My father has been doing this for about 6ish months. He'll spit on the floor when he sat on the couch, or more often, onto the sheet covering him as he sat; or spit onto the bathroom floor when he was sitting on the toilet.
we ended up having to have a towel laying across his lap or in his hands, specifically for the spitting.
Now that he's bed bound - he isn't spitting, even when sitting up. Doesn't appear to have excessive drool, either, which is what we were told was the reason for the spitting. *shrug*
First things first, you should have Mom evaluated for any swallowing issues. Is she spitting food, saliva, mucus or...? Make sure there's nothing medical going on before blaming it strictly on dementia.
Barring any medical issues, dementia can cause some behavior changes that seem inexplicable to us. My father was in a nursing home with a lady that we swore must have been a real character in her former life - because with dementia, she was intolerable. She would walk up to people and hit them with her walker, often knocking other residents of the NH down with it, keep food in her mouth and spit it at anyone that got within range, call people names and insult them....she was really something. Sometimes, dementia intensifies bad behavior that already existed - other times, the bad behavior comes out of nowhere and there's no explanation for it, unfortunately.
we ended up having to have a towel laying across his lap or in his hands, specifically for the spitting.
Now that he's bed bound - he isn't spitting, even when sitting up. Doesn't appear to have excessive drool, either, which is what we were told was the reason for the spitting. *shrug*
Barring any medical issues, dementia can cause some behavior changes that seem inexplicable to us. My father was in a nursing home with a lady that we swore must have been a real character in her former life - because with dementia, she was intolerable. She would walk up to people and hit them with her walker, often knocking other residents of the NH down with it, keep food in her mouth and spit it at anyone that got within range, call people names and insult them....she was really something. Sometimes, dementia intensifies bad behavior that already existed - other times, the bad behavior comes out of nowhere and there's no explanation for it, unfortunately.