Four Tips for Successful Bathing

By Andy Niska | September 23, 2019 |

Bathing your senior is a lot easier if you have a set process in place. It’s often difficult to figure out what that process should be, though, especially if bath time always feels like a chaotic situation that is out of your control.

Temperature Matters a Lot

Bath time is a time in which your senior is going to be mostly unclothed, which makes temperature incredibly important. That means that the temperature of the water and the room itself need to be comfortable for your senior. In colder weather, that might mean bringing a small space heater into the bathroom. Make sure that you’ve adjusted the water temperature before your senior gets into the tub, too.

Line up What You Need Beforehand

If you’re going to be preparing the room, anyway, make sure you have all of what you need before you get your senior involved at all. Lay out some towels, double check to make sure you’ve got soap and shampoo and grab any fresh clothes your senior needs. This all matters because if you have to leave your elderly family member in the middle of the tub while you go to grab whatever you need; she’s left in a vulnerable position.

Clean from the Top Down

Start at the top of your senior’s head, washing her hair and her face first, and then move down her body. This does a few things for both of you. First, it helps you to make sure you’re not missing any spots as you go through the bathing process. Second, you’re not cleaning parts of your senior’s body that end up dirty again by having soap and water rinse down her body.

Pat Dry Instead of Rubbing

How you dry your senior’s skin matters a lot, too. Avoid rubbing her skin to dry it. Your senior’s skin is more likely to be thin and fragile and even drying it too roughly with a towel can cause irritation and possibly even a bruise. Pat her skin dry instead and make sure that you’re paying close attention to any wounds or parts of her skin that seem as if they need special care.

As much as you try, you and your senior just might not be able to see eye to eye about bathing. That’s not unusual for caregivers and the people they care for, really. It might help to hire elderly care providers to take over bath time for your senior. Both of you may feel a little more comfortable and the disagreements might go away.

Excerpt: Successful baths are a much better experience for you and for your senior.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Elderly Care in Liberty Lake, WA, please contact the friendly staff at Love at Home Senior Care, today. Call (509)474-0663

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Andy Niska

Owner at Love In Home Senior Care

Andy has over 20+ years experience in the medical community and has a true compassion for seniors. With a degree in Health Care Administration, he developed a background in a variety of health care services that only comes from first hand experience. While working as a manager of a large clinic and as an account executive for medical suppliers. Andy has built valuable relationships with the medical community.

His role in Love In Home Senior Care is to educate people on what care choice is the best fit for the senior and their family while attempting to make this decision as stress-free as possible for everyone involved.

This decision making process should be smooth and stress free for everyone, including all family members and their loved ones. Having access to people with experience (like the team at Love In Home Senior Care) to assist you along the way can help this process. With an extensive background in health care, Andy has the experience needed to guide and direct your loved one to the choice that is the best fit.