Ever since Mom started to wear Depends to bed, she has stopped having urinary incontinence in the morning. She won’t reuse the diaper for fear of having an odor. She wears regular underwear during the day. Could she reuse the unsoiled Depends the next night? How do we dispose of the unsoiled depends? Can they be placed in the regular trash?
The thing with Depends, they don't feel wet unless you really go in them. My Mom always had incontinent problems usually dribbles. You cannot tell with Depends if she had dribbled. I had so wished they had put a strip in them that turned color if it came into contact with urine. So Mom is right, they need to go in the trash.
Since Mom seems to only have one a day, see if you can find diaper disposible bags. These are usually deoderized and can be thrown in regular trash. I used them when my daughter was little for when we were out and about. I used the Genie otherwise.
I can not believe that the facility will allow this to continue if the odor is that strong.
And it also sounds like mom should be in MC not AL.
And who is purchasing the pads for her?
There are also reusable incontinence underwear that she could use. These look and feel like normal underwear. I am guessing though that the bulk of the disposable pull up is somehow cueing her brain to either get up when she has to use the toilet or she is just holding it until morning. (funny thing the brain!)
I get your mom's concern about odor but I would be more concerned about bacteria on the used one. Older people have enough problems with UTI's without having to culture bacteria for the next day.
Disposable incontinence products can be disposed of in regular garbage.
Do you put dirty underwear back on at night ?
There is still sweat and bacteria in the used Depends. Your Mom is correct in that reusing these could cause odor. Talk about ick and potential for UTI .
And why wouldn’t it go in the trash , the same as disposable baby diapers ?
Same goes for if you switch to incontinence pads in her underwear as suggested below. Do not reuse them . Just like regular dirty underwear does not get put back on until they are washed.
There are reusable incontinence underwear and pads that can be washed . Again use them one night , then they get washed .
I suggest she try using an incontinence pad in her regular underwear at night (there are many difference absorbency levels), that will not only be less expensive but may feel less wasteful. And if she doesn't have one already get her some big incontinence mattress pads and a leak proof mattress cover to give reassurance that the bed is protected.