What I did for my Husband when he began sleeping A LOT I switched up the order of meals. I remembered my Grandma saying "Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper" So I started giving him his larger, more filling meal at breakfast when he was at his most "active" time (meaning he was less likely to fall asleep) So breakfast was things like Grits and an egg or 2 on top. Soup (pureed) Stew (pureed) Scrambled eggs and meat that I would puree there was always pureed fruit or yogurt that he could have any time
Lunch pretty much the same but no time it was when he was awake. I would also offer Pureed fruit, Yogurt Pudding
Dinner Again, any of the above
No time to any of the meals if he was awake I would offer food, drink. Sometimes he ate sometimes not. Sometimes a "lot" sometimes just a spoonful.
At some point they will just stop eating and drinking. Offer, don't force. this is natural and normal. a dying person is not going to feel hunger and thirst like you or I do.
this is harder on us as we equate food with all sorts of emotions. Eat this, you will feel better. food is one of the ways we show love.
Absolutely do not wake someone to feed a meal. Nursing homes have schedules and I had to have Hospice care work out an agreement with the personal care home to stop getting my mom up to eat. No one should be forced to get up to eat at late stage anything.
Lunch is not important. Sleep is. She will be sleeping more and more. My husband was sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day. When he was awake, he liked applesauce. He would go through a 48 ounce jar of applesauce a day. Let her sleep when she wants and let her eat what she wants.
Exactly this. My thoughts are that the person afflicted with dementia is losing brain capacity. What is functioning is very stressed in that there is literally less for it to work with. I'd be pretty tired too, if that were the case for me physically. Realize that the brain uses a considerable amount of energy to function, sleep is one way to recharge. They are, for all intensive purposes, in their own world. My husband has Frontal Temporal dementia. He makes his own schedule. Has specific food preferences, and that's ok. Neither of us needs to be stressed now.
I would say if you ate would you eat two hours later ? I wouldn’t unless the meal was very small If anything id go for one of those small compact meal replacement drinks has the doctor or nutritionist told you to eat so frequent id speak to the doctor or ask to be referred to a nutritionist really
My husband has Parkinson's disease and mild cognitive impairment. His appetite and meal schedules are messed up - ie not what I would want for him. But whenever and whatever he wants to eat is acceptable to me. Our philosophy is for him to enjoy what he still can, knowing that these progressive diseases are going to get worse over time. So if he sleeps through a "normal" meal time, so be it.
Hi Pamela, I agree. My husband also has late stage Parkinson's with cognitive impairment. His sleep and appetite are all over the place. But when he's tired, I don't wake him to push eating. He'll eat what and when he wants.
I'm all for keeping some kind of schedule for meals, medications and personal care but planning another meal after 2 hours seems over top the even to me.
I mean...why??? Let the poor woman(according to your profile)sleep. If she's hungry when she wakes, then you can think about feeding her. Folks with any of the dementias tend to sleep more especially in the late stages of this horrific disease, so again...let her sleep.
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I remembered my Grandma saying "Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper"
So I started giving him his larger, more filling meal at breakfast when he was at his most "active" time (meaning he was less likely to fall asleep)
So breakfast was things like
Grits and an egg or 2 on top.
Soup (pureed)
Stew (pureed)
Scrambled eggs and meat that I would puree
there was always pureed fruit or yogurt that he could have any time
Lunch pretty much the same but no time it was when he was awake.
I would also offer
Pureed fruit,
Yogurt
Pudding
Dinner
Again, any of the above
No time to any of the meals if he was awake I would offer food, drink.
Sometimes he ate sometimes not. Sometimes a "lot" sometimes just a spoonful.
At some point they will just stop eating and drinking. Offer, don't force.
this is natural and normal.
a dying person is not going to feel hunger and thirst like you or I do.
this is harder on us as we equate food with all sorts of emotions.
Eat this, you will feel better.
food is one of the ways we show love.
Lunch is not important. Sleep is.
She will be sleeping more and more. My husband was sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day. When he was awake, he liked applesauce. He would go through a 48 ounce jar of applesauce a day.
Let her sleep when she wants and let her eat what she wants.
They are, for all intensive purposes, in their own world. My husband has Frontal Temporal dementia. He makes his own schedule. Has specific food preferences, and that's ok. Neither of us needs to be stressed now.
if you ate would you eat two hours later ?
I wouldn’t unless the meal was very small
If anything id go for one of those small compact meal replacement drinks
has the doctor or nutritionist told you to eat so frequent
id speak to the doctor or ask to be referred to a nutritionist really
I agree. My husband also has late stage Parkinson's with cognitive impairment. His sleep and appetite are all over the place. But when he's tired, I don't wake him to push eating. He'll eat what and when he wants.
Let them get as much rest as they need!
Just like us .....would you want someone waking you up for a meal when you are exhausted.. ..
If she's hungry when she wakes, then you can think about feeding her.
Folks with any of the dementias tend to sleep more especially in the late stages of this horrific disease, so again...let her sleep.