The Assistive Feeding Tray

The Assistive Feeding Tray - open-source assistive technology working model by the Vanderbilt University community

About this project

We created a holding tray for Zoe so that it is much easier for her to keep the cup still and at an angle to greatly reduce potential spillage and air bubbles in the syringe. It was molded around her feeding cup in order to fit snugly, in her favorite color orange!

The challenge

Zoe has to feed herself multiple times a day through a hole in her stomach. A big advancement is that Zoe’s new syringe has an attachment that does not require a separate feeding tube, which eliminates the step of pouring feed into the syringe itself. Instead, she has to suck up the liquid in a cup on her lap. The problem with this is that it’s often hard for her to keep the cup still between her legs, resulting in spillage and air bubbles in the syringe.

Who it helps

Zoe is a seventeen-year-old girl with a history of complex cardiac defects and a cardiac arrest at two and a half months old. Due to her cardiac arrest, she experienced hypoxia to the brain, resulting in permanent moderate brain damage. She is 100% feeding tube dependent and requires a full-time caretaker to go about her daily routines. As of now, she is very dependent on her family and multiple caretakers, but her mother wishes for her to develop more independent skills in the future.

Project details

The build files for The Assistive Feeding Tray are free to download from this page - open source, shared by TOM: Tikkun Olam Makers.

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