I have an Alzheimer's patient who doesn't want to get up in the morning. Any suggestions?

My Mom is 89, has LBD. I take care of her 2 days, 12hrs, a week. When I arrive, if she is wet or soiled, I clean and change her. I let her go back to sleep with just her pamper on. I tuck her her gently under the covers and kiss her on the forehead. She wakes up around 10am. I make her a small cup of coffee. Give it to her w/a spoon. I patiently coax her into waking up. She's in her wheelchair by 11. At which time I give her breakfast. The aide I have does the same ( accept for the kiss..lol). Love, kindness, consistency and lots patience.. PRICELESS 😊

My mom needed to get up in the morning because she had to get out of her wet pull up and have her morning pills, I was able to get her to cooperate with the promise that she would feel better after she changed and she could come back to bed as soon as she had her pills and breakfast.

Today I saw a bit of a segment on Dr Oz about how smells help us. One idea was to set a timer so that the coffee pot would turn on before the alarm went off so that when the alarm went off you would awaken to the aroma of morning coffee. Supposed to make it easier to get up.
If your patient drinks coffee might be worth a try. I love the smell myself.

My mother is 90 with moderate dementia. I start getting her up an hour before the caregiver comes. I play her favorite music while I lift the shades half way. I then lie on the bed with her and we sing the songs together while we cuddle. After a little while she will say she has to go to the bathroom. Once in there i get her dressed and we are off to breakfast.

I go into Mom's room singing some silly song quietly while opening the blinds. I then tell her that there are Cardinals/Bluejays, etc. on the bird feeder and the baby groundhogs (7 of them) are outside, perhaps the baby deer (we have 3 babies, up to 11 deer in the backyard at the same time) and squirrels. I tell her she is going to have pancakes with fresh blueberries or oats with fresh strawberries with freshly made coffee to warm her up, she seems to like to hear the menu (kind of reminds me of Hee Haw, "What's for Supper" : P for those of us old enough to remember that). I get her cleaned up on our way to the kitchen (I need to brush my teeth, wash my face, brush my hair, etc. standing along side her or she won't do it, she watches me to know what she should do with all those activities).

From the beginning, I have found she likes to look outside so I bought a 6 foot by 30 inch folding table to place in front of the kitchen window for her to look out into the backyard, the bird feeder is about 5 feet away from the window. We live in the city but this part of town has lots of room for wildlife. She looks outside while I use the computer (a little entertainment for me) on the other side of the table. I read emails or work on our genealogy online and sometimes I look up video on youtube for her to watch on my pc screen that is large enough for her to see sitting beside me. You can find any song from almost any era on youtube! We look at stored photos on my pc of years past.

If I don't stay at the table with her, she gets up and goes back to bed. I believe you need to give her a good reason for her to get out of bed, something to get her excited about. Something good to eat, or visual activity to entertain her.

Sometimes low blood sugar can be an issue. Can you get a few sips of orange juice in her. Maybe try a little bit in a big cup - to lessen the spill risk or it getting thrown at you - and tell her that you'll let her sleep longer once she drinks her juice. Then try again in twenty minutes.

I ask, too - what time are you getting her up? Also how many hours sleep does she get a night? Personally, I am a huge "not a morning person". HUGE. I have awful insomnia- suffered from it all my life, even as a child. Typically, I don't fall into a solid sleep until 3am - sometimes not even then. But regardless, I've found a huge difference between getting up at 8am and even 7:30am. It doesn't matter how well I slept the night before - at 8am, even though it's only 30 minutes I feel much better.

I think it was Jeanne who touched on light. From years of research on insomnia cures - there is much debate on light. Pitch dark vs natural light. The philosophy that works best for me is natural light. I have no blinds or curtains on my bedroom windows - good thing my house is up on a steep hill as no one can see in - anyhoo, the theory is that your body clock will set its self to the light. Kind of an "up with the sun" thing as the caveman did prior to alarm clocks. Although if you live in a bleaker climate this can be problematic if it doesn't get light out at a reasonable time - winter for instance. Sooo - perhaps try going into the room and opening the shades/curtains twenty minutes prior to your first attempt to get her up - remember the O.J. on that first attempt!

Lately my DH will go back to bed. I just keep asking him if he's ready for breakfast. I get him moving around, fix his breakfast and he tends to go back to sleep again after eating. But at 95, I was told this is normal - they revert to sleeping more, just like toddlers.

You didn't say how old your patient is - but if it is age related as opposed to dementia, then you're fighting nature. I've been advised that it is not uncommon for a 95 year old to sleep upwards to 20 hours daily. He has started watching TV in the afternoons, and I am thankful.

Is your patient willing to get up later in the day and eat breakfast? I know for us, time no longer matters. He wakes up and I offer to feed him. Breakfast, lunch and dinner don't have to be at a special time for us.

My Dear, my Mother has, slapped me, punched me spit at me & cursed me. IT IS NOT HER... it's this wretched disease. The harder you try the more they may resist. Walk away. Come back. See if she is still in "that place mentally " if so.. .Walk away again. What's the rush? In my case, I'm in no rush just to sit Mom in her wheelchair.

We had a hired caregiver come in every day at 9 or 10 a.m. to spend a few hours with my mother. Getting her up, washed, dressed, diapered, fed, and settled for the day.  (I wished they could have come in earlier, at 8 a.m., but 9 or 10 was the earliest time they could come. ) It was important to get Mom cleaned up and ready for the day.  What good was it for Mom to lie in bed snoozing most of the day?  We had to keep her on some kind of schedule, the caregiver had only a few hours a day to spend with her.  If Mom just slept in,  she was then awake, up and roaming around the house all night, hiding things or putting herself in possible danger.   

My mother with dementia resides in a nursing home. One of the first things we told the staff is that mom has NEVER been a morning person and likes to stay up late. They have arranged to keep her last on the list of Katie 3rd to be gotten up and dressed and last to be readied for bed. If, on occasion, she is still not ready to arise when staff comes around in the am, they come back in an hour or so.

What is her preference for when she gets up?