when she's older because she could text her location to you (Ex. 911 bathroom), but it might work now if you have to be away from her often.
For daycare and school, my little brother had lots of allergies, none were life threatening, but he couldn't eat lots of foods so my mom would go in at the beginning of the year and speak with the teacher and she would have a bag full of "okay'd" snacks and sweets for my brother and ANY TIME someone brought snacks for b-day parties or holiday celebrations, my brother went and got a snack from his bag instead of eating the questionable food or if the teacher thought it might be something he could enjoy with the class, his teacher would call my mom with the bag if the ingredients were listed and would get my mom's okay. We never had any problem with the teachers not working with us. I would also make sure your daughter knows that swapping snacks and at lunch is a no-no! Little kids like sharing lunches and that could lead to a potential danger to her!
Also, I saw a catelogue with these really cool t-shirts. They say cute things like..."I'm a peanut, but I can't eat them..." and I think you can specialize them to your child's allergy. http://specialchildren.about.com/od/foodallergies/qt/alle... has a whole bunch of lists of sites with t-shirt options (I like the kidsaware and sans gluten sites) or go to www.google.com and search "allergy shirt" or "allergy shirts"- both came up with lots of different sites. I would have them wear the shirt on the 1st day of school and periodically throughout the year (like on holiday celebrations so parent volunteers know about the allergy). You can also have them wear it to family outings and camps and whatnot and it's a cute and non-threatening reminder of your child's allergy and your daughter will not have to say a word. Also, consider a medical bracelet with the allergy on it for a permanent way to tell people of her allergies.
I hope these ideas help some. Please feel free to e-mail me ____@____.com if you need more ideas or you need help finding those t-shirt sites.
S., 25, mother of Tyrrone, 4 months, who is showing some problems with peanuts already when I eat it before breastfeeding him!!!