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 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.
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.
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.
