Family caregivers may face challenging difficulties in feeding their aging loved one. Lack of appetite and other aging factors can reduce their appetite for food. However, their appetite is very vital in maintaining their good health as they need to eat in order to get nutrition. The nutritional needs of our senior loved ones become even more necessary at their age since their immune system is weakening also at this phase.

To help you out, we’d like to share with you these tips on how you can encourage your senior loved one to eat well. We share this information from our experiences as an Elderly Care Home in Fresno, California. Just a quick addition though. These tips are ideal when your aging loved one’s appetite is not triggered by any health problem or medical issue. When you’ve settled this out, the following tips can be very helpful.

1. Prepare easy-to-swallow foods.
   Sometimes, our aging loved ones are not interested to eat because the foods we serve them are too difficult for them to swallow or even munch. Your options are preparing your meals in soups, broths, or even mashed. When they see that the food is smooth for their throat, they might change their minds.
2. Ask your loved one what they want to eat.
   For all you know, your senior family member has a particular meal in mind and they wouldn’t want anything else. When their choice is not healthy for them in your evaluation, you might want to cook your own version with healthier alternatives. If you like, you can ask for assistance from professional providers of Personal Services.
3. Serve their meals in smaller portions especially when you serve foods with high nutrition.
   It can be quite overwhelming even for seniors to see all of their meal served in one plate. But giving it to them one small serving at a time, it can become more manageable. At this rate, you can also adjust the meals from three large ones into 5 or 6 smaller servings.
4. Serve snacks in between meals especially on fruits or vegetables that are easy to eat and swallow.
   You can make little slices of these foods or even prepare them in shakes or smoothie. The goal is to keep them well-fed while at the same time ensuring that they’re feeding on healthy meals.
5. Maintain an eating routine with your senior loved one.
   Our aging family member can do well with schedules especially as they mostly stay at home. It also helps ensure you that they’re really being fed well as opposed to waiting for them to get hungry as they probably will have lesser sensation for it.

If you’re looking for further efficient ways to ensure that your elderly loved one is well-fed, relocating them to our Residential Care Facility will be a great option. Our team at Attentive Senior Care is ready to assist your loved one’s care needs and ensure their good nutrition, safety, and overall well-being.