Best comfy nighties for very small elderly Mum?

[greenwool]

Long term browser on the topic but find it seriously helpful.

Mum (88) isn't coping any more in her supported living accommodation. She's currently in hospital after a fall and will almost definitely need a move to residential care when discharged. Now that she's in hospital I've noticed that she really doesn't have enough nighties. The issue is that she is only about 4'9" tall. The standard old ladies' flannelly nighties of her preferred style are very long on her, and now that her mobility and balance are worse tend to interfere with her walking as they're down around her calves. I was wondering if anyone else with a petite elderly parent would know where I could buy something similar that would be shorter, maybe knee length on her? Any advice appreciated.

[AfunaMbatata]

Could you buy a few nighties she likes and just make them shorter? It's not very difficult to do yourself, or you could pay someone.

[Icequeen01]

My 84 year old, very frail , MIL has been in a care home for nearly 3 years. We often have to go out and bulk buy her lots of new nighties and bought about 10 short, very soft, nighties from Bon Marche. Damart are also quite good for clothing for the elderly but be prepared for the constant magazines through the post with money off vouchers! I order online with Damart.

[greenwool]

Thank you! I'm useless with alterations but if I got a few at a time could maybe just have someone take them up. In the style she likes we'd be shearing off acres of material, though! The Bon Marche ones sound good, and we could probably brave the junk mail from Damart if it came to that. Many thanks :)

[CMOTDibbler]

Our local repairs and alterations lady tells me that a lot of her work is in making alterations for the very elderly - she'll make nighties open right up the back for the bed bound, put loops on bras to make them easier to put on, dresses longer at the front for those who are always in a chair or split skirts so they aren't sitting on a lot of material and so on. Altering a nightie to make it shorter would be very quick and cheap to do.

If you have a local market, have a look there as I know one of the stalls in our indoor market seems to specialise in old lady clothes and certainly the trousers come in very short lengths

[missyB1]

We have the same problem buying nighties for my 91 year old mum. I managed to get some shorter ones from M&S at Christmas but they don't always have them.

[imsorryiasked]

Assuming your mum is slim-ish girls nighties would be best. Lands End have this one in the sale - I think age 10-11 should fit?

[greenwool]

CMOT, thank you for the advice on alterations! That's the sort of practical thing I wouldn't have thought of at all.

imsorry, unfortunately since her mobility dropped Mum has put on a fair bit of weight (which obviously doesn't help!) so a girl's nightie wouldn't work.

So far I've ordered her two from M&S online, one of which is a Short type, so we'll see how those work. I also looked at Bon Marche and there were a couple there that could be good.

[SirVixofVixHall]

I was going to suggest Marks and Sparks too, I bought nighties for my Mum from there, she was taller, but also had frequent falls so length was an issue. Marks do a short length in some nighties, and they also make a chemise length which would be knee length on your Mum. I am also happy to shorten anything for you, PM me.

[Charley50]

I buy all my mum's clothes from Primark since she got very frail. (Their nightwear options are endless).. She's gone from wearing old lady clothes to wearing funky trousers, hooded tops and trainers.