My grandmother was diagnosed with dementia 5 years ago and it has steadily become worse, even more so when I came back home for the summer. Her food intake had already began to decrease over the years, but while I was gone she had eaten so little that she lost a lot of weight and refuses to have even have half a bowl of rice. Whenever we tell her to eat she'll always say that she's full and claims to be sick by pretending to throw up in the bin when it's just what she chewed and did not swallow. Sometimes she just keeps a mouthful of food in her mouth and then spits it in the bin without an excuse, or does not even attempt to finish what's in her bowl and says she's tired or full. Earlier when she came back from the community centre she just said she wouldn't be having dinner because her stomach hurts. I'm very worried that she's not having enough nutrients to fuel her body which makes her even more tired than she already is. Her decreasing or lack of appetite has been a core reason for many arguments in my home. Is there any way to get her to eat more or at the very least increase her appetite slightly?
grandmother with dementia refuses to eat. what can I do to get her to eat more?
- Thread starter raedarling
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Food she can pick up and nibble when shefeels like it?
what dos she have with te rice? Just rice?i dont think I would find that very appealing.
With dementia, tastes often cange, and favour sweet things.
How is she with deserts/Ice cream and youghurt type food?
Fortified milkshake?
what dos she have with te rice? Just rice?i dont think I would find that very appealing.
With dementia, tastes often cange, and favour sweet things.
How is she with deserts/Ice cream and youghurt type food?
Fortified milkshake?
Welcome to the forum
I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother’s situation. It must be very worrying.
Have you contacted her doctor about this problem? They may be able to refer her to a dietician or speech and language therapist for advice.
There’s a factsheet here which might be helpful -
www.alzheimers.org.uk
I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother’s situation. It must be very worrying.
Have you contacted her doctor about this problem? They may be able to refer her to a dietician or speech and language therapist for advice.
There’s a factsheet here which might be helpful -
Poor appetite and dementia
There are many reasons why a person with dementia may lose interest in, or turn down, food and drink.
www.alzheimers.org.uk
Definitely speak to your/her doctor. mine was keen to prescribe nutritional supplements - fortified milk shake type things which can come in a variety of flavours - for my mum. I declined initially because I wanted to find other foods that might tempt my mum, but her appetite has deteriorated in this heat, so may go that way after all. When my mum was in hospital recently, the nutritionist's advice was more or less to give her anything she might find appetising so that she was getting some calories, and not to worry too much about five-a-day etc. The leaflet mentioned above is really helpful. What does your grandmother like? My mum loves chicken soup, and ice cream and strawberries, so I try to always have some available, although her appetite has improved a bit since leaving hospital. Good luck.
Im afraid that as dementia progresses it is very common for the appetite to wane and for them to pouch (hold it in their mouth and not swallow) food.
Are there things that she will eat? Cake, biscuits and chocolate are often things that they will eat even when they wont eat anything else. At this stage you just have to get something inside them and not worry about whether its a balanced diet or not. If there is something that she will eat (like scrambled egg, for instance) then load it up with extra calories like double cream, or stir honey into milk shakes or yoghurt to make it taste sweeter. The GP can prescribe fortified drinks to help get calories in.
Im afraid that eventually, as she reaches end of life, she will stop eating anything at all.
Its what happens in dementia. Try not to argue about it.
xxx
Are there things that she will eat? Cake, biscuits and chocolate are often things that they will eat even when they wont eat anything else. At this stage you just have to get something inside them and not worry about whether its a balanced diet or not. If there is something that she will eat (like scrambled egg, for instance) then load it up with extra calories like double cream, or stir honey into milk shakes or yoghurt to make it taste sweeter. The GP can prescribe fortified drinks to help get calories in.
Im afraid that eventually, as she reaches end of life, she will stop eating anything at all.
Its what happens in dementia. Try not to argue about it.
xxx
Definitely get a referral to the SALT team in case she's having trouble swallowing now and needs different food.
But in the later stages, people with dementia eat less and less. It's their choice and you can't force someone to eat. All you can really do is try and tempt her.
But in the later stages, people with dementia eat less and less. It's their choice and you can't force someone to eat. All you can really do is try and tempt her.
Is she pretending to be sick or is she being sick.
Scrambled egg mashed with double cream worked wonders on my dad.
Weight loss, feeling full, being sick after one mouthful and a pain in the stomach are what my dad had and it was a tumour in his oesophagus that stopped him from eating. If your grandmother is otherwise well then she needs to see her GP or the SALT team.
Scrambled egg mashed with double cream worked wonders on my dad.
Weight loss, feeling full, being sick after one mouthful and a pain in the stomach are what my dad had and it was a tumour in his oesophagus that stopped him from eating. If your grandmother is otherwise well then she needs to see her GP or the SALT team.
My husband is hardly eating or drinking..I've been trying everything. He's still very mobile, but has lost 10lbs in the past 5 weeks:-(
We are awaiting a social services assessment as he has declined dramatically since his stroke at Easter.
Am I to think he's now in the later stage?
We are awaiting a social services assessment as he has declined dramatically since his stroke at Easter.
Am I to think he's now in the later stage?
she still has an appetite for sweet foods like cream puffs and a select few dishes and will drink the soup we always have before a meal but very rarely eats meat
My grandma really liked and still likes desserts since she willingly had three little cream puffs for dessert today, but I don't really want her to have too many things high in sugar and cholesterol at her age as a sort of a reward or treat for eating
I think it's still a relatively hard pill for me to swallow since I was away from home for a good 10 months for school and didn't expect her dementia to worsen so much while I was gone because she was still eating moderately well before I left. it's also difficult for my family since we didn't really have any support with taking care of her and we're known to have short tempers including her so we're all ticking time bombs when it comes to issues like this.
she still likes desserts but I'm still apprehensive about letting her eat so many sweet things at her age, and she still eats rice and we give her some side dishes but she's very selective about eating them (refusing to eat chicken when it's cooked in a certain way but finishing it immediately in another)
it's not really a difficulty, more like a refusal to swallow. and I do know this since I've researched a fair amount but it's still difficult to acknowledge this aspect of dementia. tempting doesn't really work on her anymore when her reasoning abilities and cognitive functions have deteriorated a lot.
for now she's pretending by feigning headaches and pretending she needs to puke when she just doesn't want to eat, but now that you mention it I think I might actually ask my mom to take her to a GP to see if anything's wrong with her, thank you
I would let her eat what she likes. Dad lived on scrambled egg, tinned rice pudding and ice cream all fortified with double cream. It's calories that count at the moment and if it causes upset trying to get her to eat something she doesn't want then I would stop and let her eat what she is happy to eat.
If she will eat soup that is wonderful as you can "hide" all sorts of nutritious things in there. I wonder if she doesnt like the texture of meat now? It may also taste very bland and unpleasant as people with dementia lose their sense of taste - sweet is the last thing to go. Dont worry about her eating too many sweet things at her stage of dementia - just get the calories in!
Let her eat what she wants- dementia seems to alter the taste buds.
Does anyone make you eat things you dont fancy? She's not a child, you ae not rewarding her. just respect her choices.
I doubt there is anything physically wrong- sounds like she is eating to keep the peace. ...then spitting it out again
Does anyone make you eat things you dont fancy? She's not a child, you ae not rewarding her. just respect her choices.
I doubt there is anything physically wrong- sounds like she is eating to keep the peace. ...then spitting it out again
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