First of all I want to say how much I appreciate the help from the forum. Moms LBD has been like a road that I have never been down. The forum has been a good map to help me down that road.
With Moms condition it is all about what she CANNOT do next. I have found that giving her pills on a spoon makes it easier than putting them in her mouth with my hand. The biggest problem now is that she drops her head while eating. This makes it hard to swallow. I have to tell her to keep her head up about 20 times per meal. Does anyone know of a brace that would go from the bottom of her back to the top of her head with a strap on her head? It would just be needed while eating.----Jack

One person in our local support group used a soft neck brace for his wife.

You might ask your mother if she wants to go this route.

Mom never has an opinion about anything anymore. I think I am going to try a baseball cap backwards and tie the shade part of it with a string to the highboy behind where a give her meals. I will let you know. By the way, I found a good way to give her pills rather than one at a time, I just put some in a spoon, it works great.----Jack

Jack,
My mom hangs her head down too when she eats. My hospice nurse found a torso support that has a strap that goes around her waist and two straps (like suspenders) that go over the shoulders to keep her upper torso back. We wrapped the "suspender" type straps around the back of the wheelchair handles. She still dropped her head, but not as bad. Since she's declined more this weekend, I've been feeding her in her hospital bed and it so much easier. With the head of the bed elevated, it supports her head and she doesn't drop it--for now anyway. I miss having her at the table with us, but it's so much easier for both of us.
Kathie

Jack -
That reminds me....I think kitkat asked this same question previously (within the last couple of months) and she got a couple of replies. You might do a search on the word "vest" with author "robin" and I think the thread will come up.
Robin

In MD it is supposedly illegal to use anything resembling a "restraint" with a patient who is in an ALF. Because my dad was slipping out of his wheelchair, I asked about some of the ideas that came up on the forum, including the vest idea, and the ALF folks said it couldn't be used there. Only if we moved him to a NH would we be able to do something so he wouldn't slip out and then end up at the ER if he hit his head in the process (again!) How frustrating is that? This varies state to state, I am told. Lynn

kitkat's mother is at home. I think Jack's mother is at home too.

Yes, Mom is at home with me. If it were not for restraints, mom's and my life would be very different. She has a restraint, a doctor approved vest, that ties from the back, not her hands( I only use it at night so I can get a good nights sleep) mittens, also doctor approved so she does not scratch her eyes out. The ball cap devise will work, I am going to get an Rx from her doctor also. Just to cover me. The main thing that I can say is that all of these things need to be used VERY carefully to prevent a different kind of injury. Since it is my mom I am very careful and use them only when absolutely needed.------Jack

Jack,

Glad you figured something out.

Not sure why the site search didn't work for you. Try this:

search.php?keywords=vest&terms=all&author=robin&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

The second (or now, maybe the third) item in the result set is the post/thread I'm referring to.

Robin

PS. I don't respond to PMs. It's antiquated "technology."

In addition to the vest product mentioned a couple of month's ago in kitkat's thread, I also want to mention this product I came across today (as I'm preparing the "grab bag" for the support group meeting):

EBI Sports Medicine
soft neck brace

So perhaps you could purchase it from a medical supply store or maybe from a sporting goods store.