Itchy Kids School Page

Hot Tip

I often take allergy free home baking to my son's day care to share with staff and teachers even though they do provide safe morning and afternoon teas for him. It helps him feel less isolated and different, the staff appreciate the help and my son's 'special' food is de-mystified for the other childen.

Decant the childs emollient into a funky container for use at school. You can either buy an already decorated container with an acceptable character or design to suit your childs taste or buy a plain one and get the child to decorate it themsleves with stickers. The pre-printed name sticker books found in bookstores are great for this as you get the bonus of it being personalised along with the design. Hopefuly the "cool" non medical container will help your child to feel less self conscious when pulling their emollient out of their school bag to apply at break times. Younger kids, especially girls like the idea of face creams and "make-up" just like a grown up.

To help the people caring for your itchy kid in your absence you could provide them with an information sheet to keep on record. All the better if you can hand it to them laminated or in a plastic sleeve, ready to pop into the records or stick on the wall. Make sure you not only list the foods and activities you child can't have but also those that they can. Offer ideas and alternatives that may help the staff such as non-buttered pop-corn as an alternative to dairy containing cookies at school parties.

Below is a sample of a Health Information sheet. I gave this to my son's day care centre. Please feel free to use it as a template or a basis for your own.

Health Information for schools-one idea!

CHILDS NAME
HEALTH INFORMATION Updated xxxxx

...... has severe, chronic eczema which food and environmental allergies contribute to. He is under the care of.....

Emergency Care
As with all children who test positive for peanut and nut allergy he must have an Action Plan in case of a severe and life threatening reaction -Anaphylaxis. The Action Plan details the signs of mild, moderate and severe reactions and what actions to take.

To date he has never had a severe reaction however this does not indicate he is not at risk of having one. Childs Name must carry emergency medications wherever he goes.

Emergency Medications are:

*Oral antihistamines.

*EpiPen Jr.

Current Food Restrictions

Dairy
All nuts

Childs Name has tested positive for the following allergies in the past.

Cows milk (whey, lactose, skim milk, skim milk powder, milk products/protein, cream, butter, cheese, yoghurt, calcium caseinate, casein, caseinate, sodium caseinate, lactalbumin)
Eggs (meringue, mayonnaise, dried egg, egg yolk and white, powdered egg, lecithin, globulin, albumin, ovomuciod)
Nuts (includes all nuts but particularly peanuts, cashews and pistachio)

Dust mites
Cats

Treatment at Home

Is on long-term antihistamines (given at home)
Has moisturising cream to his body.
Steroid creams to effected parts of body.
Twice-daily baths in various lotions and potions depending on skin at the time.
Restricted diet.
Wet wrapping treatment
Dust mite control at home.

General Information

Itching and Scratching.
The dry skin of eczema causes itch with the resultant scratching. Scratching leads to skin damage, breaks and often bleeding of the skin, which in turns leaves the skin vulnerable to infection.

If Name of child is very itchy the actions we take are;
-Put moisturising cream on the itchy area.
-Distraction with play, stories, talk etc
-Never say “Don’t Scratch” redirect the action to “Pat” or “Hold” or “Squeeze”
-Apply cool/ice pack.

If the itch and scratch become too intolerable for all please feel free to ring us and we can bring him home for further treatments.
Dry Skin Care.
Requires frequent skin moisturising throughout the day. Dryness causes his skin to crack, peel and sometimes weep.
Skin Flares
This is when the skin reacts acutely to something that it has come in contact with, either from touching the skin or from unsafe food that has been eaten or from scratching in response to dryness or temperature changes in the environment.

You will see an increase in redness as blood goes to the area, inflammation and possible local swelling and increased heat of the skin. This is not a severe reaction and once he stops scratching and the skin has a little time to calm down the area will improve but not go away completely. If he is otherwise happy he may stay at school or if you are concerned in any way please feel fee to ring for advice.
Allergic Reaction
True allergic reactions, to date have been very rare for Name of Child. A mild reaction may be seen as welts or hives forming on the skin. In this situation consult the Action Plan for Anaphylaxis.
School Activities.
Avoid sitting on carpets.
No soap or detergents on hands
Must have own food due to food restrictions.
From time to time certain activities may be limited due to the condition of his skin at the time. For example participation in school swimming will need to be advised on at the time.
Keep cool in summer time-sit near a window or open door in assembly etc.
Self Care.
We are encouraging child towards self care and management but he will need an adult to assist in times of distress.
He is able to use his creams himself but may need an adult to suggest it when having a flare. Often can not stop him-self from scratching when the itch is unbearable. May need some assistance with clothing when wearing bandages.
Sleep/Psychological/Social Aspects
Name of child has been very tolerant with the treatments for his eczema. He understands he has food allergies and can name them. He wakes several times at night with severe itch. Disturbed sleep combined with sedating antihistamines the night before can result in a very tired and irritated child in the morning. Lack of sleep can make him tired and grumpy in the afternoons.

He can be very protective and sensitive about people looking at his eczema. He is aware socially that he often looks different and that his bandaging singles him out in a group. Sometimes he does not like talking about his eczema or having it talked about.

He finds his eczema frustrating and at times depressing. He has verbally expressed his frustrations as “It’s just life, it’s my life and I wish I didn’t have this life, I wish I had xx (sister) life and not mine. The majority of the time Child is a happy, sociable child with a positive attitude to life. “I don’t hate my life, I just hate the bit with eczema in it”