Dairy and Insomnia in Dementia Patients

Last night sucked.  My mom woke up and at 12:05 AM I found her fully dressed, ready to go out.  Really Ma?

I got her to put her nightgown back on and I tucked her back in bed.

5 AM - Squeak, Squeak, Squeak.

My mom  was awake, fully dressed again and ready to go out.  She had a bag packed, a paper bag with her blood pressure machine, a sweater and a box of tissues.  When I asked her where she was going she told me "home.  I want to go home."

Well, that's not going to happen, I have no idea where she thinks home is, it could be anywhere that she had lived during her 81 years on Earth.

Yesterday she had Acupuncture, it always helps her, mostly it helps her to find her words so that she can communicate with me.

Dinner, I made soup with all the herbs and spices that I know help with cognition, ingredients that tend to help my mom have better days.  Where I made a mistake was giving her a glass of milk.  I bought a new brand of lactose tolerant milk, milk with added lactase.   Land-O-Lakes brand lactose free milk has potassium chloride added to the milk, an ingredient that is not in Lactaid.

I was told months ago that dairy can cause night disturbances in dementia patients.   I stopped giving my mom dairy and she began sleeping through the night.  Last night... she was up all night.  Thinking that she was hearing knocking, knocking from someone who wanted to come inside.  Of course there was no one there, just the figment of my mom's imagination.

Dairy and insomnia, is there a connection in dementia patients?