Milk Allergy?

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Home : 2006 : January : 4

Milk Allergy?
By Suezie

A long time ago, when I moved to a new school to teach grade 1, the kindergarten teachers decided to give me a "heads up" about a previous student. They told me how he would throw chairs, punch, bite, scream and swear at
anything or anyone. I immediately went through his file and came up with a plan. (lots of positive talk, redirection and quick consequences) Some days were good, some were awful.

To make a long story short, his mother finally admitted that he had a milk allergy and would go "berserk" if he had any type of milk product in the previous 24 hours. (She didn't want to tell us about it

because she thought he would be treated differently. I explained to her that it was better to be known "as a kid with an allergy" than to be known "as the BAD kid"!! What a reputation to have before the end of kindergarten. Plus the poor kindergarten teachers put up with the behaviour all year!!!)

This information came out after a rather awful day when he spent most of his time in the office and we couldn't get a hold of Mom (before cell phones were popular). It was near Halloween and everyone was sharing the mini-chocolate bars with the children. He had eaten some before school even started.

When I was on maternity leave with my second child, I babysat a three yr old girl who would get very grumpy if she had any type of milk product. The mother worked at the Children's Hospital so she was more in-tune and modified her diet. She was slowly introduced to milk products using yogurt first. She had 2 teaspoons each day and soon worked her way up to a small dish. The allergy was re-classified as a food intolerance.

My husband's neice had many allergies (milk, gluton, all meat, seafood, citris fruits) that made her sick and affected her moods. Again, with a special diet and introducing these types of foods on a very strict schedule, she outgrew the allergies (later classified as food intolerances).

Can you insist that the child be taken to a pediatrician and tested for a medical condition such as food allergies? We often do that before any other testing is done.

I agree with all of the other posters that she can not be allowed to physically hurt others (including you) and should be removed immediately when this happens. It would be great if you could have an aide assigned to the child temporarily.