Stay, Chat and Play

Our Stay, Chat and Play group is a support group for families of children with, allergies, asthma, eczema, FPIES and other atopic conditions, to gather, form relationships and access resources.

This meet up is currently held at Bramhall Library community room, in Bramhall Village, Stockport. We meet once a month on a Saturday at 10:30am.

At each session, we offer a wide range of information, leaflets and other resources that can be taken home. This includes guidance from charities such as The National Eczema Society, Anaphylaxis Campaign, Allergy U.K, The Asthma and Lung Association and Mind UK. We have trainer adrenaline auto-injectors for Epi-Pen, Jext and Emerade, which are available for individuals to practice with.

As well and resources from relevant charities, Allergy and Asthma Parents also provide resources created by our own team. This includes documents for supporting breastfeeding, weaning with allergies, appointment preparation and mindfulness.

The Free From Library

At each of our Stay, Chat and Play sessions, families have access to our ‘Free From Library’. This is a collection of both fiction and non-fiction books for both adults and children. The books are available for families to take home and borrow and return at a future date as well as being accessible during the session. We are always grateful of any donations of recipe book, fiction and non-fiction texts that we can share with other families.

The Free From Pantry

The cost of living crisis is affecting families up and down the country, with families managing food allergies being hit harder than most. Where families don’t always have a choice to buy the budget brand or the food on offer, families managing allergies must stick to ‘free from’ brands or other products which they know to be safe and trust.

According to the Foods Standard Agency, ‘for every £1 a family without allergies spends on food, a family living with food allergies spends an extra 14p.’ With the price of food increasing drastically in recent months, many families with allergies are feeling the pinch. As a community support group, we have bought food and accept donations of unopened food and other allergy related products (non-prescription items only) to help to support those in need.

Please contact us if you would like more information on our Free From Pantry and if we can support you in any way.

Play Time

We have invested in high quality resources, toys and games for children to enjoy whilst at our Stay, Chat and Play group. Due to our group being on a Saturday, children of all ages are welcome and we have activities and toys for all age groups. From top 14 free play dough, to our Calm Tent teaching ways to regulate and express emotions, we aim to create a safe and fun environment for children.

We do offer snacks and drinks at each of our sessions. We believe it is important for our children to still enjoy the element of sharing and enjoying food whilst together with others. The snack we usually have together are raisins and water. If your little one has an allergy to raisins, please do let us know, as due to the nature of our group, we will not allow raisins at all during that session.

For grown ups, we have tea and coffee and a range of plant based milks.

Everyone is welcome at our Stay, Chat and Play sessions. Whether you are a new parent and in those early days considering the possibility of CMPA, eczema or other allergy, if you have no allergies and would like to learn more or come and support a friend, if your children have all outgrown their allergies but you have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share or if you are in the depths of managing these conditions every day, everyone is welcome. What we offer will look different to all individuals, we hope to be able to support and signpost families to all of the care and support available to them.