La Jolla Senior Care News

Personal Care at Home Helps Seniors with Alzheimer’s Eat More

As your San Diego at home care specialists, it's our pleasure to offer these articles as your go-to resource, featuring information, tips, advice and much more.
Seniors with Alzheimer's: Personal Care at Home La Costa CA
Seniors with Alzheimer's: Personal Care at Home La Costa CA

When your senior parent has Alzheimer’s and is aging in place, one of the biggest challenges can be making sure that they are getting enough to eat. Often as the Alzheimer’s progresses and seniors lose more of their cognition, they are unable to recognize their body’s hunger and thirst cues. They also may be unable to hold utensils, use a cup, or understand what the food on their plate is. As a result, they become malnourished because they aren’t getting enough to eat. Personal care at home can help your senior loved one feed themselves and get enough to drink by helping them use utensils and hold onto a cup so they can drink.

Having a Mealtime Routine

Creating a mealtime routine can help seniors to know when it’s time to eat. Since many seniors don’t recognize when they are hungry having a mealtime routine that includes things like washing their hands and sitting down at the table provides clues to seniors that it’s time to eat. That can be enough to kick start their appetite and get them ready to eat a meal. It’s important that the routine be consistent though, so it’s a good idea to have personal care at home for your senior parent. That way the routine is the same every day.

Eating at Set Times

Having mealtime is important too, because that also creates a routine that a senior with Alzheimer’s can depend on. Even if they don’t feel hungry, they will know it’s time to eat at certain times of the day. But just like with the mealtime routine, the times of the day when seniors eat must be consistent. That means if your senior loved one is a at a medical appointment or something during the time when they usually eat, you will need to have a snack for them so they are eating something at that time.

Packing Extra Calories Into Meals

It’s important to try and pack as many calories into a meal for a senior with Alzheimer’s as possible so that they are getting as much nutrition and calories as they can at that meal. Adding in extra ingredients or increasing the amounts of things like butter or sauces are great ways to do this. For example, if your senior parent like oatmeal in the morning make it whole milk instead of water or put butter and jam on their toast. Even heavy creamer in their morning coffee is a good addition.

Avoiding Choking Hazards

When seniors have personal care at home, they get the one-on-one attention that is important for their safety. Seniors with advanced Alzheimer’s may choke on food as they’re to eat it, or choke on whatever they are drinking and aspirate some of it into their lungs. With someone who can devote all their attention to making sure that they are able to eat safely seniors will be able to eat safely.

For more information about how caregivers at La Jolla Nurses Homecare can help your aging parents stay in their own homes, call 858-454-9339. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable Personal Care at Home in La Costa, CA, and the surrounding communities.

Brittnei Salerno

Recent Posts

Categories

Contact Us About Home Care

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name
Checkboxes
READ/AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT: I understand that I will be receiving a call and emails from a staff member of La Jolla Nurses Homecare. The purpose of the call is to understand more about my senior care needs. There is no obligation to purchase any services. You agree to receive automated messages. This agreement is not a condition of purchase. Receive up to 2 messages per month. Reply STOP to opt-out or HELP for help. Message & data rates apply. Terms and privacy policy found here.
Skip to content