I am new here. My mom moved in a few months ago. She is 88 and has dementia. She sleeps well at night for which I am grateful. She goes to bed around 8-8:30 and sometimes sleeps until almost noon. A few times this week, I peeked in around 10 - 11. She was in the bathroom so I figured I would start making her breakfast, but when I checked again, she had gone back to bed. Is this normal?
-it allows for toileting or incontinence changes
-it is better for skin integrity to get out of bed and move,
-it allows them to eat and drink something which can help stave off dehydration, digestive issues and the frailty that can be the result of too few calories
-it keeps medication schedules consistent
-it may help with bedtime and overnight sleeplessness
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Why do people feel the need to impose their schedules on us oldies?
Late morning sleeping for her means "brain rest" for me!
People with dementia do sleep alot and when you're older you sleep more anyway.
I would let her sleep in as long as it doesn't effect her sleeping at night.
You might ask her if she would like you to wake her up in the mornings or let her wake up when she wants.
Do you have something for her to do or is she waking up sooner to have more time during the day to stare at the walls?
My Husband would go to bed around 7 and would stay in bed until I got him up at 7AM. He was usually awake but if not I would turn the light on about 6:45 or so and that would more gently wake him than me telling him it was time to get up. This worked out great when he went on Hospice and the CNA would come about 7 so he was used to getting up then.
I would shower him, dress him and get breakfast and he would doze on and off until lunch, eat lunch then doze on and off until dinner.
the amount of time sleeping increased so that towards the last month of his life he was sleeping about 20 hours if not a bit more each day.
I would try to keep him as active as I could either a walk or a ride to one of his favorite places (Sam's or Costco for the free samples) until it became unsafe for me to get him into the car or take him for a walk.
Keeping her active might help.
Getting a set routine will also help. Helps greatly when you actually have an appointment and need to get going at a specific time.
If she is used to going to bed at 8 or 8:30 getting her up and ready for the day at 7:00- 7:30 (or whatever time works best for you). that would give her enough sleep and if she is tired she can cat nap later. But trying to keep her engaged, active is a good idea.
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