Waking up at night thinking it's morning and gets dressed.

My Mum does this too. I try to be so cautious not to blame changes in my Mum's behaviour on her age or on her Alzheimer's so it is so good to have you wonderful people on TP to guide me through this journey and to be able to help my Mum.

Mum doesn't live with me... yet! I sleep with my mobile telephone next to my pillow so I am able to answer straight away and explain to her that she needs to return to bed. I usually get a call around 2am. She has knocked on the neighbours door at 2am asking where her Lunch is (the same lady delivers a cooked meal to both my Mum and her neighbour) luckily Mum lives in sheltered accommodation so the 'front doors' are inside the building.

I did purchase the dementia clocks (the analogue type) but Mum didn't really take to it. However, I have purchased a Gro Clock. This is actually a training clock for a young child to encourage them to stay in bed throughout the night.

It has to be set each night before my Mum's Carer leaves. Once set, it displays a large 'smiley star' with 12 smaller stars surrounding it. (these stars go out one by one throughout the night) The display is lit with a 'blue' backlight.

When it is time for my Mum to get up, the clock displays a large 'smiley sun' and changes to a soft 'yellow' backlight.

It seems to be working for my Mum as it is clear enough for her to see without her having to put her glasses on. I have explained to her that when she sees the Star/blue light it is night time and she is to go back to bed (she gets up in the night to go to the toilet and to check her Colostomy Bag) and when she sees the sun/yellow light it is time to get up and dressed.

As mentioned above this clock is a training aid for a child to enable them understand when they should get out of bed. The clock can be set twice as it allows for a nap in the day which is good if a person with dementia has a rest in the afternoon.

For this to be the 'perfect clock' (for my Mum's needs) I wished the large smiley sun could have been displayed all day and then automatically switched to the large smiley star at the pre-set time, thus removing the need for the carers to have to set it each evening. Also, if there is a power cut then the clock has to be reset and there is no battery backup. and lastly, the numerals for the 12 hour digital clock are quite small so when the backlight goes out it is even more difficult to read.

I didn't explain to my Mum that the outer stars countdown and if there is only one it would nearly be time to get up as that would have been far too much for her to grasp.

There is a setting so the backlight can be dimmed if it is too bright, but my Mum liked the light, I think she found it comforting so I didn't change it. There is also an alarm setting if required.

Although I have mentioned the drawbacks it appears to be working for my Mum (for now) and I have to remind myself that the clock wasn't designed for a person with dementia.

I purchased it on Ebay for £6 as I didn't want to spend the £20 (the cheapest was in John Lewis) just in case it wasn't going to help my Mum. I have spent a fortune on things in the past only for my Mum not to be able to understand etc.

The clock doesn't look babyish (it is white in colour) the only reference to it being for a child is on the box (as it contains a story book with some versions).

I have put an attachment onto this post so you can see the image of the Star and Sun and the colours I have referred to above so my ramblings make more sense.

Apologies for the long post but I wanted to explain the pros and cons. I hope this information may be of some use.

Wishing you all a good Christmas x