http://www.care2.com/greenliving/baby-love-therapy-for-alzheimers-sufferers.html
Baby Love: Therapy for Alzheimer’s Sufferers
Paula Spencer, Caring.com
Caregivers rightly have an aversion to treating older adults like children, even when the effects of dementia render them child-like. But here’s a wonderful exception that Alzheimer’s patients enjoy: Try giving a woman in the later stages of dementia a baby doll.
Surprisingly, an “Alzheimer’s baby” helps someone with dementia feel like a functional adult (not a patronized child). And that brings feelings of satisfaction, pleasure, calm, and accomplishment. Cuddling a doll soothes and entertains, reducing aggression. Pretty good, as dementia activities go.
I’ll never forget bringing my daughter Page, then about 15 months old, to her older sister’s Brownie troop outing at a local nursing home. Page was in a huge baby phase–she gravitated toward babies, whether real, toy, or pictured in board books. So of course she quickly noticed the elderly resident sitting in a corner with a baby doll in her arms. Page made a beeline.
I hesitated, wondering what might ensue. (Confusion on Page’s part as to why a grown-up had a doll? A tussle over it?) But the woman smiled and tenderly showed off her “baby” to Page. She even let her hold it. (Which my 15-month-old did tenderly!). The two of them communed a common wavelength for almost 20 minutes while the Brownies sang songs.
“Dolls can create miracles,” says architectural gerontologist Mark Warner, founder of Ageless Design and The Alzheimer’s Store. “They allow people who are no longer able to communicate to once again say that they’re hungry, need to go to the bathroom, are uncomfortable, often using the doll as their tool: ‘My baby is cold.’ Also a parent’s need to nurture and care for another reappears, at a time when it seems they’re the ones needing all the care.”
(Pets and stuffed animals can have similar effects, but for obvious reasons, babies work magic with women.)
The Alzheimer’s Store, which sells anything a family dealing with dementia might need, all carefully culled by Warner, has a survey up to help pick which baby dolls to stock. Vote for your three favorites and get 10 percent off your next order. I voted for Sunny and Kelly, the dark-haired thumbsuckers though I’m most fond of bald baby dolls (not among the choices). From personal experience as the mom of three girls, they’re easier to wash. Baby-doll hair tends to stick up in funny ways after awhile, though maybe only when little girls are dragging them around. Experienced “mommies” probably take better care of their Alzheimer’s babies. I suppose I’m also partial to baldies because three of my four babies were born that way (the other was, you guessed it, a dark-haired thumbsucker!).
I wonder whether the Alzheimer’s patients click best with baby dolls who look most like their own?
Caring.com was created to help you care for your aging parents, grandparents, and other loved ones. As the leading destination for eldercare resources on the Internet, our mission is to give you the information and services you need to make better decisions, save time, and feel more supported. Caring.com provides the practical information, personal support, expert advice, and easy-to-use tools you need during this challenging time.More from Mel, selected from Caring.com (75 articles available)
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9 comments
add your comment »THANK YOU, I NOTICED THIS WHEN I WORKED IN A PERSONAL CARE HOME HERE IN WINNIPEG, THE LADIES LOVE TO HAVE A DOLL TO CARE FOR,
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Awesome story, lots for us to learn from:)
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You should have created a link to the Alzheimer's Store in this article.
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Nice story, Marcia! You have a kind heart.
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My Grandma who was and will remain forever the best person with a baby any of us in our family have ever been around was given a washable baby doll by my Mom 12 years ago. (My Gram could take a screaming, kicking, colicky, very unhappy baby, pull it to her enormous bosom, wrap it up tightly and gently swing it in her arms and within mins. it would be calm and happy) I think this started out as my Mom's idea, she knew how Gram was with babies and thought why not bring her a doll to hug. No one in the Port Richey, Fl nursing home had seen anything like this before and before you knew it there were baby dolls on a lot of laps. This baby doll kept her so occupied with wrapping it up and holding it and cooing to it It was wonderful to see Gram smiling and singing. We thought she really thought it was a real baby, it was just unbelievable how my Gram was comforted with this baby doll to take care of. My Mom found several similar dolls all with blond hair & blue eyes, we were all tow heads as babies, every other day or so she'd switch out the doll. My Grams mind was gone but her heart wasn't until she died. Marcia K
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Edna
Nov. 16, 2009 9:50 a.m.
I spend about 4 hours every Tuesday with an 85 year old lady with Alzheimer's, so her husband can get out of the house and do what he wants to do. I began this in April. Shortly afterwards I took her a teddy bear, and the next week I took a baby doll. She has no children. She talks to both of these, as if they were real. I do this through our local Respite Care Program, and truly enjoy both she and her husband. They are really nice people. More volunteers are needed to help care givers. Love and patience are two important requirements.
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We had a doll for my mother who had alzheimer's disease, and while she did enjoy having it around it did not cause an increase in her communications. It really depends on the individual.
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Thanks for sharing such a nice and useful information . I have read the concept of Alzheimer’s baby. I am wondering if I can share your article in the bookmarks of society .
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Thank you, this is very helpful information. I will pass it along.
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