There are many mealtime aids available for the elderly in the market. You need to figure out the ones in use that are helpful to your elderly. You need to figure out which ones will work best for your elderly because it depends on their physical and medical condition. Based on that, you need to decide on which type of mealtime aid can help you help your elderly. Keep reading further to explore 6 must-have mealtime aids for the elderly.
- No-Spill Cups for Elderly:
These are drinking cups for disabled and the elderly, which allow them to drink from a cup and not spill any liquid on the floor or their clothes. Because the elderly find it difficult to hold the handles of the cups, and in most cases, they are cylindrical, which makes them more difficult to hold. So, to get more grip while sipping warm coffee or tea, they might spill over.
With the normal cups, there are chances that you might get burned or have injuries because of the hot fluid that can spill over. The best part about a non-spill cup is that it assures you a better grip and lets your elderly enjoy your drink without spilling as it has 2 side handles to hold it firmly.
- Clothing Protectors:
Clothing protectors or adult bibs are a really useful product. These are waterproof bibs made with vinyl back, thus lasting longer. It is best suited for both genders. It is useful for those adults that create a mess on their clothes while eating. The food crumbs fall on their clothes and make them dirty after every food they have. So, they need to change their clothes, and then the caregiver needs to clean them for rhythm, which is not good for anyone. So, to help the elderly with the same issue, they need to use this to save their clothes from getting dirty because of the food.
- Lap Trays:
Lap trays for eating help assist the elderly while eating and drinking comfortably. The elders need to use a wheelchair. It has a wide range of kinds, differing from the user’s respective needs. It is easy and convenient to use, making the food eating process easier, faster, and less messy. Generally, it comes with a cup groove that makes the use of these aids effective, giving a more independent feeling to the user. Also, one of the most interesting things about these trays is that they are detachable, easy, and fast to install when you need them. It helps provide the users with secure and easy-release lap trays for the elderly.
- Over Bed Tables:
Over the bed, tables are really useful as most of the elderly spend their time on the bed, so they need them. It is the only way they can have their food from their beds while sitting comfortably and not messing up the bedsheets or the floor. It helps comfort people with limited mobility or using wheelchairs to eat, read or even work on something much safer and more comfortable. But, before buying it, you need to figure it out for your elderly, like which ones of these would be ideally useful to your elderly.
- Tin and Bottle Openers:
People with arthritis have weak grip strength, so it might be difficult to grip and open jar lids, bottle knobs, tins, etc. But they can accomplish their tasks by using tin and bottle openers. The openers are designed in such a way that they can provide grip and help users accomplish their tasks. It acts as the best option to open the tins. It makes the process easy and fast without stressing their hands, wrists, and joints.
There are also electric openers that require no effort except pressing a button.
They can use an anti-slip jar opener or a conical jar opener for opening the jars and other sealed lids. These provide a tight grip and use leverage to open them. They increase the friction required to perform the task, making it easier for you to open hard-to-grip seals, bottle tops, ring pulls, and jars.
- Jar Openers:
Jar openers are an inexpensive and essential aid for any kitchen that belongs to the elderly. You can easily find this in the market. You need to look for jar openers with a no-slip grip, which makes the opening of the multiple-sized lids easy and fast, from any smaller items like small water bottles to larger-sized food jars. This tool is really helpful for the elderly suffering from arthritis.
Conclusion:
Mealtime aids are necessary these days. It is useful for the elderly, as well as for the caretakers, as it creates less mess while eating. You need to have no-slip cups and openers to help them carry out their activities independently, making them feel more independent and self-engaging. It does not create a mess and allows you as a caretaker to do your job easily. So, buy the ones that you think are needed for them. We hope we were able to help you out with some options that you can consider before buying it.
