Help with getting 82 yr old with early dementia to bathe without insulting her?

My mom has Alzheimer's too (I looked at your profile). At this point, stage 7, she gets a bed bath twice a week by the CANA and me.

Earlier on, I would simply get the bathroom ready and say, "time for your shower" and she would take one. Some of the things that helped was to do it first thing in the morning. While she was going potty, I would turn on the water and a space heater to warm up the bathroom. I had a Terry cloth robe ready for her to put on. I would lay out her clean clothes. Etc.

As the disease progressed, I added layers of support such as adding a shower chair. Putting soap on the wash cloth before she got in. Eventually I had to assist her with the entire shower. Then we went to using the bedside commode with the bucket off to wash mom up, as a time came when the running water disturbed her.

We also found it better to wash her hair at a separate time. For many years we could take her to the salon to get her hair done. When that became too much for her, we washed it in the sink using a sprayer and a contraption called a hair funnel. It helped tremendously..still needed a few towels but was better than without it. Now we wash her hair in bed too.

Hope this helps.

Dad really liked his PCP, so sometimes I would tell him she wanted him to have an extra shower. (He was convinced he took showers "all the time!")