My 96 year old father lives with me. He is slowly declining mentally as well as physically. At night, when I am ready to sleep, he babbles...loudly. He calls out for my deceased mother and his deceased sister. He thinks he needs to leave. He yells. He seems to be caught between dream stage and awake stage. This lasts for about an hour and a half before he doses off only to begin again... loudly...in a couple of hours. Has anyone had any luck using melatonin for their elderly loved ones? If so, what dosage? Help! I am so sleep starved, I can't remember my name! Thank you for any help!
Don't feed him anything with caffeine for dinner, minimize sugar from afternoon on, don't watch news or other agitating programs in the evening. Spend it relaxing, watching nature or animal programs, something that's restful.
Put some relaxing music on as well. CDs of waves lapping on the shore, soft winds, harp music and other soothing sounds help induce a calmer mood before bedtime. There are some specific CDs for inducing sleep; I don't recall the name of the genre though...sleep inducing? relaxation?