Some seniors may suffer from dysphagia, the medical term for difficulty swallowing. Dysphagia is managed by serving the older adult thickened liquids, which prevent choking and stop the fluids from entering the airway. Here’s how to thicken liquids for aging care recipients.
What is dysphagia?
Swallowing requires that the muscles and nerves work together to push food down into the stomach. When problems develop with these body parts, swallowing can feel slow or uncomfortable. Affected seniors can choke or cough when swallowing food, drinks, or even their own saliva.
Dysphagia commonly occurs after an older adult experiences a stroke. When left untreated, dysphagia increases the risk of the food or water getting into the senior’s airway. This leads to serious conditions, such as pneumonia or lung infections. Seniors with dysphagia must be served thickened liquids.
Swallowing difficulties may also develop in dementia patients, who forget how to chew and swallow. Parkinson’s disease, reflux disease and cancer of the head or esophagus can cause serious challenges with swallowing. Natural aging reduces muscle tone in the esophagus and is another cause.
Read Foods that Seniors Should Avoid to look out for while preparing meals for your elderly loved ones.
Why are thickened liquids safer?
Thickened liquids promote safety as the older adult swallows the fluids. This is because thickened fluids move slower than thin liquids, thereby protecting the airway. Thickened liquids help prevent choking and prevent the fluids from entering the elderly person’s lungs.
Thin liquids include water, coffee, milk, soda, carbonated drinks, and broth. Ice cream and certain nutrition drinks, like Ensure, are also considered thin liquids. Thick liquids include milkshakes, eggnog, tomato juice, and soups with a cream base. Fruit nectar is a naturally thick liquid.
What are the different levels of thickness?
Drinks fall into one of three levels of thickness. Nectar thick liquids can be drunk out of a cup. Moderately thick liquid is like honey and pours slowly; these are often eaten with a spoon rather than sipped from a cup. Extremely thick liquid is eaten with a spoon.
How do caregivers thicken liquids?
Aspiration (when food or liquids get into the airway) is less likely when aging care recipients are served liquids that are thickened. Some foods, as mentioned, are naturally thick. Others can be thickened with the addition of powders or gels.
Commercial thickeners are intended for use with beverages rather than food. This is because food can be thickened by adding other food products, such as Jell-O and tapioca for sweet foods and rice cereal or powdered potatoes for savory dishes.
Caregivers can purchase thickening gels, powders, or natural thickening agents from a local pharmacy, online, or medical suppliers. Examples of thickener brands include Thick-It, ThickenUp, Simply Thick, and Thick & Easy. Try a few different thickeners to determine which ones the senior favors.
Add a commercial thickener to the liquid and stir for 20 seconds. Let the drink sit for 1 to 2 minutes to develop the right thickness. Do not under thicken the liquid. It’s safer that the senior drinks a liquid that is too thick rather than too thin.
Homemade thickeners are equally effective. Household staples can be used to thicken soup broths and other flavored liquids. Corn flour, blended fruit, pureed vegetables, cream, and pureed baby food are ingredients that can be added to thicken liquids to the desired consistency.
What are nectar thick recipes?
Caregivers can prepare nectar thick drinks at home. To serve chocolate milk, add half a cup of prepared pudding to one-quarter cup milk (use sugar-free pudding for diabetics). For fruit juice, blend half a banana with one-quarter cup pineapples, strawberries, and pineapple juice.
The senior may have a taste for other sweet drinks. Caregivers might prepare chocolate, peanut butter and banana shake: Blend half a banana, one tablespoon peanut butter, three tablespoons baby rice cereal, and half a can of a chocolate-flavored nutrition drink, like Boost.
What are best practices when using thickeners?
Some thickening powders cause the liquid to continue thickening over time; read the product’s instruction label to achieve the right consistency. Thickening agents come in single-serve packets, which are ideal to have on hand when the elderly individual goes out to eat.
While ice cream, sorbet, and gelatin desserts seem like thickened liquids, they are thin liquids. They melt in the senior’s mouth and become as hazardous as originally thin liquids. Substitute these sweet treats with thicker ones—custard instead of ice cream, for example.
Older adults may not appreciate thickeners, even when they don’t change the taste of the drink. However, serving thickened fluids is necessary to prevent aspiration. At the same time, the fluids should be tasty so that the senior consumes enough liquids to stay adequately hydrated.
When your aging loved one must be served thickened liquids, the caregivers at Assisting Hands Home Care are ready to prepare them. We are a reputable home care agency with a staff of professional caregivers trained to deliver exceptional elder home care to seniors in the comfort of home.
Responsibilities include healthy meal preparation. We serve beverages, including thickened ones, to ensure the older care recipient stays hydrated throughout the day. If the senior has dietary restrictions, we prepare nutrient-rich dishes that follow the guidelines of their meal plan.
Professional caregivers perform light housekeeping to keep the home clean, safe, and comfortable. We provide transportation to the doctor’s office or senior center. Timely medication reminders are given. Caregivers are also pleasant companions who engage socially with seniors through conversations, games, outings, and hobbies.
Care options are flexible and can be customized to meet unique care needs. We are available for respite care, overnight care, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, and post-hospitalization care, among others. Our professionals are licensed, bonded, and insured to give seniors and families peace of mind.
Assisting Hands Home Care serves the elderly in Westlake, Ohio, and the surrounding communities. When the older adult in your life needs quality senior care, choose our well-rated home care agency. Schedule a free in-home consultation at 440-517-4623 and start the senior’s journey to improved health and well-being.
