Follow
Share

I have heard of several others who have Dementia that also see children or kids. Thought it is common enough to start a discussion about this topic.

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.

43 Answers

Most
Helpful Newest
First Oldest
First
1 2
my dad saw kids and his grandmother.But he only saw people that had passed away,which makes me wonder why not see people who are still living hmmmm
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
Over the years with elder relatives; I can't count how many of them have seen various different people or other things, from aliens jumping on their bed to J Edgar Hoover for a secret moving down by the lake! Sometimes we'd have to leave the room to laugh or cry depending on the situation, but it was real to them.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
My mother sometimes sees people who are not there. It seems to happen if she is dehydrated. I tried to ask her what they look like but then she realizes that I don't see them too. I think she is a bit embarrassed. She has told me that the people she sees appear to be children. Anyway, I try to get her to drink more fluids and the visions go away.
Helpful Answer (4)
Report
My mom has seen people "in" the china cabinet and the turtle tank. I think this was due to her eyesight. But at other times she does ask who the man is or who the kids are. I know this is going to sound weird to some, but I believe in the paranormal and believe she is seeing family members who have passed or those who have been sent to watch over her.
Helpful Answer (6)
Report
My father cannot distinguish who my mother is. He sees her as 3 or four different people on any given day
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
It could be that your mother has Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects 1.3 million Americans. Seeing children or small animals are typical hallucinations characteristic of this disease. People with LBD may also see adults - my husband, who has LBD, once watched enthralled as a troupe of "actors" set up in our backyard and prepared to film a Civil War re-enactment -- all a figment of his imagination. Fortunately for him, his hallucinations aren't threatening, although I have heard that some LBD patients have had frightening visions.

I would highly recommend that you have your mother examined by a good neurologist and make sure that this individual is familiar with Lewy Body Dementia. Unfortunately, there is no test for LBD - a diagnosis is made by an examination of symptoms. Other symptoms can include excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep disturbances (including acting out vivid dreams), blank facial expression, balancing difficulties and shuffling gait, and loss of interest in hobbies, activities, etc. It is extremely important to get an accurate diagnosis because medications that can help people with Alzheimers or Parkinsons Diseases can have an extremely negative effect on people with LBD.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
My mother sees people off and on ... including kids (but no aliens! if she did, I think I would make a run for it). She also sees deceased relatives. I don't know who the kids are she sees ... sometimes is two little girls. Now, please don't be offended but ya gotta have a sense of humor with some of these things: During on period of time my mother was complaining of so many relatives visiting (NO ONE was in the house but she and I) and I told my sister that at least I didn't have to worry about mom being lonely while I was at work! :) :) She was very dehydrated at the time, and it turned out she had a UTI.
Helpful Answer (3)
Report
My mother also does this. She constantly talks about what the "kids" are doing. She doesn't claim to see kids, but she does see people around the house even when it is just she and I. It does no good to tell her it's just us because she becomes quite snarky and derogatory about me being unable to see what should be as plain as the nose on my face. Quite often she will not want to sit in her chair because she claims someone is already sitting there.

When I talked to her nurse and doctor about these behaviors they assured me that many dementia and Alzheimer's patients experience the same thing. They also caution me to keep her well hydrated. She is also checked for UTI's on a regular basis as this can cause hallucinations. So, if your mother is seeing more "odd" things than usual, please have her checked for a UTI. Left untreated, UTI's can prove fatal.

Good luck!
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
Mom has Lewy Body Dementia would always say "look at those two little boys peeking at me from the curtains." Or she would have delusions of a baby. Wanting to make sure the baby is okay because it was naked and cold. We would just go with the flow and say..."yes the baby is fine" His mommy and daddy has him wrapped up in a warm blanket" Its very typical of the LBDementia. The delusions and strange dreams are the first things we noticed when mom was diagnosed.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
My mom (81 years old) had a baby "Last November" and another last week!! :) She has children and babies all over the house at times. I think it is that they regress back to their younger days, probably when their kids were little.... That is where their mind is.....
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
I find Lewy Body Dementia fascinating. My mother-in-law has moderate dementia. She had a family of "gypsies" living with her for months in her assisted living room. Since I have brought her home to live with me there haven't been any more delusions. I didn't understand why so I asked an elder care specialist who said that they stopped probably because there are more people around her keeping her mind focused on the present.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
My aunt lived to be 100 and never had dementia, but she did see little kids in her house -- but only when she had a uti.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
My mom has had alzheimers for about 10 years. She sees children and people too off and on, and will ask about "the baby" or "my baby." As long as the hallucinations don't bother her, I don't worry too much about them.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
There is much to learn through the eyes of the ones who are going "HOME" to where we all come from. The closer they get to what you call "The Other Side", the more they try to reveal. Use your own judgement in this. The "Other Side" is only a dimension away.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
This is so interesting! My mother had two miscarriages after I was born. Then she carried a baby for 6 months and in those days (1960's), with his lungs not being developed, he lived long enough to be baptized and then died. She is now 86 and has dementia. She FREQUENTLY has conversations with a young boy. Then I heard her tell "a curly blond haired girl" that she should know the boy because he is her brother and that next time he came she would introduce them! It may sound crazy, but I thought that maybe the babies who died are visiting her! Other times I have walked into her room and she will be having a conversation with someone...and she will see me and say-isn't she beautiful? Or aren't they cute? I just tell her that I missed them and that maybe next time I will come in in time to see them...She usually seems disappointed that I didn't see them, but she doesn't say they are still there. Wierd! This has gone on for a couple years off and on now! I think it is very interesting and I am happy to hear your stories! If I had my life to do over-I would have gone into like-geriatric psychology! This facinates me!
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
The husband of one member of my local caregivers' support group frequently saw young children in his house. He was a minister, so maybe having various groups of children in his home was common when he was well. I don't know. But he was always concerned about their welfare. Why wasn't his wife setting extra places for them at the table? She always assured him that they were taken care of. "I gave them a snack and they are watching a nature show on TV until their parents come." These hallucinations were not threatening to him so she just went along with them.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
Thank You all who have responded to my question! I thought to myself it would be interesting to get different stories on this subject to see how common it is. I try to listen to my Mom's conversations with an open mind. Sometimes I add input or ask questions, I want her to continue because I find it interesting. I also try to figure out if it's the Dementia, Medication, a different illness, etc. that causes the actions or reactions in her behavior. After reading these posts I'm starting to think the kids are spirits or angels just something perhaps that we can't see because or minds are cluttered with earthly mumbo-jumbo and we are not meant to see these sort of things.
My Mom always see's her Dad sometimes her Mom. Since I have become my Mom's caregiver, I have been accomplishing things that I never thought I could and I believe someone has been guiding me and been giving me strength and opening my mind to do what I needed to protect my Mom.
Call me crazy but I should have fallen apart long ago!!! Now I am here trying helping others, so I can keep other's from falling apart, almost as if it has been my life's mission all along.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
I dropped in to visit with my dad one day when my mom was out running errands. He said, "Thank goodness! A voice of reason in the middle of all this craziness!" Then he went on to tell me there were all these people in the house, in every room, always following him around and nagging at him, trying to take over the place and run things. He told me that one day, when he got fed up with arguing with them, he threw up his hands and said, "Alright! Go ahead and take over, run this place the way you want to, if you're so smart!" Then "they" just stood there staring at him, looking confused, and couldn't do anything. They didn't really know what to do, either. I asked him if he knew their names, and he said, "I think.... they're all.... Bobbie." That's my mom! Wow, did I get goosebumps!

I have two thoughts about what was going on with dad seeing multiple "Bobbies". Maybe, every time she left the room and came back in, he thought it was a different person till he eventually recognized her, so she was a new, unfamiliar person, but also Bobbie, so his mind registered her as both an additional person, and as "Bobbie". Or, maybe, his vision was fragmented, so he saw things like through a prism, or a caleidescope. I know there was some fragmenting, because one time I was leading him to the bathroom, I was holding both his hands and walking backward and he was walking forward. He suddenly stopped, and said, "I have to stop, or else I'll step all over that guy's feet!" (gesturing with his hand to point toward MY
Helpful Answer (0)
Report
Oops! I accidentally submitted my post without finishing! Here's the rest of the last sentence: "... feet." Somehow, he didn't see my feet as attached to me, so there was some kind of split, or division in his vision. He also was gesturing with a sweeping motion from side to side, not just directly at my feet, so maybe he saw numerous pairs of feet.

I certainly had more insight and understanding about his confusion and his odd behaviors after those moments. Has anyone else had the person they're caring for reveal something like this- multiplying of one person, or seeing people or things in separate parts- to them?

Now my mom is going through her own dementia, and she sees at least two, sometimes more dogs, when we only have one. She also sees several other people in the house, mostly "the young boy" and "those two girls", and other "Karens" (me). Sometimes, she asks, "Where"s Karen?" and when I say, I'm right here, mom", she says, "Not you! The other girl!" and if I say, "I'm Karen", she gets mad and says, "No, you're not!", and goes on calling, "Karen!....Karen!" She mostly does this one when she's mad at me, like, "Karen wouldn't do THAT (whatever she's mad at me for), that must not be Karen, Karen must be in another room."

It's harder for me to be patient with mom seeing all these other people, and other "me's" because I wasn't dad's caregiver, so it wasn't a constant thing for me to deal with, but now I'm mom's caregiver, and I have to deal with this stuff all the time, and also, she makes decisions, or resists what I need her to do based on what one of these "people" have "told" her to do, and sometimes I think she isn't really seeing one of them at the time but she is just using them to excuse something she has done or to give a reason she doesn't want to do what I want her to do. Like, if I'm trying to get her to take a shower, she'll say something like, "Well, those two girls told me to ......" (whatever, just not take a shower). But if I try to do the same thing, like tell her, "I talked to your mother today (her mother died 30 years ago, but mom spends a big part of each day trying to get out of the house so she can go see her mother), and your mother told me she wants you to take a shower before you come see her", she'll deny that I talked to her mother or that she said that. Oh, well, it was worth a try.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report
Kabeeena- Your mom might not realize at times that you are Karen. As Alzheimer's progresses, patients regress. She may not identify you, Karen, as a grown woman, but as a child. How could she have a middle aged child when she does not view herself as old? It does sound as though she's being a bit selective about who can boss her around! She sounds like a smart cookie.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report
It has been documented for millennia and especially in the last 100 yrs or so that as we near the "other side" we actually intermingle with this dimension. Keep an open mind about these people and animals our loved ones perceive.
In Love and Light!
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
I'm thinking that's what mom saw...after being in bed for a whole week and not eating or drinking. She had been bedridden and hadn't walked in two weeks. She stood up from her bed took her walker and put her pillow on it...and said. "Lets go I need to get in line, they're waiting for me?" I said "Who's waiting for you? Mom?" She says.."the people!" I think she was thinking about my dad and my sister and all her brothers, sisters, and mom and dad. I really think they see them before they go. This was 5 days before she passed away.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
My mom was seeing kids when her dementia hit hard. I thought it was because I have grandchildren and she was use to them. When we had to put her in the nursing home, the last 3 months of her life, she was seeing alot of "people". In her case, I believe she would see someone pass through the hall, or come into her room which was real....but then later she would "see" people talking, etc. It was all part of the Lewy Body Dementia. The week before she passed (the last day she was conscious", like Msdaizy's mom, my mom suddenly got up from the bed and was really trying to get up. She was so very weak, I couldn't believe she had the strength to even sit up. I asked her where she was going, and she said she wanted to make us a cup of tea (my best friend was with me at her bedside). I told her it was ok, Debbie would make the tea, just sit back to relax. Debbie told her, I'll make the tea, and she was satisfied. Mom wasn't seeing people at the very end, but she was concerned about where she was. She wanted to make sure she was in her room (at our house) even tho she was still at the NH.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
"Lewy Body Dimensia". Just another way to keep us all from knowing the truth of our immortality. Many lies have been spread to keep us in the dark. But this is all changing now. Love and Light!
Helpful Answer (0)
Report
LightHealer, May I ask what you mean about the lies about Lewy Body Dementia? I'm interested in hearing what you have to say.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report
I love these stories, they make me smile to think how funny it is, but it's not funny and it is such a horrid disease. Yes, my mother also saw children sleeping in her bed, but when I asked her to show me them, they weren't there, so I would say, they must have left out the front door and she was satisfied. Today she asked me to take a cup out of her hand, I did and she still kept her hand up with the imaginary cup asking me to take it, so I made believe I did and she laughed.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
My mom is always seeing kids and one of the first signs of problems with her was the delusions or hallucinations. She has several of the signs that was mentioned with LBD. My dad was diagnosed with LBD several years ago. He passed away in 2007.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
Windytown, I'm not so sure about what "lies" lighthealer means, but I can tell you when I researched Lewy Body Dementia after my mom was diagnosed, it really helped me understand what had been happening to my wonderful mother over the last 10 yrs of so. I am grateful to God that I had her as long as I did, and that she had her mind for as long as she did. Once she was diagnosed, it helped me understand what this disease was doing. Her delusions or hallucinations were not because she was going off into the spirit world. They were caused by a disease that was affecting her brain. She had no control over what was happening. Many of the things she heard or saw were bits and parts of what she once knew, or bits and parts of what she was reading in the newspaper and hearing on tv. I was so grateful to read the book: A Caregiver's guide to Lewy Body Dementia. I knew my mom didn't have alzheimer's , but reading this book helped me see how my mom, like Nana24's mom had most of the symptoms. She died 3 months after being diagnosed, and I would have to say this disease progressed exactly as the book said it would. In hindsight I was able to see how the disease had been progressing over the last 10 years. It was unbelievable! This is why I've stayed on this site even tho mom passed away January 1st. Just 27 days ago. I feel if I can help even one person get through what lies ahead regarding their caregiving, my mom's life was not in vain. Had I known about LBD, I know I could have avoided alot of unnecessary pain and tears. I would have understood why my mom would shift from my sweet mom, to hurting me to the core, and why she started sleeping so many hours in a day. I would have understood why she would have certain days where she would do laundry until everything was washed and ironed and how she made sure to tell me all she did (almost like proving to me she was still so strong), then for the next 2 days I would have to nurse her back to health. It's called "showtime". A person with LBD really doesn't have control over it. This book really helps you understand how the mind is like a "filing cabinet", and why those with LBD are different from Alziemer's patients. At least I had this knowlege the last 3 months of moms' life, and I really believe it helped me handle things better. I understood what was happening to her and why she would do what she did. Even how she would get her clear mind back for a short time. Then "Lewy" would come back. I was able to recognize when "lewy" was there and when he was gone. The more info we have the better we are able to take care of our loved ones, and ourselves. That is why I am so thankful for this site.
Helpful Answer (4)
Report
I totally agree with Nanieinne...The Lewy Body Dementia disease changed the make up in the brain. It made them truly believe there were people there. It was all part of the disease. I do think there are moments when mom would see people that she knew...(who subsequently passed away long before) but as much as I want to think they were spirits. They were only figments of her imagination. That doesn't mean you should disagree with what she was telling you. I researched the LBD disease like Nanieinne and finding other ways of helping them cope was much easier than disagreeing. They believe what they see is real...it's just easier and less stressful to agree or distract her from it, than to create drama over it.
I miss my mom...but I lost her way before she passed away. Her LBD made her someone so different, I just learned how to help her through the journey. Research it...and try not to take it personal is the key.
Love them and tell them everyday..no matter what they say or do. It builds trust and its great therapy for the caregiver too.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report
Hallucinations and delusions are a part of many kinds of dementia. (Even UTIs can cause hallucinations.) Often these come later in the disease, but with LBD visual hallucinations come early and may be the first symptom where is it totally clear that something is wrong.

No matter what disease they are associated with, hallucinations are never under the control of the person having them. No one wills himself to see things that aren't there, and the things they see are absolutely real to them. Arguing about it is ineffective and generally hurtful.

I agree with msdaizy and Nanieine. Caregiving is so much less stressful if you understand the disease process at work.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
1 2
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.

Recent Questions


Popular Questions


Related Questions

Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter