My 94 year old Mom has always been a very finicky eater- still is. She likes strawberry shakes so in a blender, I combine a bottle of strawberry ensure, strawberry ice cream, half a banana, container of strawberry yogurt, a few fresh strawberries and a half a dose of miralax. Bottom line- she drinks it.

Hi I have noticed that my mother is also not eating as much, but she will eat a very good meal if I fix it and sit down with her to eat. She does much better when not left to eat alone or to prepare her own food. She is also starting to "hoard" food - particularly snack stuff. It is the craziest thing!! However, my biggest issue with my mother is taking in enough fluids. She gets dehydrated very fast, and she becomes more difficult and more lethargic the longer the dehydration persists. It is a constant effort pushing fluids on her - she sips - takes hours to drink one glass of water or gatoraide. While food intake is sometimes a problem and could become more of an issue if not closely monitored, I watch out carefully for dehydration. It has one of the most sweeping affects on my mother of anything.

Well I guess we're all in the same boat! My mom's 89 with Alzheimer's and also has problems eating and drinking enough fluids and swallowing her pills.

What I do is crush all her pills together into a powder and mix it in apple sauce she loves it ! (but check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure the meds your loved one takes can be mixed together)

Then I alternate every other day, mixing various fruit like strawberries/blueberries and cherios into yogurt or cottage cheese. Another thing she loves is peanut butter on lightly toasted bread.

She drinks milk and any other liquids with a straw because as the disease progresses there is a chance your loved one can develop pneumonia. Because as the involuntary function of the throat muscles continue to diminish, this can lead to liquid going down the wrong pipe and getting into the lungs. Drinking through a straw allows the throat muscles to be alerted that there is food on it's way down and the muscles help to swallow.

Another thing you can do to help your loved one that suffers from dehydration or that doesn't want to drink anything, is to feed them foods with a high liquid content like watermelon or feed them jello. No one ever choked on jello before and it goes down smooth. There is also a product that you can get at Walgreens called "Thick it" which turns liquids into a "jello like" state.

My mom also drinks Ensure through a straw when she doesn't feel like eating.

I hope that's helpful!

My 76 year old mother is in the advanced stages of this disease also. I have taken on the task of her care because she is very mobile and was injuring herself in assisted living facilities over the past three years. It seems that no matter who is affected, the symptoms are the same. My mother has been a very small person all of her life (never more than 140 lbs), she never had a healthy intake of nutrition based on her food preferences, and she has been a heavy drinker most of my life. She has lost 10 lbs while being in my care since April 2009. I am having the same experience that she does not take in foods and fluids well, yet she will eat yogurt very well. She is also taking Trazodone, but as a sleep aide. None of the medicines seem to work for the agitation. We have tried Namenda, Respiradol, and I have even tried the SPECIAL concept of managing her moods but that seems to give her entitlement issues and makes her more arrogant. What has worked well for her intake is to mix multi-grain cereal in the yogurt (I use cheerios) I always serve it with a small cup of cut fruit on the side, I hold the nutritional drink until the end of her meal so she does not fill up on that first. I recently had her doctor prescribe a medicine to increase her desire for food (Megase = Mejestrol). We are just a few days into this medicine but it seems to be working. Particularly in the morning- now I serve her the yogurt with cereal, fruit, and when she is done I serve her sliced potatoes, and eggs with toast. She has eaten every thing I serve her for breakfast as of this morning. But usually does not eat that well in the evening. I only hope that this 30 days use of this medicine will put some of her weight back on because she is down to 90 lbs now and I fear that if she gets physically ill her lack of weight will present a recovery problem. Bless all who have to deal with this on a daily basis...it is very hard.

To anonymous....about nutrition. I have the same experience you have. My husband who is in advanced stages of Alz has no appetite......and exsists almost completely on ENSURE. He really likes to drink this and this is is main source of nutrition. I have found he eats better in a resturant than at home and I always order the the same thing for him. In a resturant he will eat a plain grilled cheese sandwich quite well......but not at home.! He used to eat oatmeal but now doesn't like that either. But he sure drinks a lot of Ensure. Usually 5 bottles a day. Sometimes 6. He tell me that is all he needs. You may want to try Ensure for your mum.

My mom also has severe Alzheimer's and it used to be a struggle to get her to drink enough fluids. Mom uses a straw to drink and I discovered that dipping the end of the straw she drinks from in the drink or yogurt encourages her to suck on the straw. Also, mom took trazadone once, but it put her to sleep for 2 days, so we tried her on a low dose of Seroquel (25mg. cut in half, 2 times a day) which worked for a while. Now, she is on Resperidol-M ("M" is for MELT) .5mg one time a day and this seems to be working for her agitation and anxiety. Good luck! It is a hard job even on a good day!