Families of children with autism know how fussy they can be when it comes to their food. They often eat only one type of food that looks a certain way. Now imagine what would happen if that particular brand of food was discontinued by the company.
9-year-old Jerico Roman has autism, an extreme oral aversion, and eats nothing but a particular type of maple cinnamon waffle.
The brand is Nature’s Path organic maple cinnamon waffles, his mom, Jenna, says her son puts down two boxes of the waffles a day.
“I have always had to be very careful even before covid with any sicknesses as Jerico stops eating and drinking if he gets sick at all,” Jenna said. “In February 2020 he became very sick where he actually stopped eating for 12 days and stopped drinking for 5 days. It was very traumatic for our family – I am a single mom of 3 boys (2 with autism).
“When I was able to get him to start again he had regressed so much he had to relearn how to drink and eat. It was very hard but he accepted a different kind of cinnamon waffles. Unfortunately due to covid, those became temporarily discontinued in June due to covid and we had to hunt for the remaining stock.”
“As we tried to find the last boxes of waffles I was also trying to sneak new kinds of waffles in, in hopes, he would accept them. Two weeks went by with me trying every kind when he finally accepted Nature’s Path Maple Cinnamon Waffles.”
“I was so relieved that finally, he accepted a new kind as I was almost out of the old kind. I was also happy it was a company that I thought was local so I wouldn’t have to go through that amount of stress again.”
But this year Jenna learned Nature’s Path had discontinued their maple cinnamon waffles, but are still making their other seven flavors. “I’ve tried to see if there’s anything comparable around but there’s nothing and nothing he will accept,” Jenna said.
Nature’s Path came to the rescue and sent her the little stock they had left. And now they have ensured that Jerico will have all the maple waffles he can eat for years to come after they adapted the recipe for the product. They delivered the recipe, along with the necessary ingredients to the family.
Jenna says she is “Speechless,” with tears in her eyes. “This is exactly what I needed.”
Thank God for this family-owned food producer who came to the rescue of a desperate mother who put out a call for their discontinued waffles.