Dementia Unplugged: Care Essentials - Eating and Drinking
When Eating and Drinking Become Difficult
In this episode of Dementia Unplugged™: Care Essentials, we explore the difficulties that persons living with Dementia have with eating and drinking. This episode is designed to help caregivers, care partners, family members, and loved ones better understand eating and drinking needs and provide appropriate support for a person living with Dementia.
About Dementia Unplugged™: Care Essentials
From getting dressed in the morning to preparing a meal, using the bathroom, shopping, or getting from place to place, daily routines involve many different physical and cognitive abilities.
Dementia Unplugged: Care Essentials explores both Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) and how Dementia may gradually affect a person's ability to complete them.
The series helps care partners better understand what they may be seeing, why it may be happening, and how to adjust their approach while continuing to support independence and dignity.
Understanding How Needs Change Over Time
Care needs are rarely the same throughout the Dementia journey.
A person may initially need only a reminder or a little extra time. Later, they may benefit from visual cues, simplified choices, step-by-step guidance, environmental changes, or more hands-on assistance.
Understanding these changes can help caregivers focus not only on completing a task, but on preserving the person's abilities for as long as possible.
Responding to Resistance With Compassion
Resistance does not always mean that someone does not want to cooperate.
The person may be confused, uncomfortable, frightened, embarrassed, overwhelmed, tired, or unsure of what is being asked of them.
Throughout the series, caregivers will find practical strategies such as slowing down, reducing distractions, and acknowledging feelings.
Sometimes changing how we approach an activity can make just as much difference as changing the activity itself.
Explore Dementia Unplugged™: Care Essentials
Whether you are supporting a family member, friend, client, or someone else living with Dementia, Care Essentials provides practical education you can return to throughout the Dementia journey.
Each activity offers an opportunity to better understand the person behind the diagnosis and to find new ways to support them as their needs change.
Watch the Dementia Unplugged™: Care Essentials series on YouTube:
Disclaimer: Dementia Society of America (DSA) provides educational content only and does not offer medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before changing your medical care. DSA content is created by both human and computer-generated means and is reviewed for accuracy; however, errors may occur. Views expressed by third-party contributors do not necessarily reflect those of DSA. Unless expressly stated, DSA does not endorse or guarantee any third-party products, services, organizations, or external content. All DSA content is copyrighted and/or trademarked and may not be used without written permission.
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