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Hello, I wanted to seek some advice my elderly parent has no feeling in their bowels and can’t tell if they have cleaned themselves properly, they keep using the bath towels for wiping themselves and I have to then sort it all out. Despite my encouragement to use wipes they don’t. Any ideas on how to prevent this would be appreciated!

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Oh dear. That doesn't sound pleasant.

Remove the towels from the bathroom. That will be inconvenient, but probably less so than the current situation. Have only products available that are suitable -- flushable wipes, toilet paper, etc.

I wonder if your parent would like a bidet attachment on the toilet? That might give them confidence they are clean.
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Have your parents been diagnosed with any type of cognitive decline or dementia? Do you know the reason for their incontinence? I'm not sure I understand why they are having trouble with their bathroom hygiene. Most of the people that I have seen who expereince that kind of problem have dementia, which causes them to lose the ability to control their bowels or bladder and misjudge how to clean themselves. Also, they could be forgetting that you tell them not to use towels. My LO would use odd things as well and then she just forgot how to clean herself in the bathroom. At that point, she had to be assisted to the bathroom each and every time, with a person cleaning her and helping her get her pants back up. If your parents don't have any cognition problems, then, I'm not sure what the problem might be. I'd discuss it with their doctor.
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Thanks both, my mother has no feeling in her backside due to past operations. She doesnt know when she needs the bathroom as a result or if she’s clean so she goes repeatedly up to the toilet just incase.
To add to this unfortunately her diabetic medication upsets her stomach. However, the doctor has said there’s no alternative.

Whenever I try paper pants or nappies she keeps putting them in the washing machine and can’t get it into her head they are disposable - so that also ends up resulting in more cleaning!
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I'd explore what is causing her such confusion. Apparently, she's not able to handle these tasks, regardless of the reason, so, I'd take on those tasks and not allow her access to changing, cleaning herself, doing laundry, etc. With her not understanding things, it might be risky.
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I placed a couple of wash cloths on the bath rm. counter. Picked them up at the thrift store. They seem to have helped even though I do the cleaning frequently.
I have removed MY hand towel which was the unfortunate victim of being the replacement for the paper. This is in the front bathroom not the master bath. Still working on that one.
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Parents do the same thing, and had to pay a plumber to unclog toilet with disposable diaper stuck in pipe. Also had fun time cleaning out washing machine with panty thrown in. They have cheap washcloths and a small bucket to put the used ones in. Tried wipes - they wouldn't use them, and I just read that a town had sewer water discharged into water supply, all because of a 'disposable wipe.'
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