What's the best way to keep a parent with Alzheimer's safe from wandering at night?

Yes, most professionals consider this a form of neglect or abuse. It's generally not very safe and can be extremely upsetting to the person with Alzheimer’s disease. Imagine waking up See also:
Should I take cigarettes away from my mother, who has Alzheimer's, for fear she'll start a fire?

See all 660 questions about Alzheimer's and Other Dementias in the middle of the night and not knowing where you are. You go to the door and discover it's locked. You're apt to feel like a prisoner, which you are. This can lead to feelings of fear, anger, or hysteria, as it would in any of us to be locked against our will in a room.

That said, it's an extremely difficult problem for families when a parent with dementia wanders around the house in the middle of the night. A baby monitor is definitely a good idea. Some people with dementia get day and night reversed, which becomes a terrible problem for families. Melatonin (available over the counter) sometimes helps with sleep. Asking her physician for a medication to help with sleep is another option. Increased exercise during the day may help, too.

Sometimes wandering happens because the person iwakes in the night to go to the bathroom and then thinks it's morning. Make sure she's not getting lost going to or from the bathroom, which can distract her and keep her up. Nightlights or a bedside commode may help. Some families find it helpful to leave a snack by the bed with a note reminding the person that it’s the middle of the night.

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I use a baby monitor as well, along with the fact our home is completly baby proof. We have inexpensive alarms on all the doors. Latches on all the drawers and cupboards. She has acesss to wherever she wants to go because of simple saftey factors we pratice in our home. to prevent her from going into the kitchen we use baby gates. Our bedroom is next to hers and we have learned to listen more rather than react. Mom in most cases tinkers around a few hours, and then falls fast asleep.

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My husband and I still sleep in the same bed but he started wandering at night. It worried me becuse I sleep so soundly and he was so quiet that I seldom heard him. One night, he fell out in the lanai, fortunately my son was visiting and he heard him. So this is what we did...we changed the knob on the bedroom door so that it would lock from the outside and I kept one of those little flat keys that can open those knobs from the other side. I told my husband what I wanted to do...which was to lock the door ONLY when we were both in the room - NEVER if he was in there alone. And explained why. So that is what we've done and he doesn't seem to mind it all because he knows that I'm inside there with him. It's not an an ideal solution perhaps, but it works for us.

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Beth Spencer stated, "most professionals consider this a form of neglect or abuse" regarding locking a wandering dementia patient in their room at night. My 88-year-old mother has advanced Alzheimers and Macular Degeneration to the point of being legally blind. The suggestion to leave a snack and a note by the bed would be ridiculous in our case--the snack, yes; the note, no! She has started wandering at night. Two evenings ago she managed for the first time in 8 years to get out of the house and was found by a neighbor in their driveway, wearing a bathrobe and slippers. Last night we discovered her in our attached garage, sitting on the floor, covered in grease and dirt.

During the day, when awake she has full access to the home, as my wife or I are always here to watch her. She has always had the huge master bedroom suite with a large private bathroom attached, giving her 950 square feet, about half of our home. Everything in the room is hers. She used to entertain herself before bed by feeling many objects that she has owned for a lot of years. Now, those things no longer have any meaning for her.

At this point, I can see no other course of action, short of sitting outside her door all night, than to lock her in her suite for the night. Seems to me that the real neglect or abuse would be to let her continue to roam, possibly falling down stairs, cutting herself on kitchen utensils, or otherwise causing her harm.

Do facilities that care for dementia patients allow them to roam the halls, kitchen and grounds at night, or are they confined to their room? If they are confined, do the professionals consider this neglect or abuse?

Any "professionals" care to respond?

Thank You.

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