Does anyone who is taking care of a person with dementia find mealtime a big problem?

Thank you for responding to my problem. My mother eats very little. There's not too much entrees that she likes. As far as I can see she doesn't seem to have any trouble with chewing and swallowing. She's just a picky eater. She'll have cereal or a pop tart in the morning and maybe, just a banana, Lunch (if she's awake) a 1/2 PBJ sandwich or maybe cut up cantaloupe pieces and for dinner, maybe soup or vegetables and mashed potatoes and gravy. Lately, she's been sleeping during meal times. I don't know if that's because she's bored and doesn't know what to do with herself. She does drink the Muscle Milk for the protein, etc. I was told that I shouldn't worry about weather she's eating, just make sure she's getting enough to drink during the day so she doesn't get too dehydrated. I've pretty much given up trying to figure out what she'll eat. I can't tell you how many dishes I've thrown out with maybe a bite taken out of it. It's really hard to see her wasting away to nothing. She's a very petite woman and doesn't weigh very much. She loves chocolate so I've bought her a couple bags of chocolate to eat during the day or night. At least she's getting something in her stomach.

Grandma1954 is right. Your mom might not remember what to do with the food. She might have to start being spoon fed.
I had a client with LBD who always wanted to eat, but when I'd bring her the food she'd look at it and say either she didn't like it or wasn't hungry. She couldn't feed herself certain foods anymore.
When I gave her foods she could pick up with her hands to eat and drinks served in a sippy-cup instead of a regular glass, she did very well for a long time.
Try giving her some small, easy to eat finger foods and see how she does.

Is she having a problem "knowing" what to do with the food?
Is she having problems chewing, swallowing the food?
You can start by trying to cut the food into small bits, if that does not work then try pureeing the food, do it individually so that the veggies are veggies, meat is meat..
Supplementing with some of the high protein drinks like Ensure, Boost and many of the others.
And at some point you just give up on the "balanced meal" and go for calories if she has no other medical problems that would be a concern if high calorie, high sugar foods are consumed.
Try many small meals or snacks during the day rather than 3 .
My Husbands best time of day was the morning so I started giving him his highest calorie meal in the morning and offered other things throughout the day.