My mother-in-law has urinary problems. She wears Depends. She also has glaucoma. The smell of her depends is gagging me. What to do?

In my personal opinion, depends don't go in the house garbage. They get put in a grocery bag or other small plastic bag, tied up and put outside.

Keeping dirty diapers in a house trash is going to create gross smells.

I had to deal with my dads on a daily basis, he wouldn't and I was less put out with taking the trash out then having the environment smell. I always used a bag in the trash can and emptied it when he put a dirty in.

This is one of the less pleasant aspects of caregiving.

This is often the turning point when families can no longer care for a loved one at home. Time to find a care facility where she can be cared for 24/7 by professionals.

I recommend a plastic bag you securely close after placing each used underwear into it or even better is a trash can with a lid. Put something aromatic in (I used pine sol) with a fresh plastic liner and discard into the outside trash often. Frequently I would put pine sol in the trash can, fill it with water and let it set a few minutes when I changed the bag.

Foul urine odor is a sign of a urinary tract infection. She needs to be taken to the doctor for a urine sample to be sent out and cultured/tested. I agree with Fawnby that incontinence is often the straw that breaks the caregiving camel's back.

My mom is in a wheelchair and can’t stand w/o assistance. She wears Depends undergarments and a portable potty in the bathroom. I have purchased liners on Amazon specifically for the potty along with pads that absorb the liquid. It gets changed every day and several times if she has a movement. I also have some powder that absorbs solid waste odors. I change the liner by tying it by the straps on the sides and double knot the bag. Then I put that bag into a clean, tall, deodorized trash bag and double knot it as well. It all goes into the outside garbage can. There is a cost associated with this. I tried the plastic bags from the grocery store and Walmart. But those bags are flimsy and tear easily, and they are not treated for odor control. I just can’t tolerate a manual cleanup dumping in the toilet. Maybe this will give you some ideas.

When I worked with a client that wore depends, the first thing I would when I would come in for my shift would be to empty her depends trash can and empty the potty chair. She would argue at first, but I told her your house is going to smell if I don't take this out.

There is no way I would want to work around someone with urine/feces soaked smelling household. No, you will not get used to smelling filth and the smell itself can cause nausea, and respiratory illnesses. We are hired to do a job.

Like another member said, you have to take charge of the situation.

I meean, I use urine pads and the bacteria just feast on the moisture. They never go in my bathroom trash, always in the kitchen, which then gets emptied out at least every other day. Oh yes, it's an amazing smell. No thanks.

There is a spray called Poopfh available from Amazon and the manufacturer which when sprayed directly on the solid or liquid excrement neutralizes the odor. My aides like the old-fashioned room spray because it has a fragrance and says its disinfectant bur the poopfh really works. It is expensive about
$26 for a large bottle but worth it

Elderly people on many medications, often dehydrated, can produce some of the most eye-watering urine smells. Mom had a habit of just re-using grocery bags and they did not hold the odor in well. We got her bags specificallt treated for the smell.

AND she didn't want the trash emptied every day, but she lost the battle of that. Once they were off her and bagged, someone took them out, immediately.

Still--she'd had enough accidents on her bed, recliner, couch and floors, the urine has completely saturated everything. After she passed & YB pulled up the flooring--he was aghast that the subflooring had been saturated too.

I think she had problems long before YB dealt with them--and burning candles/having spritzing air fresheners going in every room just added to the funk.

OPEN THE WINDOWS every single day. My mom was so worried about wasting energy, she would have a fit if we opened windows--but it was completely necessary.

If YB could go back in time, he'd have put down wall to wall linoleum. Carpet got soaked and they could never get the smell out.

Have her put the used Depends in a plastic bag inside a pedal bin -
you can spray that or use the dust

Would this help with adult diapers? We used one with our baby, and it was great!

https://diapergenie.com/

A heavy lined 31-gallon trash can with a lid stay in my garage to hold any stuff that emits odor. On trash day all is removed and taken to the outside trash-bin for pick up.

That way there is no odor in the garage and no odor outside my garage door.

Blondie60: The malodor could be a sign of a U.T.I. She needs to be seen by a urologist for an antibiotic if that is the case after a complete urinalysis is performed.

You can obtain a diaper like container with a tight fitting lid.

I do remember as my grandmother aged and was in Assisted Living and then Memory Care, getting her to wear adult diapers or Depends was difficult even for the staff.

As we all gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday the staff tried to get her to wear a Depends or adult diaper. She refused. Never once did anyone suggest, "You don't want to embarrass yourself while you're out"? I finally stepped in and asked her the very question and if she would like me to help. She did. I took a few with us, and took the initiative to check her throughout the afternoon and she had a wonderful time. Have you made a suggestion to your MIL? Perhaps she's really not aware. Her sense of smell may be impaired. Talk with her doctor.

Isn't it nice they now make trash can liners that have a deodorizer in them.

Isn't it nice they now make trash can liners that have a deodorizer in them?

Your message sounds like you are reasonably exasperated. if you choose to keep her at home, get help. (Showering help makes everything better).

As others write here, take out each and every diaper immediately. Diaper Genies temporarily hide, but ultimately increase the problem which is only left to fester,

This was one of the hardest parts of caretaking for me (both with babies and adults).

Although it may seem endless, this time together won’t last forever.

I used a diaper pail for my parents lined with a grocery store bag. Twice a day we tied it up and tossed the little bags into a large trash can in the garage lined with a heavy duty trash bag. When full it gets tied and goes out with the trash.

A catalogue ( think it is called Collections, but Im not sure) advertised a largish container that opens from the bottom. (It has a lever to open it like some garbage cans). It gets lined with a plastic bag, and you open the top and throw the Depends in. The top and bottom parts are shut tight, and so no smell gets emitted at all. I keep it in the bathroom and every few days take the plastic garbage bag out containing the soiled Depends, put it in a second plastic kitchen bag and bring it out to the garbage "hut" of my Condo and throw it in the Dumpster. I then wash the container down and spray it with an aereol sanitizer. (The container cost about $40). Then I spray the bathroom with Febreze. So far, so good!

Momma is incontinent and she also wears depends. Everytime I go and see her in assisted living her bathroom smells funky. She just had a open trash can well it was some sort of trash can where she would throw her used depends into so I bought a medium sized trash pale that has a lid on it to try to help with the smell. The assisted living people line the trash pale and of course they empty it when necessary. It has helped some. Now if I can only get her to change her clothes more often and wear a clean depend instead of setting around all morning in dirty clothes. She has a uti right now. When she was living in her house it was horrible. She kept a uti and everytime I drove over there I had to pick up her dirty urine clothes off the bathroom floor mind you those were the same clothes she would put back on to wear to wash them. I would wash at least two loads everytime I went to see her. I don't know what to do about this continue problem. Is it the assisted living responsibiliy or do I need to find her other help? Memory Care which she would hate!

I've found that daily incontinence panty changes and disposal into outside trash is best. It's No way that I could tolerate that smell for hours/ overnight inside my home. All soiled incontinence panties go inside a small trash bag then doubled tied and disposed of ( outside trash can with a top) ASAP !!!

I have a diaper pail for my mother's depends. It is a dekor mini that has a long plastic bag roll. You remove the bag of diapers when full, cut it off and knot the end., then pull down and knot the end inside the pail to restart. The pail has a double lid and does a good job of containing the odor. I got it originally because the dogs were getting into the bathroom trash (dogs are gross). They are not attracted to it now because the smell is contained and it's sturdy enough to keep them out. The mini holds about 3 to 4 days of her depends, so I collect the trash twice a week and add the diaper bag to the trash sack when I put it in the outside bin.