No Appetite? Here Are Tips to Get Your Senior to Eat

Occasionally refusing to eat is not usually a cause for concern, especially among younger and healthier adults. What is concerning is when your senior loved one decreases or loses their appetite since this means they’re not getting enough to eat.
Usually caused by the natural physiological changes brought about by aging, this results in vitamin and nutrient deficiency, which may then lead to significant health problems.
As your trusted provider of adult daycare in Baltimore, Maryland, let us at Caring Hands Adult Medical Daycare suggest tips you can use to encourage your senior loved one to eat.

• Serve them dense-nutrient foods instead of giving them extra servings in an attempt to supplement the amount of food they’re getting.
• Set a regular eating schedule to make sure that they do not miss their hunger and thirst signals.
• Eating together can reduce loneliness which may be contributing to their lack of appetite. If your schedule cannot accommodate this regularly, consider enrolling them in an adult medical daycare in Dundalk, Maryland, so they have constant meal buddies.
• Check for their medication’s side effects. Common side effects include dry mouth and the metallic taste that does not get washed out for a while, affecting the taste of food.
• Consider an appetite stimulant. Appetite stimulants are among the options we use ourselves in our facility as an adult day services provider when the usual ways do not work.

Of course, while the above tips may help them, they may only do so for a while which is why you must make sure to consult with a doctor first to determine if there are underlying conditions that are causing their appetite change.