My dad is starting to spill food a lot and has to sit in a lift recliner. He is balancing a light weight tray from his lap to the arm of the chair but that is not working.
I have a swing arm table with a grip placed under one side of my Mom's lift chair. The table swings over her lap when she needs it and then swings over to the side and works as a side table to hold her drinks (it has an indented drink holding place) or catalogs and such https://www.parentgiving.com/shop/assist-a-tray-1666/p/?utm_source=Search&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=search+product
My husband has a lift recliner and uses a lap tray/desk which fits between the arms rather than resting on the arms. He then has a tray with his meal set on that. It's very stable. His has the beanbag type of cushioning on the bottom, but I see that memory foam is more common these days, e.g., https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DL9WXYH. I got him a fancy tray table that I thought would work better, but he forgot to check its position one time when he was lifting the chair and it cracked the table rendering it useless. And he doesn't have dementia--was just unused to the table. :-( He uses the lap tray to rest his book on sometimes too, and also as a writing surface, so it's very versatile. Many of them come with a foam wrist rest as they are used for laptops a lot, and we find that is very helpful to keep the food tray from sliding toward the lap.
now that sounds good! I have used a heavier tray with sides that I thought would be good because it would keep the spilled stuff inside the tray (which it did) but he hated it and it was not real stable. Then the lightweight tray with a little edge he likes better then he is able to lift that up to hand it to me... which defeats the purpose. He is confused and not real cooperative but neither tray was comfortable. I think if it was stable in his lap that would be better! Thank you!
The link above is for a new one on eBay for $168 plus free shipping. The way it works is the easy chair sits on the pads of the unit, holding it down in place firmly. The bamboo tray table itself swivels and has a place for a cup. There's a cane handle type thing that allows your dad to hoist himself up from the recliner too, which is an awesome assistance device. My parents used one of these assist-a-tray's on their recliners for years; they are very sturdy and simply wonderful. Worth it's weight in gold, in my opinion.
You can order a brand new one from the company directly here for $249.99:
https://stander.com/product/2050-assist-a-tray/
The beauty of ordering from the company is that they will replace the parts (the table top) free of charge if it breaks. My mother (when her dementia got bad) would raise her lift recliner up and wound up cracking the table in half w/o realizing it. Stander was happy to send me a new one free of charge when that happened.
This is what I got for my Mom. The height is adjustable. It is as wide as a recliner. Note the legs are indented so Dads legs fit comfortably underneath. I used it as a side table when Mom was not having a meal on it. Thats where she put a box of tissues and her remote. It folds up and fits nicely in a corner or closet. Easy to clean. My GF borrowed it for her husband.
The table swings over her lap when she needs it and then swings over to the side and works as a side table to hold her drinks (it has an indented drink holding place) or catalogs and such
https://www.parentgiving.com/shop/assist-a-tray-1666/p/?utm_source=Search&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=search+product
i hope you find the right product.
totally by chance, all the answers you're getting, are very useful for me too.
hug!!
bundle of joy :)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154841923250?hash=item240d4c3eb2:g:8n8AAOSw7yNiBnWu
The link above is for a new one on eBay for $168 plus free shipping. The way it works is the easy chair sits on the pads of the unit, holding it down in place firmly. The bamboo tray table itself swivels and has a place for a cup. There's a cane handle type thing that allows your dad to hoist himself up from the recliner too, which is an awesome assistance device. My parents used one of these assist-a-tray's on their recliners for years; they are very sturdy and simply wonderful. Worth it's weight in gold, in my opinion.
You can order a brand new one from the company directly here for $249.99:
https://stander.com/product/2050-assist-a-tray/
The beauty of ordering from the company is that they will replace the parts (the table top) free of charge if it breaks. My mother (when her dementia got bad) would raise her lift recliner up and wound up cracking the table in half w/o realizing it. Stander was happy to send me a new one free of charge when that happened.
Good luck!
This is what I got for my Mom. The height is adjustable. It is as wide as a recliner. Note the legs are indented so Dads legs fit comfortably underneath. I used it as a side table when Mom was not having a meal on it. Thats where she put a box of tissues and her remote. It folds up and fits nicely in a corner or closet. Easy to clean. My GF borrowed it for her husband.
Like this, but there are other similar options, including one with a much thicker pillow that would raise it higher --
https://www.amazon.com/WELLAND-Tasking-Serving-Laptop-Colorful/dp/B00Q8G1W4S/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=32EL7I4Z59LML&keywords=lap+trays+for+adults+eating+padded&qid=1646080444&sprefix=lap+trays+for+adults+eating+padded%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-5