Getting my mom to eat

[nikochike]

Any suggestions on getting my mother to eat more? She is currently in the hospital in route to a rehabilitation facility where we hope she will regain her strength so she can go through another chemo session. She has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. She hardly eats anything. I have pleaded with her to at least drink a "good belly" probiotic mango juice. She likes the taste but will only take about 2 to 3 swallows. She eats only 2 to 3 bites of pureed food. She keeps saying she has no appetite. I tell her that is the effects of the chemotherapy lying to her. But she still doesn't eat much.

[missa13]

nikochike I recently had the same issue with my aunt who was hospitalized for breast cancer-- was too weak to be on chemo and spent a while shuttled back and forth between the hospital and rehab facilities. She's normally a huge eater and loved burgers, fries, steaks, ziti, etc. but lost a ton of weight because she never had an appetite. The only things that really worked for her were chocolatey protein shakes and soda. Her doctor told me that it mattered much less what she ate and much more that she got in some calories, so we just focused on giving her the things she liked the most, even if she could only have a few bites at a time. For me it was scary to see her lose so much weight, but I had to trust her medical staff that if the situation got really dire they would take control. Take care, and let us know how things go. xoxo

[Mabethea]

When I was going through chemo there were days I just could not eat. It wasn't my stomach being upset, I just couldn't eat. My sister brought me chocolate milkshakes almost every day. You need to find the maybe just one thing that she will eat.

[Mabethea in reply to Mabethea]

Also the only time in my life I was told..eat whatever you feel like eating...woohoo!

[BklynCatwoman]

I would say present her with the foods she loves--even if it's just ice cream or chocolate. Chemo definitely affects your taste buds so some foods taste like ash. I was craving spicy ethnic foods, like Indian food, Mexican food, Chinese food. Stuff that tasted like something. Also, cooling food like watermelon. For some reason, the taste of bananas sickened me so I avoided them. Good luck to her. You're a great daughter, by the way. She's lucky to have you in her life.

[nikochike]

Thank you so much for your responses. I will try the chocolate frozen desserts (a common theme it seems!) or whatever else she may ask for. I'll keep you posted.