The grounding zone, where glaciers transition to floating ice shelves, is a key region of influence on ice sheet mass loss but is incredibly poorly understood. While tides and subglacial freshwater are known to enhance melt rates, the effects of laden sediment on ice shelf-ocean dynamics have not been assessed. Using idealised model experiments under a warm ocean-shelf regime, our results show simulated basal melt rate at the grounding zone reduced by 1.9% due to the suspended sediment, and 10% due to the evolving bathymetry. The sediment not only increased the local bulk density but changed the bedrock bathymetry, which weakened the intrusion of warmer waters to the ice in the grounding zone due to a complex interplay between critical erosion stress, sedimentation rate and ocean currents. Our findings emphasise the importance of advancing our understanding of sediment-related processes and their implications for ice shelf instability and sea-level projections.