Oldham mum's desperate search for the only food her autistic daughter will eat

Date published: 02 December 2021


A mum from Oldham is facing a desperate hunt to find the only food her 3-year-old autistic daughter will eat.

Emma Armstrong's daughter Libby will only eat two foods - Aldi's own brand of Weetabix and its organic Mamia baby food, either spaghetti bolognese or spaghetti with tomato and mozzarella sauce.

Libby, who has profound social and communication difficulties and suffers from sensory issues, refuses to eat anything else.  Under normal circumstances, Emma plans in advance to ensure she always has a supply of the food in the house.

But she's been unable to source the Aldi own-brand food due to supply issues and  and only has enough to last until lunchtime on Saturday - Libby's fourth birthday.

Emma is now desperate to get hold of the food, and travelling across Greater Manchester to try and source the food at individual Aldi stores.

Says Emma: "I have spoken to the manufacturer of the food and I know Aldi has had a delivery at the weekend but trying to source this stock and where it is going is near impossible.

"Aldi Customer services will not give me store telephone numbers and will  not contact stores themselves to check any remaining stock.

"Libby has never eaten solid food and is still spoonfed by an adult. She used to eat more of a variety of baby food but this has decreased to these particular foods.

"My concern is that if this food is taken away from her diet for a time I won’t be able to reintroduce it, this will lead to malnutrition and eventually PEG feeding (a tube inserted directly into the stomach) which is certainly not in her best interests and can be avoided"

Emma's sister Adele has tweeted about Emma's hunt, with strangers as far as Aberdeen, Northern Ireland and Windsor checking their local stores for stock.

A spokesperson for Aldi said: “We’re doing everything we can to make sure that Libby gets the Mamia dishes she loves as soon as possible. We had a temporary supply issue with this product which has now been resolved.  We’re expecting a delivery from our supplier this weekend and we will send some meals to Libby and her family as soon as they arrive.  We wish Libby a very Happy 4th Birthday for Saturday.”


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