talkhealth Blog

So, over the next couple of weeks, we are going through all the necessary preparations for school.  MyItchyBoy starts this September but not before I seriously get my act together (I hope!).

MyItchyBoy at school

Prior to the end of the last term, I had the hour and a half meeting with the ‘inclusion’ person at the school and the Head of Year.  For both parties, this brought up new challenges and situations that we’ve never encountered or thought about.

Overall, it sounds like they’d be read to handle anything that happens.  Of course, the only test to this is if something did actually happen.  Let’s hope it never does.

Before this meeting I went through this great guide from Skins Matter.  It really helped to focus my mind on what I needed to cover.  It’s a whole new world for me as much as it is for MyItchyBoy.

Uniform: non-scratchy and 100% cotton

I found the M&S ‘skinkind’ range and got MyItchyBoy’s shirts and trousers from there.  Hopefully they’ll live up to the claims of being skin friendly.

MyItchyBoy’s a little sad that he can’t have the school sweatshirt, but at 80% polyester (with printed logo) he’ll have to mange with 80% cotton from the supermarket.  We’ve talked about it and although he’s not happy he does at least understand.

Allergy-free Lunch

Our plan is for MyItchyBoy to have a packed lunch four days a week.  For this, I’ve been trying everywhere to find a lunch bag that will be different from the usual ones so as not to get them muddled up (the Head says this can and does happen!!).  I also found a key ring that I got personalised with his name and ‘this lunch belongs to…’.

I’m hoping that he’ll be able to join in school dinners on the popular ‘roast dinner’ day.  This will give me a day off of making lunches and also means he can join in a bit.  A roast is also the kind of thing that should be easy to be ‘free from’.

However, first I’ll need to have a meeting with the school meal provider in September before we can put his name down.

Medication

We have managed to get our extra Epipens (2), bottles of antihistamines (2), spare Epaderm emollient (1), spare inhaler and spacer.  These have to be in labelled boxes.  Clearly they don’t know yet how disorganise I can be.  This will all be sorted (of course!) but he’ll be going to school iln the wrong clothes with half his PE kit missing and nothing else will be labelled.  All this extra stuff to do and only the same amount of time in my day as any other parent.

Other stuff

I have to provide a tin (labelled of course!) with goodies in.  This has to be a mix of stuff that has been approved by me in case other kids have any treats in class.  I’m not sure why the kids would/should be having biscuits and sweets   in   class, but, hey, a tin I shall dutifully provide.

Now, is there anything (other than school shoes!!) that I have forgotten????

+1363

  

MyItchyBoy

My son has atopic eczema and he reacts badly to dairy, soya and we are slowly working towards him eating eggs again. He's had a mild anaphylactic reaction to peanuts and has regular flare-ups to random things that we rarely manage to pinpoint. I started the blog to share my experiences and frustrations of having an itchy boy.