Managing your child's food allergy at camp

The National Allergy Strategy has partnered with Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia to deliver a series of webinars to help parents and guardians manage food allergies and the risk of anaphylaxis in children’s education and care services, primary and secondary schools and camps.

The sixth in the series was “Managing your child's food allergy at camp” presented on Zoom on Thursday 18 August 2022.

The webinar includes a short presentation from Dr Melanie Wong - Paediatric Allergy Specialist, and Jody Aiken - Senior Health Management Educator, from Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia.

The presentations are followed by a question and answer session.

The webinar recording is available below.   

• Managing your child's food allergy at camp - Full webinar
  Questions

• Do you have any tips around having nuts on hikes? You did mention making sure they wash their hands and having the wipes but also while on hikes they're sleeping over in a tent. Is it reasonable for you to ask the other child not to have nuts in the tent and those sorts of things?
• My child is in primary school and has multiple food allergies. I'm going to ask the school if I could go on the camp as a parent volunteer. Do you have any guidance around this?
• Buffet type meals / mass produced meals are often used on camps. Would you have any more tips around how to manage that?
• Nuts are often recommended on hikes because they are a high energy food, what can you suggest as alternative?
• My child has a green action plan and therefore doesn’t have an adrenaline injector. The camp isn’t taking my child’s allergy as seriously because they don’t have a red action plan and adrenaline injector. Have you got any advice about this? isn't taking the child's allergy as seriously because they don't have the red action plan and adrenaline injector. Have you got any advice about this?
• What advice do you give to parents and potentially for them to give to their children about how to manage snacks in the tent/dorms, particularly if they are snacks children have snuck into their bags?

Content updated August 2022