Advice

Helping a person with dementia with clothes and dressing

We asked Dementia together magazine readers and members of our Dementia Support Forum for their advice about helping a person with clothes.

Francisco says, ‘Keep it simple and ideally offer a very limited choice of what to wear.

‘Laying out her clothes sequentially on the bed and helping her to get dressed gives her reassurance and I can ensure that she is wearing clean and appropriate clothes.

When a recommendation of what to wear is not to her liking, I can suggest an alternative or I can use persuasion, for example when she wants to wear a light coat on a winter’s day.

Gren says, ‘When I’m undressing my wife, I keep reminding her that we’ve been married for nearly 40 years and I love her very much.

‘I show her what we’re going to put on. Most of the time, this does the trick and she’ll let me do what I need to do.

‘But sometimes she’ll just say “no”. So I just back off just for a minute or two, then try again, which works very well.’

Colours and styles of clothing

Helen Price says, ‘If they like a particular item, just buy loads of them or similar in the same colour, even if you have to get them off eBay or Vinted.’

Alisongs says, ‘Keep their clothes simple but in their favourite colours and styles.

‘Primark are now selling adaptive sports-type clothing for those with special needs. That may be the next option.’

Angel55 says, ‘I feel it is important to try and keep someone’s identity and independence for as long as you can. Clothing is part of someone’s identity. ‘Dad always liked to look smart – jeans and a shirt, usually white. He still likes to wear those things.

Knowing your person is a huge asset in your caring toolkit.

Dressing routine and habits

Sue741215 says, ‘With my husband, routine is most important. When we visited my daughter, although he commented on being in the wrong place, I kept the routine more or less the same and it worked very well.

‘We recently moved house and he needed more help, but he has got used to the routine and is able to dress himself again if things are kept simple.’

Scoutkim says, ‘We switched to elasticated waist trousers, but my husband doesn’t like jogging bottoms, preferring “proper” trousers, chino-style. It was difficult to find them fully elasticated but, eventually I found them from Cotton Traders and Sainsbury’s online.’

canary says, ‘My other half can put his clothes on but has trouble getting them on in the right order and sometimes puts things on back to front.

‘The best thing is to get him to choose what he wants to wear and then hand him the clothes in the right order, prompting him to put them on the right way round.’ 

Easier clothes for dressing

Kbp74520 says, ‘To make it easier for me to help my wife, I only select pull-over tops and elastic waist pants. No need to fumble with buttons, snaps or zippers. She has Skechers “slip-in” shoes, which have a stiff heel.

‘When dressing her, I sit her on the edge of the bed. Since I use her transport chair to move her between the living room and bedroom, at the end of the day I leave her sitting in the chair for the most part when undressing her.’

MillaZ says, ‘My mother-in-law only wants to wear “soft” clothes, so we got rid of all the pairs of jeans she had, as well as more formal (but stiffer) attire. Now she lives in leggings, jogging bottoms, cotton tops and fleeces.’