Eating Safely with Dementia

The short video below describes how to help dementia patients with eating (time: 3 minutes 45 seconds).

People who have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias often need assistance with eating, especially as the disease progresses. From getting a fork full of food from plate to mouth, to cutting up food, to simply moving food around the plate, meal times can be a challenging part of their daily life. Eating can be such a challenge for some dementia patients that if they don’t get some assistance with it, they may become malnourished.

Since every dementia patient is unique, caregivers should watch them eat to know how, when and where to offer assistance. For instance, in the video below, Susie is only nibbling on her food, which includes a sausage patty, biscuit, scrambled eggs, and gravy. Her caregiver notices she is barely eating and is also aware that Susie has difficulty using silverware. So, the caregiver offers to make Susie a sausage biscuit, which is something that she can eat with her hands. Susie agrees to the sausage biscuit, but initially has trouble getting a bite on her own. The caregiver then uses the hand-over-hand technique to guide Susie’s hand to her mouth for a bite. After this, Susie is able to continue eating on her own.

In other instances, a dementia patient may appear to just be playing with his or her food, moving it from one part of the plate to another, or simply touching it with their fingers. While it may appear the individual doesn’t have much of an appetite, that might not be true. The actions could simply be the result of not knowing what to do with the food.

Some dementia patients may appear to be eating well on their own, but they still might need some assistance. That’s the case with one woman in the video, who has eaten the majority of the food on her plate with the exception of one sausage patty. When the caregiver asks her about the sausage, she realizes the woman likes sausage, but she’s having difficulty cutting it. Once the caregiver cuts the sausage, the woman can finish the meal on her own.