There are many comments about eating, but I don't remember this one. Husband is in ALF and I go in to sit with him for one meal a day. He has gradually begun to eat as fast and as much as he can, to the extent that if I am there, I try to slow him down by even taking his plate out of eyesight so he chews his food. The ALF just sets the plate in front of him and he practically inhales the food with speed and enormous bites.
Do any of you have suggestions for managing this behavior in an ALF? If he were home I might try giving him multiple small servings, but that doesn't work at the ALF. I doubt the ALF would consider it a problem (he hasn't choked yet) and from their vantage he eats everything with no help from them.
Cordis did that and then he started pocketing the food in his cheeks. That is when I had to watch what I gave him to eat. I was so afraid he would get choked.
My husband does this periodically and it is difficult to control without either feeding him and waiting for him to chew and swallow or giving him vey small portions that he can manage on his own.
I would speak with the DON and let him/her know about your concerns and see what suggestions he/she may have to solve or mitigate the problem. You might suggest a swallow evaluation to determine if he's having difficulty swallowing, therefore hoarding the food in his cheeks.
My husband DID choke while eating blended yogurt (smooth and nothing to choke on really) resulting in a ER visit and aspiration pneumonia. When they start with this behavior they need to be supervised while eating anything. Many people in facilities do choke to death because no one is monitoring or feeding them.
At my husband's facility a speech and swallow therapist observed him for about a week and noted he was pocketing his food. He didn't eat fast but very slowly because he couldn't chew his food. They asked me if it would be okay if they gave him a puréed diet (they had already tried chopped). I gave my okay and he has done extremely well. I was very resistant to the idea and when I saw his food the first time it looked so unappetizing but he seems to like it this way. I told them not to purée his breakfast food since he loves any kind of breakfast and most of it is soft. Of course, they don't give him bacon or sausage. He has gained 12 lbs since he's been on this diet; before that he had been losing weight. Of course, all the Christmas cookies might have helped too.