Learning to prepare foods, and avoid cross contamination when dealing with your child’s celiac disease is hard enough at home, once you get into a routine though you can feel pretty comfortable that you have your child’s disease under control.

But what happens when your child goes to school? Suddenly you no longer have control over the environment your child is in and are left to worry about whether they will get sick or not.

Most schools are required by law to make accommodations for any medical conditions and that includes food issues such as allergies and celiac disease.   Your task as a parent is to be sure that the people that are in charge of your child’s care understand what your child’s needs are. There are several issues to take into consideration when dealing with a school setting.

First and most obviously are school meals, if you want your child to eat school lunches it is doable, but be sure to speak with your school nurse and dietician to see how educated they are in celiac disease, and whether they are equipped to deal with cooking for your child. Be sure they have a list of all ingredients both common and uncommon that may contain gluten, and that they are aware of cross contamination issues.

If your child is super sensitive to gluten whether or not you send their lunch or they buy it, you will also need to consider where they sit in the lunch room. Kids are not very careful and cracker crumbs or other wheat products can make it to your child’s food if no one is watching. Your school lunch room usually has a table or two reserved for children with food allergies, and if not you can certainly ask them to do so.

The final issue you should take into account is your child’s teacher, ask if your child is ever given treats, if so you will want to educate your child’s teacher in what is safe, or offer to bring in gluten free treats they can give them instead.  Ask about parties and plan ahead of time to offer your child gluten free treats to take with them to the parties.

Most schools are more than willing to work with you once you provide the tools and knowledge they need.  They are concerned with your child’s health as much as you are and most will be happy to accommodate your child’s special needs.