She's doing it b/c she has dementia/Alz and that's what elders with dementia/Alz DO, a lot of them. There isn't necessarily a rhyme or reason to it, or that she's uncomfortable or whatever, just that the Depends is THERE, she has access to it, and it's something to play with. Having her use the toilet before bedtime and/or during the night has nothing to do with 'why' she's fiddling around with the Depends to begin with!
Here's a link to a whole page of anti-strip suits from Amazon you can order from. Your client won't be able to remove the Depends undergarment and that will be the end of that issue.
I wish I could do some of these fantastic ideas for my dad. When I visit him at the hospital right after they’ve “cleaned him up”, I’m left scraping the feces out from under his fingernails and off of his toes…
I liked the pajamas idea! I wonder if you could sew on some suspenders, and have a bar across the chest like lederhosen? It would definitely make the diaper more difficult to get to, but won’t by itself remove the cause - that she’s uncomfortable and therefore trying to make herself comfortable.
Less water after a certain time & potty before bed twice, I use an heavy overnight diaper and a pad. If its not wet ive heard some use those mitts that cant be removed. At some point these mitts will come in handy for poop eating/digging and body picking.
Why is she doing it? - because she finds them uncomfortable in themselves, or does she take them off when they are wet/soiled?
The thing is, you can prevent her accessing them as suggested below, but depending on why she's taking them off you'll need to do something in addition to address the reason she's doing it. Otherwise she could become very distressed and/or uncomfortable.
As far as toileting before bed, I think a very simple routine of making sure she has the chance to go to the bathroom and then putting on a depends and making sure she cannot take off her pj's w/o help. She probably gets wet during the night and takes off the depends.
I think the kind of pjs she wears that make removing the depends would help.
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Here's a link to a whole page of anti-strip suits from Amazon you can order from. Your client won't be able to remove the Depends undergarment and that will be the end of that issue.
Good luck!
Doing this with the adaptive PJ's should help her stop doing this.
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I liked the pajamas idea! I wonder if you could sew on some suspenders, and have a bar across the chest like lederhosen? It would definitely make the diaper more difficult to get to, but won’t by itself remove the cause - that she’s uncomfortable and therefore trying to make herself comfortable.
I’d recommend trying multiple things at once.
The thing is, you can prevent her accessing them as suggested below, but depending on why she's taking them off you'll need to do something in addition to address the reason she's doing it. Otherwise she could become very distressed and/or uncomfortable.
https://www.silverts.com/women/pants/alzheimer-s-jumpsuit
As far as toileting before bed, I think a very simple routine of making sure she has the chance to go to the bathroom and then putting on a depends and making sure she cannot take off her pj's w/o help. She probably gets wet during the night and takes off the depends.
I think the kind of pjs she wears that make removing the depends would help.