Are your residents Sipping Safely?: A Guide to which Dysphagia Cups are suitable for which IDDSI Thickened Drink Levels

Managing the ladies and gents you support with Dysphagia and ensuring that they maximise on the correct levels of hydration represents a huge challenge to care managers and their teams, given that these residents are at high risk of being deficient due to finding it difficult to tolerate large volumes of fluids.

And Dysphagia is known to affect between 53%-74% of nursing home residents, occuring in people who have a Dementia, stroke, Motor Neurone disease and other neurological conditions.

The key to maintaining hydration for people with Dysphagia is to promote safe swallowing and to ensure that the fluids are of the appropriate texture and thickness.

Here are some top tips on safer swallowing for improved hydration

1. Ensure your resident is always sitting upright at 90 degrees when drinking.
2. Do not give them drinks when slouched or lying down
3. Encourage small sips of fluid and discourage gulping
4. Make sure they have swallowed a drink before taking more in
5. Prevent people from using drinks to wash down food.

Other strategies to help improve hydration include:

• Thickening fluids for safer swallowing
• Correct positioning
• Drinking smaller quantities with each sip:
• Investing in specialist Dysphagia drinking cups.

Today we want to focus specialist Dysphagia drinking cups.

I’ve heard time and time again about the profound impact that a well-chosen dysphagia cup can have on an individual's journey towards safer and more enjoyable hydration.

That ‘it's not just a cup’; it's a vital tool for fostering independence, ensuring proper hydration, and instilling a sense of dignity and there’s a vital connection between dysphagia cups and the IDDSI framework, a relationship that significantly influences the comfort and success of a persons’ swallowing experiences.

We were recently asked by a fellow care professional Christine Elseley

Which dysphagia cups are suitable to be used with thickened drinks?

So our lovely Donna has been on a mission to answer this question, with help from my cup manufacturers, to help empower my clients with the tools that promote both safety and dignity.

Donna has produced a really helpful table, see below, featuring all the dysphagia cups we can provide including the features, benefits, and suitability of each different cup to the specific demands of each IDDSI, (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative) thickened drinks level.?

Together we hope we can help to unravel the symbiotic relationship between dysphagia cups and IDDSI thickened drinks levels, forging a path towards enhanced well-being and improved quality of life for those navigating the challenges of dysphagia.

Please note: These suitability levels are as quoted by the manufacturer of each mug/cup and are as a guide only. We always recommend that you check first with a Speech and Language Therapist for suitability and safety before purchasing.

Levels as described using the IDDSI Framework

Level 1 – Slightly Thick

• Thicker than water
• Requires a little more effort to drink than thin liquids
• Flows through a straw, syringe, teat/nipple

Level 2 – Mildly Thick

• Flows off a spoon
• Sippable, pours quickly from a spoon, but slower than thin drinks
• Mild effort is required to drink this thickness through standard bore straw

Level 3 – Moderately Thick

• Can be drunk from a cup
• Moderate effort is required to suck through a standard bore or wide
• Bore straw (wide bore straw = 0.275 inch or 6.9 mm)
• Cannot be piped, layered or molded on a plate because it will not retain its shape
• Cannot be eaten with a fork because it drips slowly in dollops through the prongs
• Can be eaten with a spoon
• No oral processing or chewing required – can be swallowed directly
• Smooth texture with no ‘bits’

I’ve also created a new page on our website, dedicated to Managing Dysphagia and providing a range of?#fitforpurpose?product solutions to help you solve your challenges and improve quality of life and wellbeing for people living with dysphagia including:

• Safe drinking solutions
• Solutions to prevent choking
• Improving quality and appearance of pureed meals
• Solutions to keeping meals warmer for longer
• Solutions to provide safer oral care
• Solutions to stimulate taste and smell

You can view it here.

Here's a link to another article which you may find of interest.

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