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Trouble Eating: What Can You Do if Your Senior Has Trouble Eating?

Trouble Eating: Difficulty eating is a common problem for aging adults. It can quickly lead to malnutrition, though, so this is an important issue to get a handle on for your senior.
Elder Care in Pacific Beach CA: Trouble Eating
Elder Care in San Diego CA: Trouble Eating

Trouble eating is one way that your elderly family member can start to experience malnutrition.

When your elderly family member doesn’t get the nutrition that she needs, she can start to lose muscle mass, her brain is affected, and her overall health can suffer greatly. It’s important to find answers fast.

 

Talk to Her Doctor about Potential Causes and Solutions

As soon as you realize that your senior is having trouble eating, talk to her doctor. There may be medical causes, side effects from medications that she takes, or other concerns that her doctor can help you to understand. Her doctor can also help you to find solutions to her trouble eating, which might range from changing the types of food she’s eating to using supplements to boost her nutritional intake.

 

Try to Schedule Meals and Snacks at Regular Intervals

If your senior has been having trouble eating, she may have started to avoid meals and even snacks. Getting her back onto a schedule with meals and snacks can help, even if she’s not eating much during each eating window. Sometimes just knowing when a meal or snack is coming can help to stimulate her appetite, too.

 

Trouble Eating: Make it a Point to Offer Foods That Are Easier for Your Senior to Eat

Start to learn what foods are easiest for your senior to eat and do what you can to offer those foods more often. If she’s able to eat unhealthy foods primarily, look for ways to offer similar foods that are a healthier version. Your senior’s doctor might suggest working with a nutritionist in order to find a good balance between the foods that your elderly family member wants to eat and the foods that she needs to be eating.

 

Consider Hiring Home Care Providers for Extra Help

For seniors who have trouble feeding themselves as well as cooking healthy foods that they’re able to eat, having home care providers available is an excellent solution. Your aging family member may find that’s a great way to get the help that she most needs on a consistent basis. Home care providers can help with other tasks that are getting difficult, too.
Your senior needs to address issues with eating as quickly as possible. Not having the nutrition that she needs can create serious health problems for her, especially if she’s already battling other chronic health issues. Recovering from extended malnutrition can take a long time, so be patient as your senior heals.

For more information about hiring Elder Care in San Diego, CA, call the friendly caregivers at La Jolla Nurses Homecare who can help your aging parents remain in their own homes, at 858-454-9339. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable senior care in La Jolla, CA, and the surrounding communities.

Brittnei Salerno

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