Looking for a solution for a coverup when helping my daughter in and out of shower/tub

[jo-jo]

Could you take two thin bath towels, sew a few stitches on the short ends for the shoulders. Leave gap for head to slip through and put in two strips of elastic to attach the sides.. Sort of like the sandwich board signs a person would wear. Don't want towels too thick , cost they would weigh a ton wet.

Just thinking out loud here.

 

[midwestdee]

Another possibility is get lightweight t shirts in a size maybe 3 or 4 sizes above what she normally wears. Lots of t shirts are a really thin fabric ( and long) & thrift shops usually have plenty of choices in the X sizes that you could put on a plastic hanger to dry on the shower curtain.

 

[clm10308]

How does she shower/bathe at home? Would it be easiest to replicate what is done at home as much as possible?

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

There have been some excellent suggestions given here!

I have a very different angle which is …hard. I obviously don’t know the whole picture, but it sounds like your daughter is not going to be able to be independent in the shower for a long time (maybe even life). If I’m correct, this is the same boat our youngest daughter is in.

She too has always been very private (we still laugh about her telling her daddy to turn around from her little towel-wrapped self when she was only 2!!). She requires assistance into & out of the bathtub. Showering is not an option. She also requires extensive time to put medical bandages on ~90% of her body before being able to get dressed… which I realize is incredibly unique. All that to say, we’ve had to have lengthy discussions with our daughter as she’s gotten older & her disease has progressed. Both her dad & I need to be able to help her… which is another level of hard, and requires a lot of trust. We do everything in our power to make sure she feels safe with us, but that doesn’t always mean she’s “comfortable” with the situation. We’ve also had frank discussions with her, asking if she’d prefer a female nurse be hired to help her- but that would require being vulnerable & trusting a total stranger. At the end of the day, she’d rather those times be with us- where she knows she’s 100% safe, even though she won’t be 100% comfortable… I hope that makes sense.

All that said, let me reiterate that I do not know your situation & only you know what your daughter needs to be safe. I’m just sharing what we’ve done when we knew that independence was not a safe option for our daughter during bathing. We still respect her privacy & are as professional & protective as possible… but her safety & medical care comes first.

Best wishes as you manage your daughter’s safety & wellbeing!!

 

[BroganMc]

I am a 53 year old woman who's had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since she was 2. I tell you this because I'm in a position similar to your daughter. My joint contractures make my balance precarious and do not give me the ability to step into a bathtub or over a shower ledge. So I always book a room with a roll in shower.

However I must tell you that most roll-in showers in hotels have hazards of their own. Usually they are built with a fiberglass insert that is extremely smooth. And because one wall is just a curtain, water rolls out into the shower floor. All of that makes it like walking on an ice rink.

Now they're are things I do to mitigate the danger.

1) I use a bath towel on the floor along the shower curtain to catch the water.
2) I use a wash cloth on the floor of the shower to add more traction. It is actually less slippery than water on fiberglass. I don't use shower shoes because I want all my body to be clean.
3) I have ponchos I made from fleece to cover my upper body to my knees. I'll wear these when I get out of the shower until I can get dressed.
4) I use a power wheelchair. So I bring my chair to the edge of the shower and step out of it then back in over the threshold. It reduces the distance I have to walk on a wet floor. I put towels on the seat and armrests to dry up my wet body.
5) when I turn the water off, I use a hand towel to dry the floor of the shower before I attempt to walk out.
6) I use a very sturdy 4 foot cane (Hurrycane) for extra balance.
7)I usually request a height adjustable shower chair from housekeeping. I find it easier to step down from a chair than push myself up. And not all of those folding shower benches are at an appropriate height.


As the previous poster said, because I am limited in my abilities, I have had to compromise on my sense of independence in order to get help. My parents helped me most of the time, but both are deceased now. Usually when you're in this situation you find one person that you feel comfortable enough to trust on a regular basis. Now it is my sister. But you do have to compromise sometimes when you need help. For instance I have fallen in the bathroom and had to endure male paramedics coming and picking me up off the floor. In those times I just remember what my dad used to say. It's just a body. We all have the same anatomy. There's nothing creepy about it.

Hopefully this helps you. I do not know what the underlying medical condition is for your daughter. I know mine is stable but it is a progressive joint disease. There will be a day when I am not able to be independent. And everything I do now requires extra time, tools and a different method. None of that changes who I am or what I offer to the world. In fact I think a lot of times it enhances it because I have learned to think outside the box and never let any obstacle prevent me from doing what I wanted or needed.

The last tip I have for you as a potential helper. Don't make a big deal out of it. If you treat it as routine and ordinary, then you will help her think of it as the same.

 

[Weedy]

Maybe this from Amazon

https://a.co/d/dF3r4ZH

 

[SteveMouse]

Maybe a sports bra and just a towel in her lap. I don’t think she could wash all the important places wearing a bathing suit.

Not trying to be inappropriate, but a tennis skirt or a miniskirt or a swimskirt without panties are ways of maintaining modesty but also facilitating access to bare skin when necessary.

 

[lanejudy]

I didn't get the impression the OP was looking for a cover-up to use during the shower -- simply something to allow for modesty while being assisted entering and exiting the tub. But it could come off once in the tub/shower because she'll be bathing independently.

was trying to find some sort of safe robe or coverup for her to wear when getting in and out of the shower.

 

[SteveMouse]

I didn't get the impression the OP was looking for a cover-up to use during the shower -- simply something to allow for modesty while being assisted entering and exiting the tub. But it could come off once in the tub/shower because she'll be bathing independently.

That is what I originally thought as well, and suggested a terry wrap that used hook-and-loop to secure it.

The OP then added

…
no, I wasn’t looking a Terry body wrap. i mean something that can be wet and lightweight. if that makes sense. Something she can keep herself covered while I physically help her in and out of the shower or tub, and maybe help with shampooing. She is very very modest. She won’t be able to hold on to a towel and keep her balance.

which added the requirements of being able to get wet and be lightweight, and be present when the OP assisted with activities such as shampooing the hair.. It occurred to me that a bathing suit / skirt might bog interfere with balance issues snd may provide the desired modesty while also facilitating her ability to reach where she can without unnecessary encumbrances.

 

[NLKim]

You can also try looking up poncho bath towels on Amazon. They have lots of different options on thickness and length and they can just be pulled on/off easily