She is in assisted living where she has to eat restaurant style and go to a dining room. We have been providing cereal, milk, bananas, bread and peanut butter. We just found out she is not going down for lunch either because she eats breakfast late. The only meal she is going down for is dinner. They quit serving breakfast at 10 which is the time she gets up. We are concerned about nutrition, She does have dementia. Suggestions please!!!
Your mother's diet sounds fine and it might ease your worry if you buy for her the high-protein varieties of cereal and bread. And if she's eating cereal, does that mean she also can tolerate milk? All good.
Under the circumstances you might want to celebrate that she goes down for the evening meal. This is impressive. (I wish my own mother were as functional as yours.)
Relax, enjoy visits with Mom and don't bug her about meals. Sounds like she's doing very well. Blessings to all of you for peaceful relationships.
I have already told my kids that if they place me somewhere that I have to listen to televisions blaring all over the place I WILL come back and haunt them. Now I am going to add another threat: You place me where they get me up at 7:00 am for breakfast, and I might not even wait until I die to start haunting you! :-)
She wants to sleep until 10? Sounds good to me. She is "retired" -- I think having a schedule that suits her should be a goal!
It seems to me that you don't need to worry too much at this point. I think the other suggestions of keeping her fridge stocked with healthy, nutritious snacks, juices and flavored waters would be a smart way to go. Watch her weight- if she appears to be losing weight or getting weaker, then you know something's going on. If she seems to be maintaining well, then it would seem that whatever she's doing is working.
Several years ago, my mom and aunt moved my grandmother into an assisted living facility. She was in the beginning stages of dementia, but not to the point where she was eligible for the facility's dementia unit. My aunt started noticing that the treats she was leaving for Grandma were going fast- specifically the ice cream treats. Well, we figured out that my grandma was forgetting to eat, so when she felt "peckish" she'd root around in the freezer for a treat. We wound up upping her care level so the staff would come and get her for meals. She'd often tell them she wasn't hungry, but she was social, and the staff would tell her that she would be missed at the table. She'd get down to dinner, "just to visit a spell" but the smells and sights of the food would stimulate her appetite, amd she would wind up eating the meal eat just fine.
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