She obsesses all the time. She walks the hallways at night, peaking into the babies room, and sometimes we catch her shaking the baby while she is asleep. If the baby is with her parents,my mother worries out loud and cries out loud about the baby. Our doctor prescribed medications but she refuses to take the meds and we have found little hiding places where she places the medications. She is blind but claims she sees everything. She just had a minor cva but only has minor numbness in her left leg and arm. The doctor says it was transit in nature. She also likes to sneak out of the house and walk around the court we live in keeping to the side walk. Please advise. Nervous in California
Also, is she an insomniac? Is there some reason why she's up and about at night?
You might ask her doctors if she could take melatonin; it's a natural hormone produced less by the elderly, but induces sleep, safely in my experience. There's none of the after effect like some of the OTC sleep inducers.
Or feed her turkey at night; it contains tryptophan, which induces sleep. Or maybe some herbal teas that are sleep inducers, but check with her doctors to ensure there are no interactions with any of her meds, even if she doesn't take them. Perhaps if you could find a way to sneak her prescribed meds into her evening meal, and any of them are sleep inducers, that might cut the evening wanderings.
Since your mother is blind, do you think she would be able to tell the difference between the real child and a well manufactured, soft doll that can also emit sounds?
As for Grandma sneaking out of the house put locks on the inside of the door, that she can't open, a digital lock comes to mind that she does not know the combination to.
The medications need to be taken out of her control and if possible find a way of giving them to her. if she can't be controlled at home she should be placed into some sort of facility.
I am sorry if this sounds harsh but the baby is at risk and so is grandma. Don't tell me "But she loves the baby and would never hurt her. She loves her" of course she does and she would not do anything intentionally but she clearly has some dementia problems diagnosed or not, and does not know what she is doing all the time.