A mother and baby get ready for a visit with a senior.
by Stephen Thirlwall
What happens in a room full of adults with a baby in its midst? The baby makes the rounds of almost every pair of hands in the room and is cuddled, cooed at, talked and sung to, rocked and swung. This is basic human behaviour at work. Most people adore babies and feel revivified by them. They experience joy in their presence. Only a few keep away. And even they may coo from a distance.
While on parental leave, Jessica Turner, an Ottawa mother, discovered the effect that babies have on the elderly in long-term care homes. Seniors with dementia and other disabilities sparked to life. They became more animated and happy. Most importantly, their memories clicked into gear.
As nature kicked in, the seniors began to smile, talk, sing and tell stories while snuggling the little ones. This response was often immediate and strong.
Within a short time, Jessica built up a non-profit organization (Babies who Volunteer) with a team of over 700 volunteer parents and babies who visit seniors in need at over 20 care home locations across the city.
There are now also a couple of locations in Kingston and one in Kemptville.
All seniors experience challenges as they get older. For some, these are more acute, resulting from major accidents, increasing disability, dementia, isolation, loneliness and depression.
Research and practical experience show that there are several known methods that can help large groups of seniors without necessarily needing drugs or even professionals. Jessica’s method aims at “changing the lives of seniors one baby at a time.”
The experts in this case are the babies. They know naturally what to do — just be themselves. It is not just elder women who respond to the use of babies but also elder men. The babies also benefit from extra love, attention and socialization.
Another therapy uses young children instead of babies. In this case, the children and the seniors they visit can exchange stories and songs. The older children play simple games and make simple crafts along with the elders or at least have the elders watch them as they create.
All of this stimulates the minds of the ailing seniors and can increase their social interaction.
The author visits with his granddaughter.
Grandparents, of all ages, who see their grandchildren at least occasionally are well aware of this. They eagerly prepare for visits, engage in numerous activities with them and fondly miss them when they are gone.
There are several other similar therapies that can be considered, which use surrogates for babies and young children.
These could be pets, baby dolls, human-like or pet-like robots, or even computer programs with synthesized human voices and on-screen characters.
Pets can be good for any seniors (ailing or not) who are living alone and risk being isolated and lonely. Dogs help them get outside and get exercise.
Pets, like babies, can be excellent living companions often helping seniors to reduce stress, feel safer and even lower their blood pressure. There are daily routines in caring for animals that assist seniors to keep their bodies and minds more active.
Care has to be taken in finding dogs with a calm and friendly temperament or cats that are very social with humans. They must not be too young or too old and be of good health themselves. Certain elders might need specially trained pets.
It may be a little easier for some adults to interact with dolls rather than babies, in case they are unable to cope with a living baby. However, their responses to dolls can be very similar to their reactions to babies.
Dolls need to be introduced casually and slowly and as if they are real babies. If the elder takes to the doll, then there is great potential for a lot of soothing, easing of sadness and loneliness, and reconnecting with memories and other people.
Dolls can be kept at the senior’s own home and, as with pets, can become part of their daily routine.
Beth McCormack, a woman in New Brunswick, had both her parents fall into dementia. As a result, she has developed very life-like “cuddling dolls” and now has a business making therapy dolls, sold in three provinces in Canada. She found that, for her mother, “her nature was to nurture,” and that this could happen with dolls too.
Robots and computer agents have proven very successful for certain specific seniors because the robot or agent is infinitely patient. There are both human-like and pet-like robots. They also speak with a calm steady voice, without fussing or crying or getting upset. But they are not as cuddly in the elder’s lap.
They probably serve those elders best who are more severely ailing and erratic.
Research so far shows positive effects but some potential dangerous side effects, such as the senior giving up too much control to robots instead of increasing their own abilities.
The common factor of all these methods is that they all help create a sense of human interaction that stirs memory and revives the patient. Repeat visits in a scheduled pattern, especially with babies, can gradually assist seniors to improve their mental faculties, feel less isolated, become more engaged and stave off rapid decline. This can also mean having to spend less time in total care facilities.