Carers say child-like ‘dementia dolls’ being given to residents in some care homes in Nottingham are having a faster impact on their mental health than some drugs.
Dementia experts have been giving the dolls to elderly people suffering with the condition as a way of calming the urges some have to seek out younger versions of their adult children.
And some experts say the dolls, also called empathy dolls, work faster than giving medication to patients.
Margeret Slater lives at Fairway View, Bulwell and has had dementia for seven years.
She has seven children and her family say since having Lilly the empathy doll, Margaret’s behaviour has drastically changed.
Her daughter Linda Hughes said: “It has got to the stage where she is always looking for her children, she’s regressed, and having this baby [the doll] it’s like she’s found her children again, and therefore calms her down.
“It just gives her so much pleasure. She tended to get agitated before.
“I know some people might think it’s childish, but the baby means just just much calmer and obviously that makes me feel so much happier.
While Margeret’s medication hasn’t reduced, nurses say the effects the doll have had on her mean it is almost better than some drugs.
Helen Spencer, a nurse from the Nottingham Dementia Outreach team, said: “We saw the affects almost immediately, she was more calm.
“Whereas having the medication first, that wasn’t having an affect straight away.”
Although not everyone living with dementia will have the same response as Margaret, the outreach team says the dolls are becoming increasingly popular throughout care homes across the city.
