4 Tips for Bathroom Privacy and Caregiver Safety
Do you like pooping in private?
I mean, I definitely do! This is a topic that’s very near and dear to my heart. Sphincter Law is a real thing, everybody!
When I work with patients, it’s extremely important that I do everything I can to respect everyone’s privacy and keep their dignity intact!
So here are four tips that I use to help people keep their privacy while using the privy! Feel free to watch the video below or keep reading for all this good, juicy content!
1) Positioning
When you sit down on the toilet, your hips, knees, and ankles need to be at 90 degree angles. This gives your body the stability it needs to keep your balance on the toilet while you’re going to the bathroom.
This position is a starting point to keep you feeling balanced and stable while toileting and wiping.
If your balance is good and you’re feeling stable, that means you don’t need help sitting on the toilet. You’re good to go by yourself!
Some people have the ability to flex their hips comfortably and place their feet flat on a stool, like a squatty potty, while pooping. This position is also okay! But if you feel like you’re going to fall off the toilet or if you feel pain, please remove the stool and get your hips, knees, and ankles back in 90 degree angles!
Here are a couple of references to help you find the best way to position yourself on the toilet:
Positioning is everything, okay? That’s why it’s number one!
(FYI: I’m an Amazon affiliate. Any purchases you make through these links helps support this website! Thank you!)
2) Tinker the Toilet
Tinkering the toilet means that you’re changing the toilet or the area surrounding the toilet with equipment to help you keep your upright position on the toilet.
Some common things used to tinker the toilet are grab bars, stool risers, or Toilevators.
When you find the best position and tinker the toilet, you’re making sure that you’re able to stand up, sit down, manage your clothing, and wipe your bottom to the best of your ability.
If you live in a household where there’s more than one person with varying abilities, ask your friendly neighborhood occupational therapist to help you figure out the best changes to make to your bathroom.
Examples where you might need to ask an occupational therapist’s help is if there are people with different body heights, older and younger family members, or family members who use mobility devices, like a walker or cane.
3) Keep Everything Within Reach
White-tiled bathroom image with toilet, shelving, and sink vanity by Unsplash.
When you’re sitting down on the toilet, you’re in a vulnerable situation.
Maybe you need something across the bathroom, but you’re not quite finished using the toilet. It can be a little too tempting to keep your pants around your ankles and duck walk to get what you need!
That’s a recipe for a tragic fall with your pants down!
Let’s not even go in that direction!
We want you to stay seated on the toilet and have everything you need without having to get up. Keep your toilet paper, wet wipes, bidet, sanitary napkins, urinary incontinence products, hemorrhoid cream, etc. close to the toilet!
Falls are bad. If that’s the only message you get from this article, then my mission is complete.
I want you to sit on the toilet and easily reach anything you need.
Make sure your toilet paper is mounted on the wall or a grab bar. Other ideas to keep your toilet supplies within reach is to use a:
recessed niche
wall hung cabinet
small table
open shelves
For more information, take a look at this video on bathroom storage with Tiffany Dill and this Instagram Live replay!
4) Widen Bathroom Doorways
In a perfect world, every single bathroom doorway would be at least 36” wide.
When the doorway is 36” wide, it allows you to easily enter and exit the bathroom. People who use walkers, canes, or wheelchairs don’t have to ditch their devices to go to the bathroom! Everyone of all abilities can roll or stroll to the toilet!
Despite injuries or illnesses, 36” wide doorways always have your back! No matter what happens to you in life, wide doorways allow you to get in and out of your bathroom!
The other thing with having a wider doorway means that you’ll be able to keep your door on the doorway! You won’t have to remove the door from the hinges to widen the frame.
Let me tell you a quick story about what happened to a family member of mine:
This family member recently fell at work and broke their ankle. They had to use a walker to hop on one foot so as not to put weight on the broken ankle.
When this person went home on day one of the injury, they realized that the walker did NOT fit through the bathroom doorway!
That is a huge problem because this person was only able to hop on one foot and needed the walker to safely enter and exit the bathroom. You don’t really want to hop without a mobility device in the bathroom while trying to recover from an ankle fracture.
Remember, we had this talk about falls earlier?
In order for this family member to safely go in and out of the bathroom, we had to remove the door off the doorframe. Even with the door off the hinges, it was still a really tight squeeze to use the walker.
It still wasn’t safe in my book!
If the doorway was widened to 36”, this family member would’ve been able to use the walker to easily enter and exit the bathroom AND keep the door on its hinges!
Of course, you can achieve bathroom privacy by putting up a shower curtain, blanket, or towel, but . . . who would want that over an actual door?
In my household, we have younger family members that will gladly bust through the curtain and give you no privacy.
At some point in time in your home, please make it a priority to widen your bathroom door to 36”, especially if you have plans to remodel. That’ll help keep your privacy on the privy for a lifetime!
It’s the little things in life! I mean, keeping my privacy on the toilet makes me so much happier! I cannot poop in front of other people. Never could. Never will!
If you’re like me, tell me down below what you’re going to do to keep your privacy on the privy! Or tell me your favorite tip from this blog post! Your experience could help somebody else out!
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