Older person - no appetite

Maybe ice cream? And fresh strawberries? Or banana slices?

You might try this smoothie. It's nutrient rich and fruity sweet:
I use a Magic Bullet to make it. It contains sesame seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, one apple, frozen berries, oat milk and kefir yogurt. Whizz it all up and enjoy. It's pretty thick the way I make it so I got some stainless steel smoothie straws which are wider than ordinary straws.I

Every sympathy .

I've experienced this now into year eight with my father .

I wouldn't rely on Complan or Ensure .

Ring the changes :
Don't repeatedly serve their favourites . They'll get bored with them .When they move onto another favourite they'll get bored with it only you don't know that until you serve it !

Serve food drink in much smaller portions and more frequently.

Menu for today :
Early morning tea with a shortbread biscuit .

Breakfast - a flavoured porridge ( apple ) with extra milk to make it creamy .

Midmorning - a banana and a drink .
If constipated I'd give a peeled mandarin orange .

Lunch - a wholemeal sandwich with something tasty -Coronation Chicken with shredded salad inside .
I cut the crusts off the bread .
Consommé or tea or any preferred drink ie - coffee .

Mid afternoon - a cake ,buttered bun , scone or Danish pastry with tea .

Suppertime - a lamb casserole with plenty of vegetables including spinach and new potatoes in a gravy .

Dessert - some chopped up pears .
He might ask me for an ice cream or a rice pudding as well . He ate a chocolate mousse yesterday after years of telling me that he hates them .

Late evening - cheese and biscuits . I cube different cheeses . Blue is his favourite .
Plus a drink . He'll ask for tea .

Last thing , he'll ask me for some chocolates with his nighttime drink which will probably be hot chocolate .

He might ask me for different drinks during the day and I have a massive selection including alcohol free ones as well as giving him water .

I also give him a vitamin supplement .

I used to get upset and worry about it .

Now I don't as long as I feel that he's hydrated .

I see that you said that they are also struggling to keep food down.
If this is a stomach virus, fluid is most important, not eating for only a couple of days during the nausea/vomiting won't matter.
Once vomiting stops, bland diet, lowish fat (a bit of butter on bread won't hurt unless there are preexisting metabolic conditions) non acidic fruit juice then gradually include small regular meals again.
If the patient is still reluctant to eat when fully recovered then is the time to start a fortified high energy diet and if not eating continues it may need a referral to a community dietitian.

Some great ideas on here, thank you everyone.

She is about the same as she was.
Not a stomach virus I dont think. But still think it is a virus. We would know where she caught it from.
Dont think a water infection. But if we do ring a doctor, we will mention that, as she has had them before occasionally.
She does have low BP from time to time. I havent been paying much attention to that.

If she eats more, I think her strength will return better. But I recognise it may not be as simple as that.
She hasnt vomited for a couple of days.

This is not the first time she has been poorly, and then eats and drinks just enough to keep her going. But it is going on for longer this time. Day 8 or something.

Thanks once again.

Very useful thread for me too with lots of ideas.

I have pbc I can only eat certain things vita coco coconut water is great and biotful yoghurt drinks. My son does me smoothies ensure has a lot of vitamins but I prefer a McDonalds milkshake. There is a company that delivers puree ready meals and ensure packages. Pretty sure it was findus i was a tester years ago I found it good.

I would definitely give small amounts often, if giving soup try giving it in a Cup at the side of something like little pieces of cheese with some nice bread and butter or quiche leave a a cold drink like squash or flavoured water as the side of the side of them so they can sip throughout the day. I used to find with my mother if you stuck to small amounts often rather than a huge plate which overwhelmed her. Try breakfast , mid morning snack tea cake/ crumpet , light lunch , afternoon snack cake or a banana and custard/ rice pudding/ yoghurt then their evening meal if they stay up you can try an evening snack too before bed or something like Ovaltine or Horlicks and a biscuit.

As they say you eat with your eyes. I’m on medication that kills my appetite so I never feel hungry. I eat because I know I’ve got to. Smoothies homemade full of fruit and veggies. Soup and a sandwich whatever she likes make her but in small portions

Home made soup blended and served in a mug,to sip and fruit balls made with different dried fruit and nuts,rolled small and served in tiny paper cup on a fancy plate ?

After an illness my doctor gave me some sports drinks but I cannot Remember what ones.
Just by the way.
When I was a child in the 1920s my mother was poorly the doctor prescribed a Guiness a day and a weeks holiday at Brighton! We had a holiday.
She had a Guiness a day every day until she died a 92!
I have have had a Guiness a day and am shortly be 100.

Here’s to you,*Bijou*! A Guinness a day never hurt anyone. 😃
Cheers!
USA Gundy

Wow Bijou, impressive.

All good advice but make sure it is good that the person really likes. I hate porridge when aim well so I’d definitely hate it if I was ill.

Also I presume there are no foods are not suitable. I am diabetic so lots of the puddingy things I wouldn’t be able to eat

Fortisip is very good for this sort of thing. Not sure if it’s prescription only though.

vickya

Soft boiled egg(s) taken out of shell and into a large glass or glass bowl with slices,(fingers) of fresh wholemeal (or white) B&B. They can dip them in the egg and mop up with them.

A little white fish in parsley/white sauce and some mash and peas.

What about some chips from the chip shop?

A peanut and jam or marmalade sandwich, fresh sliced bread. I'm thinking children food is good.

A fresh jam donut? Scone,butter, jam?

My mother was a great believer in white fish wrapped around a Dairylea triangle, and a small spoonful of mashed potato!

I used to keep small white bread salmon sandwiches handy when my father was ill, as he often would fancy something, then have ‘lost the notion’ by the time it had been prepared.

This sounds very similar to my Mum's recent illness.
She enjoyed drinking warm fruit squash so I made it with dioralyte and also put a dose of Metatone in it. She used a straw to drink through.

When she could face solid food we started with jelly and custard - metatone in the jelly, complan in the custard - and just tiny amounts. I tried to make sure that everything she ate was as nutritious as it could be, so made custard with Jersey milk for example.

I agree that you eat with your eyes first, so it was worth the effort to arrange things attractively, even if it was just one slice of peeled apple and half a grape - every little helps!
Good luck.

Things that slide over easily in very small portions. Scrambled egg, rice pudding, custard with raspberries/steawberries, liquid soups.

Juicylucy Fortisip is available to buy (chemist's, Amazon, etc) but obviously free on prescription

Think home made soups are great and can be put into small amounts which might tempt the person. sometimes it is also good to have made the soup elsewhere. Usually the smell of food cooking encourages us to eat, but when I was having chemo etc the smell of food just put me off everything, so a friend made some soup at her house, put them in individual amounts and we froze them and then it was simple to just use a microwave to heat a small portion and with some lovely home made bread or a roll could be tempting. A sweet treat which is also using up food! Take a banana , split lengthways and put in a dish for the microwave. Put a small amount of orange juice - from a packet is fine, a little brown sugar and a small amount of brandy, or whiskey or rum. whatever they happen to like. Put in microwave and you have banana flambe with out the flames but warm and comforting and a little treat to enjoy. Agree with the dried fruits too, get some good dried apricots and pears, which are to hand. Oh making me hungry now! Hope this is a help

If the gp agrees to orescribe.

What does the person usually like to eat?

When my Mum was very ill, she hated all the nutrition foods and drinks, but absolutely wolfed down jelly and ice cream and small bits of cake and caramel chocolate.

HowVeryDareYou2 is right at this stage it does not matter what they eat as long as there's a good calorie intake. Lidl does a lovely rice pudding made with clotted cream, it is almost as good as a homemade one with farmer calories. small portions but often, finger food between meals anything what so ever including chocolates and jellies. You can get frozen jellies which are good to add to their liquid intake. Usually custards, rice puddings, trifle, sponge puddings and any milk pudding goes dow well as well as soup, stews, mashed potatoes, sweet Jacket potato and the like is usually popular too. Ensure comes in many flavours you can get a trial pack on prescription so the "patient" can choose which they prefer. You can also have ensure fruit juices and soups on prescription if the GP thinks it is required.

Bijou - always lovely to hear from you. Guiness was recommended over the years as it contained iron, but the main benefit was that it was calorific, so in poorer areas it would be suggested as "medicinal" for nursing mothers, who might well be under nourished. In hard times, the meat in such families was for the working men.

I used to make egg custard for my mum.