My mum is eating very little now. Porridge and soup are the only things she really likes. Otherwise she will pick out or spit out food as it has too much texture. Could anyone advise or what foods I could try to give her please?
Food ideas
- Thread starter Gardenpotter
- Start date
Whoops , if I offer her food she says no. The challenge is presenting the food to her when she is awake often she is too sleepy to eat.
You could ask your GP to refer you to the SALT team. They deal with eating, drinking and swallowing in dementia patients and could advise you on the best diet and prescribe nutritional supplements if required.
And yes, food offering does often not work - you need to just present it, maybe eat with her for company.
And yes, food offering does often not work - you need to just present it, maybe eat with her for company.
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I've made sure to leave 'sweets, pudding, snacks' on the kitchen table, the top of the microwave, the table beside my OH favorite chair. That way, there is always something that he can 'snack-on' no matter what time of day.
My Mum has eaten miniscule amounts for the last 3 years, and is skeletal now. She saw a dietitian at the hospital last year. Her professional advice was what has already been suggested here - if the PWD will not eat proper balanced meals, then anything that will be eaten is better than nothing - irrespective of nutritional value.
Mum will always eat cake - but that's about it! When she tries a bit of food, she now prefers 'wet' food - lots of gravy, lots of custard - I think it goes down easier and with less effort.
Get clever with anything that will be eaten. For example, if mashed potato is acceptable, mix in some butter, cream, cheese etc. Enhance custard, soup, porridge with high calorie stuff, make smoothies and incorporate smooth peanut butter.
(This all reminds me of carefully secreting vegetables in toddlers' foods!)
Fortisip 'milkshakes' help, but they are supposed to be a supplement, rather than an alternative. Thankfully my Mum likes these and now has 3 per day. I used to buy them for her, but now in a CH she has them on prescription. I think these a nibble of food and the odd cake and biscuit are all that keeps her going.
However, they will sometimes get her to 'taste test' things at the CH - which she will readily do to help .... and another few calories go in!
Mum will always eat cake - but that's about it! When she tries a bit of food, she now prefers 'wet' food - lots of gravy, lots of custard - I think it goes down easier and with less effort.
Get clever with anything that will be eaten. For example, if mashed potato is acceptable, mix in some butter, cream, cheese etc. Enhance custard, soup, porridge with high calorie stuff, make smoothies and incorporate smooth peanut butter.
(This all reminds me of carefully secreting vegetables in toddlers' foods!)
Fortisip 'milkshakes' help, but they are supposed to be a supplement, rather than an alternative. Thankfully my Mum likes these and now has 3 per day. I used to buy them for her, but now in a CH she has them on prescription. I think these a nibble of food and the odd cake and biscuit are all that keeps her going.
However, they will sometimes get her to 'taste test' things at the CH - which she will readily do to help .... and another few calories go in!
Thanks my mum is skeletal as well and she was diagnosed earlier this year. We believe she is in end stage heart failure as well. That's scary when you say 3 years.
Right now on the table: butter buns, animal cookies, apple strudel, soft baked oatmeal cookies.
On the dishwasher: bananas, pudding, 'boost' = meal replacement drink, small oranges,chewy granola bars.
On his table: a mix of the above!
When we go grocery shopping, it's like buying for our childrens' lunches - whatever a 'child' would like to munch on is great for him!
Hi @Gardenpotter - yes, the last few years have been difficult. I think it is in human nature to feed and nurture. I have tried everything I can think of, to no avail. When I could chat to Mum and attempt to reason with her, I explained how she needed a certain amount of nourishment to keep all her bits working - she said she would try to eat more but I could just have easily talked to the wall. Her carers when at home, tried a bit of tough love and told her just how horrid and painful starving yourself is - no good either. GP's, hospital, you name it ... she promised to, but never did.
Food that she was given she would wrap up secretly and dispose of - out of the windows, down the loo, down the sink to avoid eating it. I still find all sorts of food secretly buried in the plants in her room, or stuffed into all manner of places. (I can still conjure the awful smell of an old decaying banana in her spectacle pouch - ewww !) The CH regularly have to check her room for hidden food.
Sadly Mum cannot communicate coherently now, cannot understand and is quite childlike and so I have given up. I have tried so hard to get her to eat and failed. I know that this is often part of the progress of dementia, and have finally reached this point ... I do not want to upset her. If she doesn't want to eat - and her body reflex isn't telling her to eat, then reluctantly I accept the situation. I take a really sweet iced cupcake to every visit for us both ( this is doing my figure no good at all), and currently she enjoys it, but I am resigned to the fact that there will come a time soon when she will not want that either.
Hope you achieve some success with your Mum - it's awful watching them waste away, isn't it?
Food that she was given she would wrap up secretly and dispose of - out of the windows, down the loo, down the sink to avoid eating it. I still find all sorts of food secretly buried in the plants in her room, or stuffed into all manner of places. (I can still conjure the awful smell of an old decaying banana in her spectacle pouch - ewww !) The CH regularly have to check her room for hidden food.
Sadly Mum cannot communicate coherently now, cannot understand and is quite childlike and so I have given up. I have tried so hard to get her to eat and failed. I know that this is often part of the progress of dementia, and have finally reached this point ... I do not want to upset her. If she doesn't want to eat - and her body reflex isn't telling her to eat, then reluctantly I accept the situation. I take a really sweet iced cupcake to every visit for us both ( this is doing my figure no good at all), and currently she enjoys it, but I am resigned to the fact that there will come a time soon when she will not want that either.
Hope you achieve some success with your Mum - it's awful watching them waste away, isn't it?
AND! if there are any snacks that you really like --- HIDE THEM, or you'll find they are all gone! 
Sounds good. The only thing my mum would eat from that list is mashed banana. She does not seek food.
My partner has mixed dementia incl vascular, he does not like sweet foods one bit, and makes a point of telling people so - but he does like digestive biscuits which became a habit in hospital. However, he only wants the same veg with every meal - I hate the sight of carrots and peas now, and end up making something different for me.....
