Mom keeps falling at night: what you do tonight, in this order

Tonight

By the night desk. Checked against the National Institute on Aging and the CDC, September 11, 2026.

She keeps falling at night. You typed what you should do. This is the order. Not why the walk is hard. Not the first ten minutes on the floor. Stay if a fall just happened, then lights, route, shoes, phone, sit-and-count, write the falls down, call the doctor in the morning, decide who is in the house. Do them in that order. If she is on the floor right now, stop reading and stay with her. Nothing here is a diagnosis.

If a fall just happened, stay

If she is down, this page is the wrong page for the next ten minutes. Sit with her. Do not pull her up. Do not start rolling up the rug. NIA's steps after a fall begin with staying still, because getting up too quickly or in the wrong way could make an injury worse. If she is hurt or cannot get up on her own, ask someone for help or call 911. The CDC: an older person who falls and hits their head should see their doctor right away, particularly if she takes blood thinners. The order for those minutes is on the first ten minutes page. Come back here after she is in a chair, or after the dispatcher is on the line. If she is already up, you still stay in the house tonight.

Then the lights

Do the lights before the route. NIA says to leave a light on in the bathroom at night, or use a night light that turns on automatically in the dark, and to put night lights and light switches close to your bed. Bathroom light on, and left on. A lamp she can reach without sitting up; if there is not one, a flashlight on the mattress. A night light in the hall, plugged in low. If the switch is on the wall by the door, she is walking in the dark to reach it. Move a light to the bed tonight. Grab bars and the rest are Saturday's walk.

Then the route

Walk it yourself, mattress to toilet, with the lights you just turned on. Then once with only the night lights, because that is how she will walk it at 2am. NIA names safety hazards in the home as a cause of falls, says not to use throw rugs at all, and says to keep cords by the walls and the floor clear. NCOA names the same cluster: clutter, poor lighting, and lack of grab bars. Rug up, into a closet. Cords against the wall. Basket, scale, extra chair: out of the path. You are not redesigning the house. The why of this walk is on the night-walk page. Tonight you only make the walk empty.

Then her shoes

Look at what is next to the bed. NIA says not to walk on floors in socks or in slippers with smooth soles, and names backless shoes as unsafe. Put shoes with backs and rubber soles where her feet land. Take the backless pair out of the room. Socks stay in the drawer. The pair by the bed is the pair she will wear in the dark.

Then the phone

NIA: keep a well-charged cordless or mobile phone with you at all times. Tonight that means the mattress, not the nightstand she has to lean for. Charge it, then leave it under the edge of the pillow. If a pendant lives in a drawer, the phone on the mattress is the plan for tonight. Test that it can call you. If her phone is dead, yours stays with her, or you stay.

Sit on the edge and count

This is the one she will skip. NIA lists blood pressure that drops too much when you get up from lying down or sitting, called postural hypotension, and says to stand up slowly. The CDC's brochure gives the order: sit up, sit on the side of the bed, then stand, and notes that symptoms are more likely in the morning and when straining on the toilet. Say it once, without a lecture: sit up. Sit on the side. Count to ten. Then stand, with a hand on something that will not move. If she gets up more than once, the count happens every time.

Write the falls down

Write it tonight. The CDC's caregiver brochure says to tell a healthcare provider right away if your loved one has fallen, or if they are worried about falling, or seem unsteady. Every fall you know about: date and time, or "unknown, found at 5:10." Where on the walk. How long down. Head or no head. Dizzy first, or not, in her words. What was on her feet, and whether the light was on. Label guesses as guesses. Add the name on the box of whatever she took this evening, including over-the-counter ones. The same brochure asks you to keep an updated list of your loved one's medications and show a healthcare provider or pharmacist all of them, including over-the-counter medications and supplements. Copy the labels. The six-detail version, for a fall that just happened, is on the floor page.

Call the doctor in the morning

Not a text to a sibling. A call to the office. NIA: always tell your doctor if you have fallen since your last check-up, even if you did not feel pain when you fell. She will not make this call. Family Caregiver Alliance notes that most people, when asked if there is anything someone can do, reply that they are doing fine. You call. Say she fell at night, on the way to the bathroom, and you have the dates. Ask for the next opening. Put it in your phone as an alarm. The sentence that makes three falls count in the exam room is its own page. If she hit her head, this is not a morning call. The CDC says see their doctor right away. Right away is tonight.

Who is in the house tonight

Decide before you pick up your keys. If she has already been on the floor until morning, tonight is not a night she spends alone. That can be you on the couch, a sibling with a key, or an overnight person. The eight questions that turn this into a sheet are on the worksheet. You do not need it to decide about tonight. You need it in the morning if tonight is going to keep being you. Medicare does not pay for 24-hour-a-day care at home, and it does not pay for long-term care, or for personal care when that is the only care needed. So if a person is in the house, someone is paying, or that person is you. FCA's line for the morning is to tell her you need help, and that accepting hired care is something she can do to help you. What a shift does between 10pm and 7am is on the overnight page.

When to ask the care team or the doctor

What is tonight's work, and what is the doctor's

Tonight's: stay if she is down, lights, route, shoes, phone, the sit-and-count sentence, the notes, the morning alarm, and who is in the house. The doctor's: what the falls mean, medicines, blood pressure on standing, eyes, whether anyone should look at the house. NIA says the doctor might suggest physical therapy, a walking aid, or other steps after a reported fall, and might suggest that an occupational therapist, physical therapist or nurse visit your home. The CDC says to ask your doctor or pharmacist to review your medicines to see if any might make you dizzy or sleepy, and to have your eyes checked by an eye doctor at least once a year. Those are morning questions.

If nobody is in the house for the 2am walk, the honest fix is a person, not another night light. New Plan Care, independently owned non-medical in-home care that pays for a labelled slot on this site, sends overnight caregivers in Ballwin, Chesterfield, Eureka, Glencoe, Grover, Pacific, Valley Park and St. Louis. New Plan Care, Call (314) 405-0887.Paid placement, disclosed on the front page and in the footer.

Next, when you can

• Elderly parent can't get up after falling: the first ten minutes
• Why does my mom fall more at night? The bed-to-bathroom walk, stop by stop
• Elderly mother keeps falling: what it means, and what it does not

From the sources on this page

LightsNIA: leave a light on in the bathroom at night, or use a night light that turns on automatically. Sit firstCDC: sit up, sit on the side of the bed, then stand. TellNIA: always tell your doctor if you have fallen since your last check-up, even if you did not feel pain.