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cltillison Asked April 2010

How can I convince my grandmother to eat? She suffers from malnutrition!

pollyjuicegrany Oct 2010
My mother is offered a meal we have together around the table.
Sometime she only picks at her food or she refuses eat, but we talk together, and continue eating together.
I then offer an alternate meal after dinner. But sitting at the table with everyone helps. The one item though, she really enjoys is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wholewheat bread with the crust cut off, and a glass of milk.
Also Try Ensure or other supplement to drink, between meals, Just a thought.

AngieM Apr 2010
This is a hard one. There could be many reasons why your grandmother won't eat. It could be do to age related loss of appetite, medications that she's taking, feels like she's a burden, etc.

If she will not eat, how about try making smoothies from time to time. It's a start. At least with smoothies, you can add all kinds of fruits and maybe add some type of vegetable puree into the mix.

I bet trying the good ole "try feeding her stuff she likes to eat" has been done before.

Maybe try making meal times into a part of the day where you two can converse, share stories and eat. Not sure if she eats at the same time you do. I know some caretakers who just shove a plate in front of their mothers and say "eat".Eating becomes a task and not enjoyment.

I hope this helped a little.

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