GB2371993A

GB2371993A - Infant feeding device

Info

Publication number: GB2371993A
Application number: GB0128476A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Karl Alan Rogers
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-11-28
Filing date: 2001-11-28
Publication date: 2002-08-14
Also published as: GB0028904D0; GB0128476D0

Abstract

An infant feeding device, comprising a base member 11, a flexible arm 12 attached at one end to the base member 11 and having at its other end bottle connection means 13 adapted for connection to an infant feeding bottle 14. The position of the feeding bottle 14 relative to the base member 11 may be adjusted to allow an infant to feed from the feeding bottle. The base member may comprise a shoulder brace for attachment to a person, or may be a clamp that can be tightened around an object, such as a pram. The device may be anchored to a fixed position on a pram, carrycot, cot, shopping trolley or pushchair, adjacent an infant located therein, or may be mounted on a person feeding the infant.

Description

Infant Feeding Device The present invention relates to an infant feeding device and more particularly to an infant feeding device adapted for support on the torso of a person feeding the infant, or on an object supporting an infant such as a pram or shopping trolley.

The bottle-feeding of infants has been carried out for a great many years, and different types of bottle have been developed for this purpose. Modern versions usually comprise a plastic bottle fitted with a screw cap having a flexible rubber teat through which the liquid is dispensed.

Normally, the method of bottle-feeding an infant necessitates a person to hold the bottle in one hand. Often, bottle-feeding is carried out by holding the bottle in one hand, whilst simultaneously supporting the infant with the other hand, possibly in the crook of the elbow.

Despite the widespread practice of bottle-feeding whilst holding the infant, it has at least two apparent disadvantages. Firstly, the feeder can literally have both hands full, and is thus completely unable to perform any other, even relatively simple activities whilst feeding the infant. Secondly, it may often be desirable to support the infant with both hands, either from the point of view of safety, or if the infant is particularly large or heavy (or indeed if the feeder is particularly small or weak).

These issues have not previously been satisfactorily addressed, and thus the bottle-feeding of infants has remained awkward, inconvenient and liable to prevent a feeder from doing anything else at the same time. However, it has now been perceived that these problems may be alleviated by a device which will allow the feeding of an infant

from a bottle, which can be adjusted so as to vary the position of the bottle relative to the person feeding the infant, without that person having to support the bottle with his or her hands. It has also been perceived that the support of a bottle adjacent an infant is also desirable when that infant is not supported by a person but instead is seated, for example in a pram or pushchair.

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided an infant feeding device, comprising: a base member; a flexible arm attached at one end to the base member and having at its other end bottle connection means adapted for connection to an infant feeding bottle, such that in use the position of the feeding bottle relative to the base member may be adjusted to allow an infant to feed from the feeding bottle.

In use, the infant feeding device according to the present invention allows the bottle-feeding of an infant without the need for the bottle to be supported by a person feeding the infant, such a person being hereinafter generally referred to as a user of the device.

In a first embodiment of the present invention, the base member is adapted for support on the torso of a user feeding the baby. The flexible arm then allows the feeding bottle to be adjusted relative to the torso of the user.

Preferably, the base member comprises a shoulder brace which passes over a shoulder of the user, and has a front part extending over at least a part of the user's chest, and a rear part extending over at least a part of the user's back. In this preferred embodiment, the flexible arm is connected to the front part of the shoulder brace.

The shoulder brace may be adapted to fit securely on the shoulder of the user so that is will not become dislodged during feeding of the infant. This may be achieved either by providing fastening means so as to secure the shoulder brace on the clothing of the user. For comfort and convenience the shoulder brace may be constructed from a high density flexible rubber or plastics material.

The bottle connection means may be in the form of a bottle clamp, in which an infant feeding bottle is clamped during use. Preferably, the bottle connection means comprises a sleeve or other holder, in which the infant feeding bottle is a resilient fit. In this preferred embodiment, the bottle connection sleeve is adapted to receive and hold a standard size of infant feeding bottle. The infant feeding device may therefore be provided with a range of bottle connection sleeves in different sizes so as to allow for use with a range of different sized feeding bottles, or may instead have a single sleeve able to fit a range of differently sized bottles.

Alternatively, the feeding bottle may be an integral component of the feeding device, and the connection means may allow it to be connected directly to the end of the flexible arm.

For ease of use, it is preferable that the flexible arm be removably connected to the base member. This may be achieved by the use of interconnecting male and female snap-fit connectors. A similar arrangement may also be employed to connect the other end of the flexible arm either to the bottle connection means, or directly to the bottle in the alternative embodiment discussed above.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the base member may instead be a clamp or other fixing means which allows connection to an item other than a user's body such as part of a pram, carry cot, cot, shopping trolley or push-chair. An infant located within such a carrier or holder may then be fed whilst the user keeps both hands free for supervising the feeding of the infant or otherwise.

Preferably, the clamp, the bottle connection means, and the snapfit connectors are each constructed from resilient plastics material. The flexible arm may be constructed from flexibly resilient rubber or plastics material or could be a linked multi-segmental arm. Such a linked multisegmental arm could comprise a plurality of rigid sections that are movable to a limited degree with respect to each other.

In order that the present invention may be fully understood, two embodiments will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram of a first embodiment of feeding device according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a stylised representation of a person using the device of Figure 1, in the bottle-feeding of an infant; and Figure 3 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram of a second embodiment of feeding device according to the present invention.

Referring first to Figure 1, there is shown a feeding device generally indicated 10, comprising a U-shaped shoulder brace 11, a flexible arm 12, and a bottle connector sleeve 13.

The shoulder brace 11 has a chest covering portion 14 and a back covering portion 15, and is flexibly resilient such that at least its inner

surface 16 may adapt to the shape of a particular user's torso, and fit securely thereon. A male snap-fit connector 17 is provided on the chest covering portion 14 of the shoulder brace 11.

The flexible arm 12 is provided at one end thereof with a female snap-fit connector 18, which co-operates with the male snap-fit connector 17 such that the flexible arm 12 may be removably connected to the shoulder brace 11. Similarly, the other end of the flexible arm 12 is provided with a second male snap-fit connector 19 which co-operates with a second female snap-fit connector 21 provided on the base 22 of the bottle sleeve 13.

The bottle sleeve 13 is generally cylindrical, and has an inner surface 23 against which a feeding bottle 24 is a resilient fit such that it will not accidentally be dislodged during use. The configuration of the flexible arm 12 may be altered, by bending, to vary the position of the bottle sleeve 13, and thus the bottle 24 held therein, relative to the shoulder brace 11.

In use, as is shown in Figure 2, the shoulder brace 11 is supported on the shoulder 25 of a user 26. The chest-covering portion 14 of the shoulder brace 11 extends over part of the user's chest, whilst the back portion 15 extends over part of the user's back.

By adjusting the flexible arm 12 the user 26 can vary the position of the bottle connector 13, relative to his or her torso 27. Therefore the position of the feeding bottle 24 held within the bottle connector 13 is also adjusted as appropriate depending on the relative position of an infant 28 supported by one or both of the user's arms 29,30.

In the specific embodiment shown in Figure 2, the infant 28 is supported by the user 26, such that the infant 28 is held against the body 31 of the user 26 by their left arm 29. The head 32 of the infant 28 is therefore supported in the crook of the user's left elbow 33.

The shoulder brace 11 is supported on the left shoulder 25 of the user 26, and the bottle 24 within the connector sleeve 13, is positioned adjacent to the head 32 of the infant 28, such that the infant 28 may feed freely. The user 26 therefore has his or her right arm 30 and right hand 36 free either to perform other activities, or to lend extra support to the infant 28, along with the user's left hand 35.

The second embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 3 differs from the embodiment in Figure 1 only in that the shoulder brace 11 is replaced by a spring clamp mechanism, generally indicated 40.

The remainder of the feeding device is as described above with reference to Figures 1 and 2, and like reference numerals will be used to describe like parts.

The base unit in the embodiment of Figure 3 comprises a clamp mechanism 40, which is adapted for attachment to a part of a pram or other infant carrier. The bottle sleeve 13 is attached to the clamp mechanism 40 by the flexible arm 12. The end of the flexible arm 12 remote from the bottle sleeve 13 is provided with a female snap-fit connector 18, which co-operates with a male snap-fit connector 17 provided on the clamp mechanism 40 such that the flexible arm 12 may be removably connected thereto.

The clamp mechanism comprises a pair of opposed clamp arms 41,42 with handle ends 43 and clamping ends 44. The clamp arms 41,

42 are hingedly connected together in such a way that squeezing together of the handle ends 43 causes the clamping ends 44 to move apart. A spring 45 provided between the clamping arms 41,42 urges them to adopt a relative orientation such that the clamping ends 44 are together. In this way, the feeding device can be removably attached to an infant carrier such as a pram, by opening the clamping ends 44 of the clamping mechanism 40 and placing it over a fixed part of the pram (not shown). When force is no longer applied to the handle ends 43, the spring 45 will urge together the clamping ends 44 to grip the fixed part of the pram. The flexible arm 12 can then be adjusted so that the bottle 24 is in a position such that an infant can be fed therefrom.

The clamping mechanism can take many forms, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiment as described herein. For example, the clamping mechanism might be adapted to connect more permanently, so that removal is only possible by authorised personnel.

The present invention could be mounted on shopping trolleys by fixing the base unit thereto, but to avoid removal by shoppers the base unit could be bolted to the frame of trolley. This would permit removal by a person with the correct tools, but would prevent casual removal.

Whilst the present invention is described herein with particular reference to the feeding of infants, it is envisaged that feeding devices according to the present invention may also find use in related farming, veterinary or medical applications. The term"infant"as used herein therefore includes small animals as well as babies.

Claims

Claims 1. An infant feeding device, comprising : a base member ; a flexible arm attached at one end to the base member and having at its other end bottle connection means adapted for connection to an infant feeding bottle, such that in use the position of the feeding bottle relative to the base member may be adjusted to allow an infant to feed from the feeding bottle.
2. A feeding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base member is a clamp having opposed clamping arms that can be tightened around an object to which the base is anchored.
3. A feeding device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the base member is anchored to a fixed position on a pram, carry cot, cot, shopping trolley or push-chair, adjacent an infant located therein.
4. A feeding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base member is adapted for support on the torso of a user and the feeding bottle may be adjustably positioned relative to the torso of the user such that an infant supported by the user may feed from the bottle.
5. A feeding device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 4, wherein the base member comprises a shoulder brace having a front part extending over at least part of the user's chest, and a rear part extending over at least part of the user's back, the shoulder brace being adapted to pass over and hang from the user's shoulder.
6. A feeding device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the flexible arm is connected to the front part of the shoulder brace.
7. A feeding device as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the shoulder brace is formed from a U-shaped piece of rubber or plastics material.
8. A feeding device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the bottle connection means comprises a bottle clamp, to which an infant feeding bottle is connectable by clamping therein.
9. A feeding device as claimed in any claims 1 to 7, wherein the bottle connection means comprises a sleeve into which the infant feeding bottle is a resilient sliding fit.
10. A feeding device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, further comprising an infant feeding bottle incorporating the bottle connection means thereon, and connectable to the flexible arm.
11. A feeding device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the arm is removably connected to the base member.
12. A feeding device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the flexible arm comprises a plurality of relatively articulated rigid segments.
13. A feeding device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the base member, arm and bottle connection means are releasably interconnected using snap fitting male and female connectors.
14. A feeding device as claimed in claim 1 and substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.