school lunches | Autism PDD
My son eats peanut butter sometimes here in Norway because there's no alternative, but his allergist wants us to limit peanut intake because his blood test showed a sensitivity to peanuts (a skin test did not).
When we're in America, there IS an alternative -- sunflower seed butter. I think it's called Sunbutter, and I buy it at Cub Foods in Minnesota. My son has never objected that it tastes different than peanut butter.
Might be worth a try for those of you dealing with peanut butter bans at school.
Wow NorwayMom - I have NEVER heard of that! I'll check it out the next time I go to Cub Foods! That way, I might be able to be prepared if/when they impose a peanut butter ban. Is it a lot more expensive? I bet my dh would love it as he LOVES sunflower seeds and he LOVES peanut butter!
I don't pay much attention to prices when I'm in the US because the US dollar is so weak and Norwegian prices are so high in comparison that everything is a bargain.
But I googled and Sunbutter has a suggested retail price of .49 for a 16 ounce jar. I honestly don't think it cost that much, or maybe the jars at Cub are smaller.
I also see they're sold on e-bay.
Wow, considering I can get a 64 ounce jar of peanut butter for about .79 at Target (I may be off by a few cents but I'm very close) - that seems very expensive. But, since it is not a mainstream brand/item - I can see why it's expensive. Good to know that there is an alternative and maybe I'll check it out anyway! Thanks for the info!I work in the lunchroom as a monitor at my kids school here in Vermont.
My son was taking hot lunch everyday up until this yr, because it was predictable, but varied a little bit here and there. I allowed this as I wanted him to try as many things as possible, - and in his early school yrs- sped people sat with him thru lunch to 'break' him of eating the same thing every day.
We got a new food service- that is HEALTHY- and Jeremy is now eating cold lunch almost everyday, which is a peanut butter sandwich and peaches or applesauce. Jeremy is BACK to eating the same thing everyday. It's ok though- he is older, and he does try more things now.
My other son, as well, is eating cold lunch on a daily basis.
As I said, I DO understand that some kids can die. But, our school hasn't done this yet as they feel they have the situation under control and have not had SEVERE peanut allergies such as you have described yet. If that is the case - well, then the school will have to re-think wht they do. And, for some of us (not for me as ds will eat other things) - it is not just an inconvenience. It is that their child will simply NOT eat anything else. And, I don't know about you - but when my ds is super-hungry, you do NOT want to be around him - and definitely not try to TEACH him anything. And, he is on the mild end of the spectrum. I just wonder if there is a way to contain it so that perhaps those kids with autism who seriously will not eat anything else could eat in a separate room and keep their lunch there as well.
BTW, our former pre-school asked us to wash our hands for one full minute before coming to school if we had had peanut butter that day. We complied with that - and ds wasn't as into peanut butter at that point, so it wasn't as big of an issue.
There are two sides to every issue, I understand. I wonder when we as a society will start investigating WHY so many kids are so severely allergic to peanuts all of a sudden? Because this was certainly not the case when I was growing up. And this isn't one where people can say - well, maybe it was just misdiagnosed! There is definitely something going on in the environment, methinks (sorry, I've been watching Peter Pan too much the last few days!).
Hi there, I am in Canada too and all our school are "Peanut Free". I actually think this is very important. One of my co-workers son is severly allergic to peanuts and even is some came in contact with his skin, let alone swallowed, he could possible die within minutes. I think the risk to the safety of these children far outweighs others inconvenience of not eating their favorite sandwich.
My son does not like any other sandwich other than PB&J, so I usually send a lightly toasted bagel with cream cheese for lunch. His snacks are usually fruit with a peanut free granola bar.
As a side note, my son's school has a policy that if a child in a classroom has a SEVERE allergy of any type, then that substance is banned from the room (ie. dairy). It may be hard for some but what if that was your child?
I was very thankful that our school allows PB&J sandwiches. They have the kids with peanut allergies sit at one table together so as to avoid contact. I feel bad for those kids, but this really helps my son fit in at lunch. It seems to work for this school so far, but I am worried that at some point they will go to a peanut-free environment. They still allow almonds and walnuts on the snack tray - but no peanuts.
I don't know if it would make a difference if ds ate lunch in the ASD teacher's room and wasn't around the other kids at all. That isn't the case (at least right now) - but would that be an option if they ate in the resource room? I mean, I fully understand that some kids with peanut allergies can die if they are even around peanuts - but at the same time, there needs to be some kind of balance. Our kids often are very picky and will go WITHOUT FOOD if they can't eat what their typical food is. Which does not make for a good day for ANYONE! My ds isn't terribly picky, but he isn't really fond of other kinds of sandwiches and so far he hasn't been brave enough to attempt hot lunch. So for now, we do PB&J and I try to vary a few of the things I pack to give more balance and variety. He is always okay with that. I'm limited as to what fruit I can give him because he can't always peel a banana by himself (I'm still checking to see if I can send a plastic knife to cut it) and an apple will take him the whole lunch period to eat it as he wants to eat it down to the core. Any suggestions for fruit anyone?
Kids eat cold lunches and eat in their classroom -- that's how primitive we are here...
My son is pretty obsessed with eating healthy. We call McDonalds, etc. "meal treats." They're healthy because they contain protein, calcium, etc. but are not for every day because of extra fat. Might be too subtle for your black-and-white kid, though.
I gave this some more thought. Maybe you should avoid the whole "healthy" issue and just emphasize "variety."
Alternatively, you could say there are 3 kinds of foods. Something like: "Empty foods" (sweets and chips, with no nutritional value), "nutritional" (school lunches), and "extra healthy" (food from home, etc.).
I have always packed my ds's lunches for school and he was happy with
that. But then I figured out that he was not buying food because he could
not figure out how the system worked. I figured that this is a life skill and
asked his temporary aide to walk him through the process a few times.
Now he knows how and he has been buying peppereoni pizza and
cheeseburger every day. I told him that I am okay with buying it once a
week but the rest of the week I want him to eat the healthier food from
home. Well - he goes up to the lunch ladies and asks if the food is
healthy or if it will kill him. Of course they say it is healthy.
I'm not sure what to do. I am not thrilled with him eating junk food every
lunch. But if I tell him that I still do not consider the food healthy I know
he will go up to them and freak out at them about 'lying' to him and
poisening kids. He gets very black and white that way and I know he
would make a scene. He has before in stores. Yikes.
Do your kids bring lunches or eat at school. We usually do both. However, these first couple of weeks they've been getting hot lunch at school. I especially wanted my youngest son to take hot lunch so he would re-learn what he's supposed to do. Last year he had an aide who helped him enter his lunch code and get his food. This year he has another first grader as a lunch buddy. She happens to be a neighbor who is actually at our house right now playing. She told me he's doing really well and so far hasn't needed any help, so I might start sending packed luches on occassion soon.
We haven't attempted hot lunch yet as ds just started kindergarten last week. I told the ASD teacher that I wanted him to start doing hot lunches occasionally so that he knows how to do it. She suggested waiting until there is something REALLY good and then not sending his lunch with him so he has no choice. However, we will have a back-up plan that if ds doesn't want the lunch - I will have brought his lunch and given it to the ASD teacher so he doesn't go hungry. He usually will eat most things you put in front of him, so I'm not too worried - but I do want him to get over the anxiety of having hot lunch. They told me he doesn't have to have his account number memorized until January or so, so I will have to start working with him on that as well now - so that he is used to it by January.
I agree that it is a life skill and I want him to occasionally have hot lunch. But, like you, Micki, I want him to have healthy lunches. We are lucky that they have replaced most fried foods with baked and try to have almost all whole-grain breads at this school. But, I am more concerned that ds won't get enough to eat. He eats a HUGE amount of food and the amount of food they give at lunch would probably not be enough to fill him up. I guess he could eat part of the packed lunch then in the ASD room when he is pulled there during rest time. Seriously, he eats more than most adults do for lunch. Here's what I pack most days - a PB&J sandwich (whole-grain, double-fiber bread), several baby carrots, an orange (already peeled in a baggie to make it quicker to eat), granola bites and a bag of organic snacks (pizza puffs or banana nibblers from Sam's Club). The ASD teacher tells me he eats every bite and then has snack an hour later!
I don't know what to tell you about the "healthy" lunch issue. Could the aide talk to the lunch ladies and tell them about your ds' black and white interpretations and what his issues are? I mean - if you're okay with that? And maybe have a social story about healthy food. You could also talk to ds about how some people don't always agree on what is healthy and what is not healthy. I had a hard time with that about smoking. Ds would see people smoking and want to go give them a lecture about how it can give you lung cancer (thank you ds for telling him this - dh's dad died of lung cancer from cigarette smoking). I had to explain that it was their choice and if they are adults, they can make that choice. And that their idea of a healthy lifestyle and our idea was very different. But, that you should follow what you believe and what mommy and daddy teach him.
Also, that food is not "poisoning" the kids. It is just that your lunches are a better choice. We believe in developing good habits, which means a fruit and vegetable with at least 2 meals each day and one for snack. Not everyone has come to realize that this is a better choice. Could your son get involved in a campaign to make school lunches healthier? This is a trend across the country - I know our school's principal has been called by places around the country to find out how she has done her program in making the school lunches healthier. BTW, we LOVE her! I don't know if he'd be up for that or not - or if you think it would be a good idea? Maybe he's too young, I don't know. Or perhaps you could start a campaign to do this? I know of someone in the town we used to live in who is working on this very issue as well. It's an uphill battle, but you may find that parents would like to see it done. Who wants their kids eating fries and chicken nuggets or pizza each day? It just doesn't set good habits for later on... Can you tell my dh does research in diabetes?
I'll get off my soapbox for now!
I pack a lunch for Sean. We only have a hot lunch every Friday. It is Pizza Day.Kyle eats Peanut and Jelly every single day for lunch. Thnakfully it's cheap and easy
I usually buy 2 or 3 loafs of bread and make them all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut the way he like it and freeze them in individual sandwich bags placed in freezer bags. BOOM...lunch is made for about a month
Sarah is so picky..in kindergarten I packed fruit snacks, cheese sticks, chips and apple juice..eventually she wanted a pb & jelly sandwich because all her peers were eating them..I was THRILLED and it worked a while but then they kept coming back home to me not eaten. She will eat plain cheese sandwhich so she is getting better and I let her eat pizza on fridays but she wont eat the offered veggies..she gets choc. milk I am happy though because for years she only liked chip and fries and nuggets:)Thank you for posting this topic micki...Quinn has not bought a school lunch in 3 years. Even then he would only want to on Fridays because it was pizza day. Then the next year he would not buy it at all and I'm not sure why. i have an idea but I'm not sure. I thought it was either because something happened at lunch or the fact that his TK teacher was trying to get him to try new foods and insisted that he try mashed potatoes one day. She didn't realize that he can't tolerate the texture of them and he threw up. I never thought of maybe he doesn't want to because he can't figure out the lunch ticket system.
I just asked him again right now and he said that he doesn't like the lunches even the pizza. Same here with the peanut thing, and we also call it jam
Astra takes lunch from home, sometimes a bowl of salad, usually potato chips muesli bars and biscuits to go with. I have no problem with her eating the canteen junk because she is under weight and eats very well and varied at main meal times at home.
When Sharlet starts school next year I'm not sure how she will go with any of that stuff to be honest. I can't imagine her eating lunch orders(her diet is very restricted) and she needs someone to sit right with her and help when eating from a lunch box. She still needs her food rationed or she puts it all in her mouth at once and then chokes and spits it out and starts again with stuffing like an entire half sandwich in her mouth at once. I just get an ache in my stomach when I imagine her in kindergarten. I just don't see how she will be ready or could cope in a real classroom
Allegra
I don't know if your school will provide a one on one lunch supervisor. We had one for Sean for the same reason. He would just shovel as much food as he could into is mouth. He looks like a chipmunk. I advised the school that it was a safety issue. Once you mention that they will provide one. The lunch supervisor made sure that Sean took only one bite at a time. If he took more, lunch was taken away until he finished what he had in his mouth.
Brenda
Ya know...it really ticks me off that you can't bring peanut butter to school.
Anyway, if they ever try that here....I'll be the first one in line having it in my IEP that he is allowed to bring peanut butter and jelly.
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