Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advise. My mum who has Alzheimer’s has recently stopped eating. She just eats a tiny amount and then says she doesn’t want the rest of her meal. I’m happy to make her anything she likes but whatever I try she just refuses. I don’t think she has trouble swallowing, as she will still eat biscuits and chocolate, so I can get some food into her. I just don’t know what to do as she is loosing weight and has no energy, and also has trouble with constipation. I’m getting really stressed and worried and any advice on how to get some nourishment into my Mum would be so helpful, thanks all.
Mum not eating
- Thread starter Rosaerona
- Start date
My now late mum ate far more if i kept up a pretty much constant supply of grazing food. 3 square meals a day turned into breakfast ( if she'd eat it, ) then all sorts of bits and pieces through until I offered her dinner at night, which she often refused too, so i'd then leave picky stuff again until bed time.
Everything was bit sized ( pick it up and pop it in)
She consumed far more than she realised. AND took away my angst about her not eating
Everything was bit sized ( pick it up and pop it in)
She consumed far more than she realised. AND took away my angst about her not eating
It might be good to get a referral to the SALT team which are speech and language therapists dealing with eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties. They could tell you whether it's a swallow problem and advise you on consistency of meals. But you have already found that PWDs love sweet food so forget about nutritional content and concentrate on getting chocolate and biscuits into her, or icecream and mousse if softer food is better.
The SALT referral and 'little and often' comments above are both very good pieces of advice.
I'd only add to that to think about calories as well. The dietician comes out to mum now and she thinks in terms of calories - so if there's a choice of custard it's the one with the most calories or ice cream the same etc. She then totals it all up to see if it reaches the 1300kcal she has recommended. (The more weight they have to fall back on in times of ill health the better apparently.)
I'd only add to that to think about calories as well. The dietician comes out to mum now and she thinks in terms of calories - so if there's a choice of custard it's the one with the most calories or ice cream the same etc. She then totals it all up to see if it reaches the 1300kcal she has recommended. (The more weight they have to fall back on in times of ill health the better apparently.)
Hi @Rosaerona
I know only too well how upsetting it is when your Mum will not eat. My Mum has had problems with not wanting to/not eating for almost 3 years. I tried every trick in the book, but to no avail. Mum has been in a CH for the last year, and they try hard but still cannot get her to eat. She is a bag of bones now and I really don't know how she keeps going. My worry is that she has nothing to draw on to fight infection etc. Not only that but the knock on effect is that Mum feels dizzy and she has no energy. Although not eating is a common trait of the illness, being malnourished makes Mum much more confused.
Mum was referred to a hospital dietitian and she admitted that if Mum doesn't want to eat, there is little that can be done. As has already been suggested here, she advised that Mum ate anything she was vaguely interested in (that would be cake!) whenever she fancied it. Also, in the same way as you can disguise extra veggies in toddlers' meals - boost anything that the PWD might be persuaded to eat with extra calories eg load mashed potato with butter, cream. cheese etc, extra sugar in tea, smoothies with some good calorific stuff mixed in. My Mum is also on 3 Fortisips per day. She just about hangs in there.
I particularly noted your comment about your Mum's constipation, as this was an issue mine has too. I think that when the body is subjected to long periods of not eating, it affects everything, and when any small amount of nourishment 'arrives' the digestion system just goes a bit screwy ... for lack of a better word and becomes very sluggish. Constipation is a regular occurrence. Old people seem to have a fixation with how often they 'go' and if they can't 'go' it worries them .... My Mum just could not reason that because she wasn't putting anything in, there was nothing to come out! Mum's GP has now prescribed a regular dose of lactulose on her medication list, and the CH adminster this on a regular basis - it seems to work.
Finally, be very aware of your Mum's behaviour when eating - if she eats better with company, or if she eats better left on her own. If certain times work, or if she will eat while she's watching TV for example. If she will eat more using a spoon, or if a particular bowl or plate works better for her.
It's trial and error - good luck!
I know only too well how upsetting it is when your Mum will not eat. My Mum has had problems with not wanting to/not eating for almost 3 years. I tried every trick in the book, but to no avail. Mum has been in a CH for the last year, and they try hard but still cannot get her to eat. She is a bag of bones now and I really don't know how she keeps going. My worry is that she has nothing to draw on to fight infection etc. Not only that but the knock on effect is that Mum feels dizzy and she has no energy. Although not eating is a common trait of the illness, being malnourished makes Mum much more confused.
Mum was referred to a hospital dietitian and she admitted that if Mum doesn't want to eat, there is little that can be done. As has already been suggested here, she advised that Mum ate anything she was vaguely interested in (that would be cake!) whenever she fancied it. Also, in the same way as you can disguise extra veggies in toddlers' meals - boost anything that the PWD might be persuaded to eat with extra calories eg load mashed potato with butter, cream. cheese etc, extra sugar in tea, smoothies with some good calorific stuff mixed in. My Mum is also on 3 Fortisips per day. She just about hangs in there.
I particularly noted your comment about your Mum's constipation, as this was an issue mine has too. I think that when the body is subjected to long periods of not eating, it affects everything, and when any small amount of nourishment 'arrives' the digestion system just goes a bit screwy ... for lack of a better word and becomes very sluggish. Constipation is a regular occurrence. Old people seem to have a fixation with how often they 'go' and if they can't 'go' it worries them .... My Mum just could not reason that because she wasn't putting anything in, there was nothing to come out! Mum's GP has now prescribed a regular dose of lactulose on her medication list, and the CH adminster this on a regular basis - it seems to work.
Finally, be very aware of your Mum's behaviour when eating - if she eats better with company, or if she eats better left on her own. If certain times work, or if she will eat while she's watching TV for example. If she will eat more using a spoon, or if a particular bowl or plate works better for her.
It's trial and error - good luck!
We have the same problem getting mum to eat, everything she now eats is blended so it's soft, one of us has to feed her or she will just push the food round the plate until it's in pile and not eat.
We wanted to make sure she was getting some good high calories in a small portion, we make a smoothie type milk shake with cream, milk, bannana, pear, a big dollop of smooth almond butter with a crushed up multivitamin all blended, it tastes nice aswell.
It's hard finding things she will now eat, we have to keep it soft and bland anything with a strong flavour she will spit out or she will try throwing the plate of food, i've been looking for other food options aswell it needs to be gluten free.
We wanted to make sure she was getting some good high calories in a small portion, we make a smoothie type milk shake with cream, milk, bannana, pear, a big dollop of smooth almond butter with a crushed up multivitamin all blended, it tastes nice aswell.
It's hard finding things she will now eat, we have to keep it soft and bland anything with a strong flavour she will spit out or she will try throwing the plate of food, i've been looking for other food options aswell it needs to be gluten free.
I struggled for 3 years trying to get my mother's weight above the 8stone mark. For someone who'd been 11-12stone all her life and found this good advice
also this
and whilst looking after my m-i-l, without dementia, who was only 6 stone following a fall when she broke her hip, I used a tip I picked up from a NH to 'load calories into anything they will eat'. So double cream into soups, milk on breakfast, sauces etc. butter in sauces too.
[QUOTE="Rosaerona, post: 1536759, member: 54756"
]Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advise. My mum who has Alzheimer’s has recently stopped eating. She just eats a tiny amount and then says she doesn’t want the rest of her meal. I’m happy to make her anything she likes but whatever I try she just refuses. I don’t think she has trouble swallowing, as she will still eat biscuits and chocolate, so I can get some food into her. I just don’t know what to do as she is loosing weight and has no energy, and also has trouble with constipation. I’m getting really stressed and worried and any advice on how to get some nourishment into my Mum would be so helpful, thanks all.[/QUOTE]
My dad was like this and the weight loss was dramatic. I am presuming your mum has seen a doctor and had tests done, if not she needs to. Her doctor can prescribe ensure and I can honestly say that ensure is what kept my dad going for about three months before his diagnosis. I thought the weight loss was due to the dementia and that dad had just become anorexic.
I was trying every trick to get my dad to eat but nothing worked. I also made a bit of a nuisance of myself at dads surgery to get things done. The doctor did lots of tests and found nothing until dad had the gastroscopy test that found oesophageal cancer. He has since had a stent and is now eating soft stuff along with the ensure. I weighed him this morning and he has put on a full half stone. I have given myself a pat on the back because I can say this is totally due to me and my perseverance.
I don't think for a moment that this is what your mums problem is but I do think she needs to see her doctor just to eliminate certain things.
]Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advise. My mum who has Alzheimer’s has recently stopped eating. She just eats a tiny amount and then says she doesn’t want the rest of her meal. I’m happy to make her anything she likes but whatever I try she just refuses. I don’t think she has trouble swallowing, as she will still eat biscuits and chocolate, so I can get some food into her. I just don’t know what to do as she is loosing weight and has no energy, and also has trouble with constipation. I’m getting really stressed and worried and any advice on how to get some nourishment into my Mum would be so helpful, thanks all.[/QUOTE]
My dad was like this and the weight loss was dramatic. I am presuming your mum has seen a doctor and had tests done, if not she needs to. Her doctor can prescribe ensure and I can honestly say that ensure is what kept my dad going for about three months before his diagnosis. I thought the weight loss was due to the dementia and that dad had just become anorexic.
I was trying every trick to get my dad to eat but nothing worked. I also made a bit of a nuisance of myself at dads surgery to get things done. The doctor did lots of tests and found nothing until dad had the gastroscopy test that found oesophageal cancer. He has since had a stent and is now eating soft stuff along with the ensure. I weighed him this morning and he has put on a full half stone. I have given myself a pat on the back because I can say this is totally due to me and my perseverance.
I don't think for a moment that this is what your mums problem is but I do think she needs to see her doctor just to eliminate certain things.
