Mom changes her clothes often. Then puts them on the floor of the closet. She can't remember to hang them up. Then the Nursing Home sends them out to the laundry. She Just went 2 weeks with no long pants (has 8 pairs) or pajamas and they had to put someone elses on her. I'm trying to figure out what to do with her clothes to keep her from trying them on but making it easy for the nurses and aides to be able to get to them daily. The drawers are really small. The closet is right by her bed so it's always tempting her to change. My sister and I hang them up any time we are there but the next day they are on the floor again.
Most people on here post that they can't get their loved ones to change clothes at all, so this is a refreshing difference.
Husband's place never had enough clean ones great help but lack of staff on weekends food always late bring her snacks and home cooked t
things little picnick lunches most places have greens to go out to god job and may your mom stay healthy and well cared for there
I solved the problem by having 2 types of clothing. One was outfits I put together for the week and had in a 7-section hanging thing. Just like I did for my kids when they were young. The 2nd collection was for her to try on & off to her heart's content. Like a trunk of dress-up clothes I had when I was young. What was in the hamper was items to be washed, but nothing soiled because Mom would raid that once in a while as well.
Of course, this worked because she lived with me and I was able to stay on top of it daily. Though some of the outfits she came up with on her own were entertaining. I called them her rainbow outfits because every color was used.
Now at the ALF where she is I sent over black, gray, dark brown, & khaki pants, with tops that match any of the pants. Kinda like a capsule wardrobe.
Roz, maybe a supply for Mom's use only, where she can take on & off to her heart's content. Tell the aides to let them stay on the floor. Put her "real" clothes that the aides dress her in up & out of mom's reach. Though whether this solves the concern is another thing entirely. Good luck!
The real problem here, it seems to me, is that so many of Mother's clothes go out to the laundry at one time that she sometimes doesn't have things to wear. This is not a safety issue but it is a dignity issue and that is pretty high on the list of important impacts. So it is worth some effort to solve it.
Stopping it at the source -- trying on lots of clothes each day and putting them on the floor -- would impact Mother's pleasure and independence, so I don't think that is worth any effort.
Expecting staff to determine which clothes were worn only a brief time and send fewer clothes to the laundry each time does not seem a practical solution because inspecting potentially dirty clothes, sniffing them, etc. is not part of the staff's job description and you don't have control over their work anyway.
Having laundry done more often would help, wouldn't it? (At my mom's nh laundry is done daily, on the premises). Is it practical for a family member to do laundry between the care center's scheduled washings?
An alternative to doing laundry more often is simply having more clothes. I did that for my husband while he had dementia. I do it with my own underwear to have larger loads less often.
Obstacles to having more clothing are 1) the cost and 2) storage space. If cost is a show-stopper, thrift store and garage sales are awesome. Storage is tough in a care center. But "Where to store extra clothes?" is a more productive question to ask than "How to get Mother to change her behavior?"
It my work life a good deal of my time was spent trying to ensure that there was buy-in from the people who would be involved in the solutions. In this case I'd have a chat (or several) with the social worker and the director of nursing, kind of thinking out loud with them about the problem and how you are considering solving it.
Not enough clothes to last between laundry days? Get more clothes!
It shouldn't take laundry 2 weeks to get her clothing back to her room. It should only take a few days for laundry to return. You can keep an extra set of pants on the shelf where she can't reach it so she has an extra pair when all are in the laundry. Sounds like she has some dementia, people with dementia do have confusion and can have some strange behaviors. You can arrange with staff to call you if she doesn't have any clean clothing. Staff shouldn't automatically assume clothing on the floor of the closet is dirty, I would check them if it were me and hang them up if they were clean. This may be something you would want to add to her care plan, ask the social services person to arrange a care plan so you can discuss this issue.