Nighttime Incontinence

I first realized that Mom needed help with her nighttime incontinence when I arrived at her apartment earlier than expected one morning. She was up and about but I noticed that the bedding was wet with urine.

What to do? In the short-term we got creative.

• First I took the sheets and mattress pad off the bed and tossed them in the wash. The mattress wasn't wet, but we let it air out while we went out for breakfast.
• We thought about what we could use to protect her mattress pad from getting wet again. Turns out she had a vinyl table cloth with a flannel backing that we could use. We could have used a shower curtain liner, covered with a flannel sheet, too.
• When we re-made the bed I put the table cloth, flannel side up, on top of the mattress pad and beneath the bottom sheet. A little crinkly, but not too bad!

Later that week I went to a medical supply store near my house and bought two reusable "underpads" -- flat absorbent pads with a waterproof backing -- specifically designed to protect bed linen and chairs. They're soft and nicer to sleep on than the vinyl table cloth.

I also bought a package of disposable underpads in case both reusable ones were in the wash.

Juanita