Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease at home can come with its challenges, especially when it comes to everyday tasks. Providing Alzheimer’s home care often requires creative solutions to navigate obstacles like brushing teeth, eating meals, and preparing for bed.
Some days may feel like an uphill battle, but your dedication to ensuring their safety and well-being makes a significant difference in their quality of life, even if it’s not always expressed.
When Bathtime is Difficult
Bathing can be one of the hardest parts of Alzheimer’s home care. For some individuals with Alzheimer’s, bathtime can be frightening due to fears about water or water temperature. Your loved one may feel embarrassed by having someone assist them or uncomfortable with the shower pressure or hard surface of the tub.
Whatever the reason, bath time can become a daily challenge, turning into a struggle to maintain cleanliness.
Six Tips for Making Bathtime Go More Smoothly
- Having bathing take place when it’s best for her. This may mean she’ll take a bath or shower in the later morning hours when she’s most agreeable and cognizant. Baths don’t always have to take place as soon as a person wakes up or when they go to bed.
- Make the bathroom more inviting. Put on some of her favorite music or some nice calming instrumental music (especially if bathtime is right before bed). Consider lighting some candles to provide some nice calming scents and soft lighting in the room.
- Make sure the bathroom is warm enough for her comfort both while she’s in and out of the bath.
- Let her be a part of the process. Instead of doing everything for your loved one, let her help in whatever ways she can. Have her hold the washcloth and wash areas she can reach. Have her help by squirting the shampoo into your hand.
- Talk her through what you are doing by calmly explaining each step, such as putting shampoo in her hair, scrubbing her feet, or rinsing off afterward. If she’s anxious about having her shower or bathtime completed, let her know what other steps you need to do before she’s done.
- If she wants some degree of privacy, put a towel over her shoulders while she sits in the bath to give her a sense of comfort and privacy.
- Offer a simple reward for when she’s done. It can be a small treat or activity that gives her incentive upon completion.
Bathtime Might Be Better with Someone Else Helping
If your loved one seems to struggle with the fact that it’s you trying to help her shower or bathe, you might consider having an Alzheimer’s home care provider help with bathing. An Alzheimer’s home care provider can give her the privacy she desires during bathing as well as have some of their own tried and true techniques to help your loved one’s bathtime go more smoothly and effortlessly.
It’s possible that with the help of an Alzheimer’s home care provider, you might even find ways to support your loved one during bathtime so that you can resume this care task again.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Alzheimer’s Home Care in Coronado, CA, please contact the caring staff at Aaron Home Care. (619) 880-5522
A Trusted Home Care Agency Serving La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Point Loma, San Diego, UTC, La Mesa, Chula Vista, Coronado, Bonita, Eastlake and the surrounding areas.
In 1999, Aaron was named Residential Program Manager of a group home for disabled adults in Arlington, Virgina. Here, he built a reputation for being compassionate with his clients and efficient in company operations. In the years that followed, Washington DC’s human services field went through unprecedented reform when the city was fined $11 million for the previously unchecked abuse, neglect, and exploitation of the very population it was supposed to protect. In 2005, Aaron was selected by a watchdog company to co-create and implement a monitoring system to safeguard and advocate for the system’s most vulnerable residents. This system is still in use today.
Aaron is now using his unique gifts and profound experience in the human service field to provide San Diego County Seniors with dependable, compassionate caregivers through Aaron Home Care.
He currently serves on the board of the San Diego Regional Home Care Council and is an active member of the Senior Advocate Network of San Diego.
Aaron Home Care is a member of the American Board of Home Care and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.
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