My grandmother ended up in the hospital when her blood counts got too low. Osteoporosis, a hip replacement, and old age had deprived her of the capacity to make enough red blood cells. She wouldn't feed herself in the hospital, initially she wouldn't even pick up her coffee cup. She would chew and sallow anything we put in her mouth. So for a couple of weeks we fed her. After her blood counts came back up (with transfusions) she returned to normal. She would need periodic transfusions for the rest of her life, about 10 years.
With advanced dementia or Alzheimer's, an elder can often no longer feed herself and must be fed by her caregiver. Of course, if you gave more details or filled out your profile, you'd get more detailed comments. All I have to go by is that you placed your question in the Alzheimer's dementia category.
Does she have dementia? I think it would have to do with her not being able to remember to do something like eat. Much different than opening your mouth at someone's request.
Could be a lot of issues. Can she hold a spoon, and direct it to her mouth? Is she afraid to be alone when she's eating? Does she have swallowing issues? Does she choke or gag while eating? How often is someone visiting her?
My mom lost the motivation to feed herself very early in her dementia journey, she already had a reduced appetite but even when she was hungry there was a disconnect between the desire to eat and her ability to actually do so - I believe this is called loss of initiation.
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