My dear Dad

Welcome  and I am very sorry to hear about your dad’s diagnosis!

I have to go out just now but will pop back on when I return !

I think it’s a real trauma to eat when you really don’t feel like it ! And your right you do not want to reduce it to a moan when you are with him . We went through a similar period of time with my mum !

We switched it around to make it more a case of making each mouthful count ! Calories counted more than healthy food as we were taking about survival here and were able to change that around later on ! But had to shift our priorities!

If he is taking ice cream you might have some success with milk shakes . You can add a scoop of ice cream , a chocolate bar etc and when blended looks more like a simple drink but a big calorie boost ! Also they can slowly sip it but it’s going in easier than sitting eating one at a time ! Macdonald are also fine snd you would be surprised by the calorie load in them . Some of m and s desserts are also packed full of calories . There fresh rice dessert is around 350 . You can added cream to mashed potatoes. Looks light but supplemented ! For nutrition we settled on a build up chicken soup which we got from the health section . I think it was complan. It had 350 calories and lots of essential nutrients in it . That an a slice of toast helped . We chatted this through with my mum and came up with this plan . Your dad may have his own foods he can still tolerate but small and often also worked !

Big meals were out as the size turned her stomach ! A bit of toast with some topping and a drink also worked .

Speak later ,

Court 

Thank you for your reply & time. 
Sorry - should have said he is currently on FF so liquid food only, hence the soup request by the doctor. 
Great idea about milkshakes, will see if I can get him to drink those. Will try the blended chocolate bar too, as he suddenly has a sweet tooth. 
Great way to think about things in calorie loaded ways too - thank you! 

Hi waltons, so sorry to hear about your dad's diagnosis and his issues with eating... Have you tried complan meal replacements? They can be prepared with water or milk and are designed to replace a small meal with the balance of nutrients and vitamins... If he dosen't want to eat much and is on liquid diet only that might help keep his strength up. All the best xx

Hi Waltons,

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

When my husband had throat cancer 14 years ago and could only tale liquid, they put him on fortified drinks. They were called Fortisips, and he hated them. They then switched him to a powder which you mixed with full cream milk, and he liked those, especially the chocolate one(there were different flavours). I agree, you just have to get calories in where you can. I mixed cream with all sorts! Once he is eating properly you can get back to a more healthy diet, so don't worry about that now! The hospital gave us a booklet about feeding, which gave me some ideas. Good luck.

Thank you - I will look into these. Great ideas. 
We're just back from the hospital visit & he has had a few spoons of soup & a few spoons of custard today, so better than yesterday. 
I am sure it is just me being in such a panic about everything & worrying about the smallest things, but you've been so kind in suggesting things to try. 

That's the supplement drinks he hates too! 
Will certainly ask about a powered one. 
Thank you!

I've just thought of something else! When my husband got eating little meals, I found he ate a bit more if he had a pudding afterwards, so he had small portion of meat and veg, then a small pudding, both as full of calories as I could make them!!

Thanks - he did manage a few spoonfuls of custard today, after a few of soup, so that was good. We'll just have to keep on trying with him to get high calories into him.    
Really appreciate all of the help & suggestions. 

Hi Waltons,

Sorry to read about your dad. Fortisip tastes much nicer if it's cold and some flavours are nicer than others. Have you thought about taking some soup in for your dad that you can both have together. It might make him feel less pressured to eat and he may eat a bit more if you're both chatting at the same time. Maybe your mum could do this as eating together might give them a little bit of normality. You can add full fat cream to a flask of soup, depending on the flavour or hot chocolate. Good that he's eating, even though it might not seem like a lot, it's something.

Cheryl x

Great ideas, thank you so much for taking the time to suggest. 
This place is invaluable, so much good information. 
We have our Dr meeting today, so we'll hopefully learn more about what is going to happen going forwards.