Five Ways to Make Bathing Less of a Hassle for Your Senior
Bathing can be scary, unnerving, or even an anger trigger for your elderly family member. If that describes some of her moods around taking a bath or shower, try these ideas.
Caregiver in Warren County VA: Senior Bathing Tips
Bathroom Safety Is the Biggest Issue
When your elderly family member doesn’t feel safe in the bath, she’s going to resist the very idea of bathing. Go through the bathroom and take an objective look at what isn’t as safe as it could be. You might need to install handrails in the tub or start using a bath chair. Removing throw rugs can also help. Every little change that you make toward safety gives your senior a little more to trust about the process.
Do Bath Time Prep Beforehand
One mistake you might be making is letting your senior know it’s time for a bath and then gathering everything you need. The reason that backfires is that you’re occupied with making sure you have everything and you’re senior has longer to get more and more nervous. Get everything together and then let your senior know what’s up. Then you can flow right through the bathing process.
Give Your Senior Some Autonomy
If your senior can still wash some parts of her body on her own, let her do so. She needs to maintain some autonomy in this process. It can also help her to feel more empowered to know that you’re only there to help with things that are more complicated, like washing her feet or her hair for her. You may find that if you let her do more on her own, she resists the idea less.
Don’t Rush Her
One tactic you want to avoid is anything along the lines of “hurry up.” If you can avoid rushing your senior, that’s definitely what you want to do. Rushing her repeatedly can draw some lines and cause power plays to become more of an issue than you want them to be.
Hand Over the Task
In some cases, it’s just too much for you to bathe your senior on your own. Your own health issues might get in the way or your senior might just be too embarrassed to let this happen. Elder care providers have lots of training and skill development around helping seniors to bathe safely. Sometimes it’s easier to have someone she doesn’t know well helping with such a personal task.
There’s a lot of vulnerability in helping your senior to bathe. She may be afraid of the process or simply embarrassed to need help with this sort of daily activity. Remember to hang onto your compassion for yourself and for your senior.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring a Caregiver in Warren County, VA, please contact the caring staff at LivinRite Home Care. Call Us Today at (703) 634-9991.
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