The photo below and its back story provides an insight into the comfort robotic companions can provide a person with dementia and the importance to respect the reality they are experiencing.

When my wife was attending a day respite centre, she often spent time holding robotic pets and babies. One evening when I picked her up, she was holding a robotic baby but was reluctant to leave it behind, fortunately the person running the centre allowed us to take it home as it was obviously providing her so much happiness.

Fortunately, when she had children, child car seats and baby capsules were not common so when we got to the car she was happy to hold the baby in the front seat. If she had demanded a special seat for the baby it would have required a skilful conversation to proceed as I did not have one.

When we got home, I let her inside while I emptied the car. By the time I got inside she had settled on the couch in the living room, but there was no baby in her arms. I checked our bedroom and the guest bedroom as she had often put teddy bears to bed in the past, but the baby was not to be found.

I eventually went into the bathroom only to find the baby in the bath, it is a freestanding slipper shaped bath, the only item in the house that looked like a cot. She had carefully placed the baby at the head of the bath and placed paper towels over it to keep it warm.

Interestingly she did not look for the baby later, so I was able to place it in a safe place out of sight until I was able to return it to the day centre the next morning.

This highlights how important this type of companion can be to someone living with dementia in meeting their emotional needs, and the importance for carers and friends to behave in a way that supports the reality the person is experiencing.

Also, it is important to create an environment that will support the total care the person will want to provide the pet or baby. It may be important to have a bed or a safe place for it to sleep. Having a place to put the pet or baby to bed will also help allow the person to have peace of mind knowing the pet or baby is safe. I may also double a place to recharge it if is rechargeable.

The only issue I encountered was when she was caring for a baby and she was concerned that we did not have any food for the baby. In that case I was able to allay her concern by saying we would get some when I was finished what I was doing, her concern had eased and never mentioned it again, but I am aware this does not always work.

The day respite centre did have an issue when the batteries in a cat went flat, my wife was upset because she thought the cat had died, there was a lot of running round to quickly swap the batteries. Once the cat started to meow again my wife was happy.