Along with the personal and contact information you gather for children in your daycare center, a food allergy list template for daycare is also essential. You need to understand what foods and other substances might cause allergic reactions in children so you can avoid exposing them to those things and provide the appropriate treatment or get emergency medical help right away if a child does experience an allergic reaction.
This guide introduces a food allergy list template for daycare that you can use for your center. Keep reading for details on the types of information included on the form and how keeping the form on file and up to date is critical to the safety of the children you care for at your daycare.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE FOOD ALLERGY LIST TEMPLATE
List of Students
Any tracking of food allergies in school must include the names of students. It's best to include all students if you can, even if they don't have any known allergies.
This makes recordkeeping that much easier. It also prepares you for sudden changes, like if you find a new allergy in a child who had no record of one before.
Parent/Guardian Contact Information
Having a food allergy list is great, but it doesn't do you much good if you don't have plans in place for emergencies at your daycare. During an emergency, right after you call the hospital, your next phone call should be to the child's parent or guardian.
U.S. law states that any child under the age of 18 cannot legally consent to medical care. Instead, their parents/guardians must make that choice. While emergency workers will call the child's parents/guardians as a matter of policy, these calls are probably better if they come from you, rather than an ER nurse.
Food/Material
What is the child allergic to? This information must be on the form for obvious reasons. You should also ask about the extent to which they are allergic.
Most people with food allergies need to eat the thing they're allergic to in order to have a reaction. However, some people can get a reaction just by touching what they're allergic to. This is known as contact dermatitis, and while it doesn't often occur with foods, it can.
Type and Extent of Reaction
How do the allergies present themselves? Does the child break out in a rash? Do they have any other symptoms?
One of the most important questions to ask is how severe each child's allergic reaction is. The treatment and response for a child with anaphylaxis differs from one whose allergies are milder.
Treatment also differs based on what type of reaction a child has. Some people might experience nausea, while others might have swelling; still others may break out in a rash.
Treatment
All this preparation builds toward an end goal, which is to protect children and build the best daycare you possibly can.
When it comes to treatment, the best place to start is with the children's parents/guardians and doctors. They've been taking care of these children since birth, so they probably know how to treat any allergies those children might have.
Preservation
Even when all these categories are filled out, the list is never complete. After all, children could enroll in or leave your daycare at any time. We've already noted that you could discover a new allergy at any time, but a new medicine or treatment could be introduced that works better than what you're using now.
Free Food Allergy List Template
The good news is that we created our own fillable form so you can easily manage allergy information and keep your daycare running smoothly. Regardless of what type of form you use, be sure to make a copy, because losing a file with no backup could be a disaster.
You can access the free form by clicking on the image or the link below it.
Get 70+ Editable Daycare Templates for Almost Every Situation
We know daycare providers like yourself are busy. That's why we made dozens of templates to help you manage the various aspects of your organization. From billing and invoicing to marketing materials, we have it all. Download all 70 today!
