if you send your kids food to daycare

[ashleyhaugh]

because of allergies, or whatever reason, do you try to keep it similar to what the daycare has on the menu that day?

xposted in allergies

[JL83]

From what I do and what other parents in our daycare do, the answer is yes and no...

In general, the parents of kids with dairy allergies will send containers of things like soy yogurt for the morning snack/breakfast. But then they will send similar things for lunch and the afternoon snack. They'll send alternate milks to be served when cow's milk is served.

The reasons for this is the the morning snack is served over the space of an hour and most kids eat as they arrive. So they don't have 12 kids sitting down at the same time, so it's much easier for the kids not to notice that some kids have different things. But the other meals are served all together.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

We often send alternate foods, but because of diabetes. I do not pay any attention to the daycare menu when I pack snacks/meals. I guess I don't see the need for kid food to 'match' so I just send healthy foods I know the kids will eat. They never share a snack (as the daycare snacks are too many carbs for a snack) so mine will have a pudding or a piece of of fruit or whatever while the kids there are eating crackers, pretzels, etc. And we do milk-free at daycare simply because we do organic only - the daycare doesn't, and I don't feel like providing it daily/weekly. So, mine eat different foods 75% of the time and always drink different things (as we don't do juice either).

[beebalmmama]

Ds is home now, but was in daycare for the last two years. I sent him with snacks and lunch because the menu at the day care was so horrible. So no I didn't try to match it at all. I sent him with healthy items that I thought he would eat.