How can I help my mother-in-law find the bathroom in the day time?
Peggy kandle asked...
My 91 y.o. mother-in-law lives with us. I quit working to take care of her. Her dementia was caused by strokes, but is progressing. She finds the bathroom by herself at night, but doesn't know where to go during the day. How can I help her know where the bathroom is during the day.
Expert Answer
A social worker and geriatric consultant who specializes in dementia care, Joyce Simard is based in Land O' Lakes, Florida, and in Prague. She is a well-known speaker and has written two books, one focusing on end-of-life care and the other, entitled The Magic Tape Recorder, explaining aging, memory loss, and how children can be helpers to their elders.
Finding the bathroom when you have memory loss is not uncommon and as with many "interesting" situations that occur with people who have dementia, there is almost never one answer to solve a concern. Here are a few ideas I came up with:
- Place a large sign of a toilet on both sides of the door
- Keep the door open so she can see the toilet
- Place a commode somewhere else in the house so she has an option of using more than one place when she has to use the toilet
- Remind her at least every two hours that it is time to use the toilet.
Hopefully other readers will give you more options. You are quite a wonderful daughter-in-law to give up work to care for her. She is blessed to have you.