Ok, this may seem like a silly question but I want an opinion if we are doing the right thing. My mother has dementia, has good days and bad days. Had a lot of health issues last year which seemed to increase her confusion and anxiety. But now things seem to be leveling out. Last month she had a pretty bad cold/cough, so we had to start wearing depends on her to help with the bladder leakage. Before she started wearing the depends, she soaked a few chairs in the house. But now that she is well again, we have continued with her wearing the depends, knowing that at some point she will need to wear them permanently. Try to get her accustomed to them. But is this wrong of us to do so? She will comment on them, how much she hates them, how uncomfortable they are. She doesn't need that pad, and doesn't know why we put it in her pants! I should say that she has good bladder functions - at this time. Doesn't drink a lot through the day, but when she goes, she goes a lot! I have ordered some washable incontinence panties, but worry about the potential for infections? Does anyone have any feedback? I'm not trying to be cruel to her. If she didn't realize the difference, I wouldn't even think of it. But since she does, I don't want to treat her like her feelings don't matter.
I, too, would like to know if someone tries them and if they work - and if cleaning and odor control is a problem. I'm thinking you'd have to keep them like cloth diapers for a baby - in a bucket of bleach water to keep the odor down and keep them from being stained. I'm not sure I'd want to add that workload to the already-heavy load of a caregiver, but that's just me.
The key to avoiding infections is keeping her clean and dry. She shouldn't sit in wet panties whether they are disposable or washable.
Since you have ordered them, try them out and see how they work. Realize that if full incontinence occurs you will need to move to disposables.
On a side note, my husband wore washable padded undies for a few years. He was very glad to, because the unpredictable leakage was embarrassing to him and he welcomed the protection. Later it was more than leakage and he graduated to Depends.
Please let us know what you decide to so, and how it works out. This is a topic of interest to many people!