Tag: baby

Dementia Care & Babies

I’ve written about baby dolls before, but I often get reminded of the amazing impact they have in our residents’ lives. They really do make our residents happy. The other day I was walking down the hall and spotted three of my residents, sitting nearby each other, cuddling their baby dolls. They were all of different levels of functioning. One woman, Gwen, can almost pass for a person without dementia. She is talkative, outgoing, and can walk without aid. Another one, Bella, did not speak much at all, and still another resident spoke, but completely in Italian. She used to speak English, but eventually lost her second language as her dementia progressed. Despite their different levels of functioning, all these women were interacting with each other because of the dolls.  They took turns holding each other’s babies, or remarking on the looks of each baby. My resident, Bella, held out her hands and caressed her neighbor’s baby’s face. “Beautiful,” she offered. The babies are such a big hit that we actually had to assist one of my residents in putting her breast away–she was trying to breast-feed the baby doll. “Isn’t she adorable!” Gwen cried to me. “She’s the easiest baby! She doesn’t cry or nothing!” A good site for baby doll purchases

August 16, 2016

Don’t Cry in Front of the Baby

Sandra was known for sundowning. Most days, Sandra would start crying around 3 PM.  “Sundowning” is a common phenomenon for people with dementia. Essentially, it means that people will become more agitated, upset, and irritable later in the day—usually because they are tired. “He’s no good!” she cried out. “He’s a no-good, son-of-a-bitch!” she sobbed.  “Sandra, what’s wrong?” I asked, sitting at her side.  “It’s my ex,” she said. “He’s a terrible person!” There was no doubt that Sandra had been divorced for many years, and that her ex-husband was probably deceased. That did not matter, though, because, in Sandra’s mind, the painful relationship was still happening. The only thing that helped calm Sandra down was her baby. Ever since we got baby dolls at our community, Sandra was easier to comfort. Her sundowning had decreased dramatically and her general daily mood had improved. “Sandra, don’t cry in front of the baby,” I said, softly, motioning to the baby doll perched on her walker’s seat. Sandra always carried at least one of the baby dolls around on her walker. She usually talked to them, laughed with them, and held them gingerly while sitting on the couch.  “You’re right,” she said. “I can’t get upset with the baby here,” she nodded, taking a deep breath as she calmed down.

June 22, 2015

You’re Putting A Baby In Here?

We hadn’t even finished setting up the new Baby Station when two residents walked in. Marilyn, pushing her walker, let out a cry of happiness. “Look at this BABY!” she yelled, looking into the crib we had just purchased from Toys ‘R Us.  I reached in and took out the doll, handing it to Marilyn as she sat down in the rocking chair.  A lot of people had been skeptical—including the visitors that entered the room as a group of us set up the Station. “You’re putting baby dolls…in here…?” the woman asked, furrowing her brow in distaste.  Her skepticism waned as she saw how enthusiastic Marilyn was about this baby.  Later that day, I walked down the hallway with the baby in my arms. Marilyn spotted me from across the room and called out.  “That’s my baby! Where has she been?!” Marilyn called happily. I handed her the doll and she pulled the baby close. “Oh, oh, you’re just like your mom, little Marilyn,” she cooed.

April 30, 2015

Is This For Me?

I handed Helen one of the stuffed dogs from our new Pet Shop area. I knew how much she enjoyed the baby dolls we had, so I hoped that she would also like the dogs. “Ohh,” she cried with delight, opening her arms to accept the stuffed dog.  “Is this dog for me? Can I keep him?” she asked with wonder.  “Sure, you can keep him,” I smiled.  “You are the sweetest dog,” she said, softly, holding it to her chest.  Helen closed her eyes as she rested her head against the stuffed animal’s fur.  Everything we do, we do for our residents. It has to be that way if we are going to truly help and care for people with dementia. Even the smallest gesture—such as handing a stuffed dog to someone—can make a world of difference in that person’s day. I saw her later, walking down the hallway with one of the baby dolls in her arms. “Helen, do you want to come listen to music with us?” I asked her. “No, I can’t. He’ll start to cry,” she whispered, motioning to the baby doll.

February 22, 2015

A Marriage.

A lot of people fear that their spouse or life partner will get dementia. Many people are already coping with it. It’s incredibly hard to watch someone you love struggle with cognitive decline. But what if you both had dementia? Martin* and Joyce* have been married for over fifty years. They both have dementia, but Joyce is far deeper into Alzheimer’s disease. The couple lives together in the same room in a dementia care community, just as they had lived in the same home for decades. Joyce can often be found walking the halls of the community, picking up objects and carrying them around with her. She tends to bring items back to their room and leave them on the couch beside Martin. She’s a big fan of the dementia-care baby dolls, and typically has at least one in her arms.  Martin doesn’t say anything about her babies, even though he knows that they are not real. He watches her carefully as she places the doll on the dining room table they share.  I think, in some sort of tragically beautiful way, that it is wonderful that this couple has not been split up by dementia the way many others have. Instead, they live much as they always have lived: together.

January 25, 2015

Shh, he's sleeping.

We have a couple residents who don’t speak much, if at all. We also have a “baby station” that is set up to look like part of a nursery. A couple of us worked to relocate the station to an area where more residents would interact with it, and we have had a lot of success. A couple of our residents really love holding and dressing the realistic-looking baby. While most of the residents just ignore the baby station or think “it’s so cute!” others are in the stage where they believe the baby is real. I gave a tour of Clare Bridge once to a man who said, “What a sad disease” when he saw the baby station. After working in this field for so long, I was taken aback. The baby station to me was a happy symbol— a happy way for people to express love and bring back memories. I think he felt like it wasn’t fair that dementia takes people to a place where they believe a toy baby is real. But if that’s where a person is happiest, isn’t it great to give them the opportunity to play with a baby? Last night a coworker walked in to find one resident holding the baby in a blanket. The resident is primarily nonverbal, and doesn’t express much through body language. She sat, comforting the baby doll, pulling the blanket up around its body. “What have you got there?” my coworker asked. “Shh, he’s sleeping,” the resident responded. “I heard him crying.”

May 24, 2014

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