How can nurseries cater to my child’s dietary needs?

Sending your child to day nursery can provide them with wonderful development and social opportunities. If your child has special dietary requirements and food allergies, you may be worried about how the nursery will cater to this.

According to the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, 40% of children in the UK have been diagnosed with a food allergy, and that’s not including children with other dietary requirements.

Rest assured that nurseries are able to cater to a wide variety of dietary needs, including:

• Food allergies
• Food intolerances, such as intolerance to gluten or dairy
• Religious and cultural observances, such as needing kosher or halal food
• Lifestyle choices like vegetarianism or veganism
• Fussy eaters. Many children are fussy to an extent, but some have eating disorders such as avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, which they usually need support to overcome

Laws on allergens, Ofsted inspections and food preparation

Since December 2014, childcare providers have been legally obliged to clearly mark if their food contains any of the 14 major allergens, under the Food Information Regulations. These 14 include milk, eggs, gluten, nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, soy, celery, crustaceans, molluscs, mustard, lupin and sulphur dioxide.

Ofsted inspections include checks that nurseries:

• Practise proper food preparation hygiene
• Prevent cross-contamination when preparing food for children with dietary requirements, as well as standard food hygiene like not using the same chopping board for meat and vegetables
• Clean the kitchen and all crockery and cutlery thoroughly
• Store food safely and at the correct temperature
• Cater to dietary requirements

Nurseries can have action taken against them by Ofsted or even be prosecuted if they do not comply with dietary requirements, as it can put children at risk of serious harm.

How do nurseries accommodate children’s food allergies?

Each nursery will have its own policies and procedures in place around dietary requirements, but common ways that they accommodate these include:

• Kitchen staff are fully aware of each child’s dietary needs when they plan the menu for the week. They also know when each child will be in nursery that week and plan accordingly.
• Some nurseries provide parents with a copy of the week’s menu in advance, with allergens noted for each meal. If they don’t do this habitually, you should be able to request one.
• Children with dietary requirements will usually have substitutes, such as oat milk or gluten-free bread, so that their meals look the same as other children’s and they don’t feel left out.
• Nurseries are generally nut-free. Nut allergies can be extremely serious and potentially fatal, so it is safer to have no trace of nuts on the premises. If children bring their own food, parents may be asked not to include nuts or nut butter in their child’s packed lunch.
• In case of emergency, staff are often trained to use an EpiPen in the event that a child goes into anaphylaxis.
• Activities are included in all national curriculums in the UK that include exploring healthy eating. Fussy eaters will be supported to try new foods and textures. These activities can be encouraging as they see other children trying and enjoying foods, which can help fussy eaters to be braver with food choices.
• Some nurseries are fully vegetarian or centred around a particular religion, so food served there is entirely compliant with the set of beliefs that the nursery teaches.

How can I make sure a nursery can cater to my child’s dietary needs?

Ask questions

Contact nurseries you are interested in and ask questions about how they could accommodate your child’s food allergies?

Questions could include:

• Are you a nut-free environment?
• How do you protect other children in your care with allergies?
• How can you prevent another child touching my child’s food and contaminating it with their food?
• Are weekly menus available for parents?
• Do you have some sample menus that I could see? How would they be adapted?
• Do you use particular brands/suppliers of gluten-free bread/halal meat/vegetarian meat substitutes etc?

Check Ofsted reports

You can access any nursery’s Ofsted reports online. Check their most recent reports to see how they did for ‘Welfare’ (or ‘contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children’ for reports before June 2015). If they get less than ‘Good’ in that category, the report will say if they need to make any improvements in food preparation.

See if they have Millie’s Mark

Nurseries in England or Scotland can prove that they go above and beyond to protect children with dietary requirements by getting a Millie’s Mark accreditation.

Nurseries can achieve this by having 100% of their staff trained in paediatric first aid, which can be life saving in the event of an allergic reaction or choking. They must also provide evidence that they do everything in their power to keep children with allergies and intolerances safe.

You can find childcare providers with Millie’s Mark in your area here.

Put it in writing

Before your child starts at a nursery, you must give them written notification of your child’s dietary requirements. They can then give a copy of this to kitchen staff and play leaders.