2:40am

Mom keeps falling, and it is always at night

You are awake before the phone rings now, because you have learned the shape of that call. Three falls since spring. Two of them at night. Once she lay on the bathroom floor until it got light, and she told you about it the way you would mention a dropped glass. You sleep with the phone on your chest. This site is for you, and it is written in the order you need it at three in the morning.

It is not a clinic and not a brochure. It answers the 2am questions: why nights are worse, what to do when she cannot get up, whether she can be alone, and what an overnight caregiver actually does. Every fact links to a public source. Health questions go back to her doctor.

Why it is the nights

You are not imagining the pattern. The National Institute on Aging lists conditions that cause rushed movement to the bathroom, and blood pressure that drops too much when you get up from lying down, among the causes of falls in older adults. The CDC's fall-risk self-check puts it in one line: rushing to the bathroom, especially at night, increases your chance of falling. Add a dark hallway, a rug, backless slippers and a bedtime medicine, and the whole route from her bed to her toilet is working against her. The route is short, it can be walked in daylight, and every checklist on this site is anchored to it.

1. 1Lamp she can reach lying down
2. 2Edge of the bed, where she sits and waits
3. 3Doorway, a hand on the frame
4. 4Hall night light, nothing on the floor
5. 5Bathroom light, already on
6. 6Grab bar at the toilet

The desk, in the order the night goes

Eight pieces. Start with whichever one is tonight's question.

• 3:05am, she is on the floorElderly parent can't get up after falling: what to do in the first ten minutesWhen it is a 911 call, how she gets up if she can, and the six details to write down.
• The morning afterWhy does my mom fall more at night?Dark, hurry, blood pressure, medicines and three obstacles, each with its question for her doctor.
• Before the appointmentMom fell three times this month: the sentence to say to her doctorHow to make a fall count in the visit, the CDC self-check, and the medicine review to ask for.
• The decisionShould mom be alone at night after a fall? A plain worksheetEight yes-or-no questions and what each answer points toward. No score, no verdict.
• If the answer is noOvernight caregiver for an elderly parent: how it works, 10pm to 7amAwake versus sleeping, a shift hour by hour, and why Medicare does not pay for it.
• One SaturdayNight lights and grab bars for an elderly parent's bathroomThe CDC's checklist as a shopping list and an afternoon, plus who helps with minor modifications.
• The drawerDad refuses to wear his life alert: what families use insteadWatches, speakers, sensors, scheduled calls and a person in the house. The trade-offs, and consent.
• West county numbersFall prevention home assessment in St. Louis County: who to call, 2026Fire district lines, Aging Ahead, the city's agency, and overnight help in Ballwin, Chesterfield and Eureka.

Ask for someone to call you back

This form goes to New Plan Care, the paid placement above, and nowhere else. It asks for a name, a phone number and a town, so someone can call you about what nights would look like. It is not a match service or a ranking. If you would rather talk now, call (314) 405-0887.

Elsewhere, for a different night: if the fear is that she leaves the house rather than falls in it, Mom Wanders is written for that. If the person on the floor is your wife and you are the one who cannot lift her, Caring for My Wife is written for you.