CN109689008B

CN109689008B - System for infant food tempering and delivery

Info

Publication number: CN109689008B
Application number: CN201780056457.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 冈特·唐毫瑟
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2016-09-14
Filing date: 2017-09-05
Publication date: 2021-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-05
Also published as: WO2018051176A1; EP3618797A1; CN109689008A

Abstract

The extracted breast milk or ready-to-eat baby food is kept warm in pouches (1a and 1b) carried in the armpits of parents or caregivers, while the contents are fed to the baby through a fine silicone tube (3) with a nipple (2).

Description

System for infant food tempering and delivery

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims the benefit of german patent application No. DE 102016011009.0 filed 2016, 9, 8, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the food supply of infants and more particularly to breast feeding alternatives by fathers or other caregivers in public places, while traveling or in activity.

Background

Today, young couples wish to provide the best care for his/her infants, but do not want to forego social participation. It has been shown that carrying a baby while travelling and in motion does not normally harm him/her, but rather favors his/her development.

In order to meet the physical needs of infants while out, parents and caregivers often use diapers with high absorption capacity, milk bottles containing breast milk or infant formula, and milk warmers that keep the breast milk or formula warm. However, one disadvantage of using milk warmers is that they require electricity or can only maintain the drinking temperature for a short period of time.

Many mothers are hesitant to breastfeed infants in public places, even when the infant feels hungry and starts restless and draws attention from all but must be fed. Alternatively, some mothers may find themselves unable to breastfeed in certain situations, such as during a traffic jam.

Furthermore, when changing from breastfeeding to bottle feeding, the mother has no control over the intensity of the suction and the milk flow.

As an additional consideration, when infants are breast fed only, the father often feels that he is cold and is useless in fostering the infant.

Finally, holding the baby with one hand and feeding the bottle with the other greatly hinders the caretaker's own and baby's stability.

Prior Art

It is evident that the male inventors prefer to use the device for holding or feeding vials described in the following 25 patents instead of holding a feeding bottle which is obviously uninteresting and time consuming: US 0.345.800, US 1.097.097, US 2.201.257, US 2.362.020, US 2.545.414, US 2.880.950, US 2.890.007, US 3.000.601, US 3.153.556, US 3.251.626, US 3.425.653, US 4.309.008, US 4.315.654, US 4.482.117, US 4.735.388, US 4.895.327(a), US 4.951.977, US 5022.616, US 5.184.796, US 5.456.432, US 5.489.075, US 6.082.681, US 6.098.934 and US 8.118.268(B2), and DE 19/11302 a 1. Some of these patents, such as US 4,895,327 and 6,082,681, are decorated in a child-friendly manner, while others, such as US 3,000,601 or US 2,545,414, are less attractive and appear to be mere tools that afflict a person.

Furthermore, all these devices require the infant to be immobilized in such a way: i.e. the mouthpiece of the feeding bottle is in close proximity to the baby's mouth. However, with the ever increasing desire for children to move, this is a limitation and for this reason placing the baby in the cradle is also cumbersome. This may be the reason why such a system has not been successful.

In contrast, us patent No. 20100258519 a1 proposes an artificial breast which can also be used by men and which contains up to 250ml of milk and is delivered through a teat. However, it is clear that it is rather disturbing to see and not attractive for good care. Similarly, U.S. patent nos. 5,947,427 and 4,793,533 also have this feature, but do not mimic a female breast in their design. However, there is no indication in these patent applications of tempering infant food.

Furthermore, systems have been proposed in which the infant sucks on food through a tube connected to a storage container (US patent No. 5,049,127) or suspended above (CN 201342103103Y) or beside it, which is also a feeding bottle as described in US 3,645,262. These systems allow the infant to move more, but require constant vigilance that the child is not entangled or even strangled by the hose. FDA regulations require that the length of hose used in these systems therefore not exceed 1 foot (30.48cm) and thus do not allow for a sufficient length for the proposed design. Other disadvantages include that the milk becomes cold in the supply line and that cleaning and disinfection of the hose is cumbersome (even if possible in these systems). This increases the risk that milk may spill out in the baby's mouth when the storage container is suspended over the baby's head, for example, due to a defective mouthpiece, which may cause choking when milk enters the trachea.

Other prior art:

in the examination of the german patent and trademark office for the previously filed german patent application No. DE 1020160011009, the priority of which is claimed here, the following patents are cited as prior art:

US 4.966.580 describes a hose feeding device for patients. However, there is no indication of an armpit pouch and the tempering of infant food on the body of the caretaker, but rather it is proposed to hang the pouch on a pole. Furthermore, the examiner assumes that, due to his fig. 1, the tube must (also) be 10 to 40cm long, which seems to be silent.

DE 29801166U 1 describes a backpack support for bottles from which the rider can self-supply during travel via a suction hose. However, the patent claims only relate to hose brackets on bicycles. Infant food or warming is not mentioned.

Us patent No. 4,994,076 describes a delivery system for small children with a suction hose attached to a bottle, placed beside the crib, but without a pouch for the armpit. Furthermore, there is no indication of tempering the contents by physical contact with a caregiver. The claims relate to the construction of the cap on the bottle and its leak-tightness.

Us patent No. 5,421,496 describes an infant feeding system also having a hanging bottle, tube and nipple. The claims relate to hanging the bottle on a frame, similar to an infusion bag, or around the neck of a person not further indicated. There is no mention of tempering infant food nor does it address the problem of oral spillage in infants which may present a choking and strangling risk.

WOOO/27258 describes a drinking bottle with a drinking straw attached to it in a decorative design, wherein the drinking straw is at the same time designed as a holder for closing the lid, so that neither the lid nor the drinking straw is lost. No mention is made of infant care.

US 2016/0213574 a1 describes in summary and in fig. 1a rescue system for the treatment of dehydration, but the claims only relate to the combination of drinking bottles and drinking straws in all conceivable materials and embodiments. No mention is made of the handling and tempering of infant food.

However, for this purpose, considerable other methods are known in theory, but not particularly suitable for infant food: in addition to electric or combustion or catalytic heaters and insulating pouches, whose effect is rapidly reduced, various processes are known for heating food, mainly due to reactions in the binding and decomposition of salt mixtures, or other effects such as the accumulation of heat by melting and solidifying paraffin or the dissipation of heat during the water absorption of zeolites. However, all of these methods are cumbersome to handle and it is particularly difficult to maintain a suitable temperature with them.

Another problem with infant feeding is air-swallowing caused by the inhalation of air with food. Shaking a standard baby bottle to better distribute heat in the milk produces air-containing froth. To release swallowed air, which may cause discomfort, an infant may typically be "burped" by placing the infant on the caregiver's shoulder and patting the infant's back, which may cause burping. But this may take a considerable amount of time.

There are methods to avoid this by evacuating the interior of the bottle or squeezing the bag inside, as described in US 3.059.797, US 3.076.574, CN 104257506 (a), CN 201888942U and US 9.161.886B2 and WO 2009/081145, or methods to prevent this by means of a valve mechanism, as described in US patent nos. 2,160,602,290 and 1,003,14347, EP 2224893(B1), WO 2009081145(a 2) and WO 2009081145 (A3).

Clinics and midwives in the united states use pre-packaged disposable baby bottles, such as the Similac brand "instant baby bottles" from yapec corporation (Abbott) according to us patent numbers 4,869,912, EP 0328055B 1 and DE 68903398T 2. Formed at the lower part with bellows, which are compressible and free of air.

However, all references herein relate to bottles or vials that must be held by hand.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to keep the food of a child or baby at drinking temperature without the need for electric power, to release one hand of the mother or of a caretaker, such as the father, without holding the bottle while feeding the baby, to guarantee a consistency in controlling the amount of food supply and to avoid all the indicated risks and discomfort of the baby, in particular asphyxiation.

A first inventive step is to use body temperature to keep the infant food at the drinking temperature. This is most easily done using parental armpit storage, which has also been common previously because it is usually around 37℃ or 98F and is therefore most suitable for baby food.

The second idea is to avoid the problem of air-swallowing caused by drawing in air with the food by delivering the food directly from a pouch carried by the body without air ingress. This can be easily accomplished by using a flexible pouch that can be easily squeezed to remove air bubbles and foam. For this purpose, a pouch of clear film will be applied.

The third inventive step is to use a transparent hose to help the mother or caregiver control the suction strength that the breastfeeding mother can naturally feel. The flow of milk can then be supported by applying gentle pressure on the pouch, which can be easily achieved and well controlled if the pouch is placed in the armpit. The upper arm may apply gentle pressure against the wearer's chest.

This is done in the following way: the transparent pouch is filled with extracted breast milk or prepared baby food and placed on a carrier on the shoulder to fit the armpit of the caretaker. Using a flexible pouch, this will accommodate individual physiological differences. In this way, multiple caregivers can each hold two pouches and maintain them at drinking temperature. A thin, short hose, preferably of silicone material, leads to the mouthpiece, over which a shield is inserted to prevent the baby from swallowing the teat. The shield also has a profile for controlling the milk flow and preventing it by tightly squeezing the hose.

Preferred embodiments include disposable units of various sizes. This is because it is difficult to maintain the cleanliness and hygiene of the pouch, hose and nipple over multiple uses. The integrated design reliably prevents the accumulation of air and prevents the necessity of "burping" the infant or prevents flatulence in the infant.

The materials of the pouch, hose and mouthpiece add up to no more than 28 grams or 1 ounce and can be subsequently recycled. The shield and shoulder straps may be reused to reduce disposable volume. This seems to be a better choice in terms of environmental issues than the energy required for hot water washing or boiling disinfection, not involving the time and effort required for thorough cleaning and disinfection. Furthermore, for used silicone hoses that are required for high tensile flexibility and have an internal width of less than two millimeters as a "natural" stopper for spillage, it is even not feasible to clean the inside with household tools.

Temperature regulation

With the sterile unit of closed pouch and hose and nipple and sterilized contents, no cooling is required during storage. But this is not applicable to breast milk or non-sterile infant formulas. Thus, they can be stored in a refrigerator for a period of time and heated in warm water or a microwave oven. Unlike a bottle, here, the hot spots in the formula can be easily equalized by gently squeezing the sachet. Furthermore, unlike bottles, sachets have a large contact area for checking the temperature of the formula, for example by pressing it lightly against a person's cheek, and can therefore be quickly adjusted by physical contact to provide better overheating protection.

In clinical practice, the pouch (possibly in a heating jacket) may also be suspended above the crib. The connection of the suction nozzle to the hose makes it possible to integrate a data transmission line which transmits the output of the sensor in the suction nozzle to a data logger and monitoring system.

Thus, the limitations of the finnish VTT project [1], and of other attempts to monitor the bodily functions of infants using a teat or pacifier with integrated sensors, can be overcome: they have heretofore failed due to the necessary power supply or storage electronics or the costs associated with suitable radio transmissions. The oral cavity may be checked for inhalation intensity, temperature and humidity, as well as heart rate and some other physiological functions. Other less important situations can also be monitored, for example ejection or loss of a nozzle can be indicated. In connection with these control devices it seems reasonable to use a longer hose feed. The transmission and evaluation system is preferably connected to the suspension of the feeding pouch, and a possible electric supply line for the heating mat on the baby feeding pouch also terminates. This may be done by the infant touching the teat himself from the seventh month of life. The elasticity of the spiral wound or accordion folded silicone suction hose and the possible rubber-like suspension mounting of the pouch allows to pull the mouthpiece open, ejecting it, once the suction intensity is reduced and the contact with the mouthpiece is reduced. The use of silicone hoses with an internal diameter of less than 2mm and rather rough or lubricated inner walls (preventing excessive capillary effect) prevents leakage and has proven advantageous by providing natural suction or leakage resistance.

In a preferred embodiment, the insertion of the shield preventing the swallowing mouthpiece into one of the respective circumferential grooves of the gradually thickening shaft causes a narrowing of the cross section and thus an increase of the inhalation resistance until jamming occurs when the shield is pressed into its end gap. Alternatively, the resistance to inhalation may also be adjusted by a clip or restriction valve at the attachment of the inhalation hose to the pouch, thereby preventing overfeeding and inhalation inertness. This can also be achieved by the restoring force of the partially flexible inhalation pouch. This will increase a further barrier against discharge or leakage of the content in case of a defective mouthpiece without a flow restriction valve.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows the application of two axillary pouches (right side 1a, left side 1 b).

Fig. 2 shows a suction nozzle 2 with a thickened portion 5 at the shank 7 and three circumferential recesses.

Fig. 3 shows a push-on shield 6 for placement onto a handle 7 of a suction nozzle 2.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows the use of two axillary pouches (right side 1a, left side 1b) filled with complete infant nutrition, held on shoulder straps (4a and 4b) and in which the hose 3 leads to the mouthpiece 2, the handle 7 of which is provided with

circumferential recesses

8,9,10 into which the shield 6 can be inserted. The pouch (1a and 1b) is flexible and shaped to fit the axilla of a parent or caretaker (<120ml/8 oz). The shoulder straps (4a and 4b) are adjustable in length and are provided with an anti-slip layer on their underside, either by additional retaining straps (not shown) around the upper arms, or by connecting straps between the two units behind the neck of the person being fed.

Fig. 2 shows a suction nozzle 2 with a thickened portion 8 at the shank 7 and three circumferential recesses.

The shield 6 has key-shaped cut-outs (11, 12) with a middle part opening 13 and an upper narrowing opening 14. The shield 6 may be attached to the handle 7 by inserting the handle 7 into a key-shaped cut-out (11, 12) of the shield 6. Positioning the shield 6 in the first circumferential recess 8 will minimally restrict the flow of fluid to the suction nozzle 2, whereas positioning it in the middle recess 9 or the last recess 10 will further narrow the cross-section of the handle and thus further restrict the flow of fluid to the suction nozzle 2. The key-shaped cut-outs (11, 12) of the shield 6 have a wide-profile middle-portion opening 13 which narrows to an upper narrowing opening 14. Inserting the stem 7 into the middle portion opening 13 provides less restriction to fluid flow while inserting the stem 7 into the upper narrowing opening 14 provides more restriction to fluid flow. The recess along the thickened portion 5 of the handle 7 and the two openings (13, 14) in the shield 6 provide the user with the ability to selectively control the flow of fluid to the suction nozzle (2). For example, inserting the first circumferential notch 8 of the handle into the mid-section opening 13 of the key-shaped cut-out (11, 12) of the shroud provides minimal fluid flow restriction. Inserting the last circumferential recess 10 of the shank into the upper narrowing opening 14 provides a complete blockage of the passage of the fluid.

Reference documents:

[1] "Sensoren fuels Baby" in Spektrum der Wissenschaft (German edition of MIT letters), 11 months 2014, page 19

Claims

1. A system for infant food tempering and delivery, wherein the food is kept in sachets (1a and 1b) which hang on shoulder straps (4a and 4b) and keep warm in the armpit of the parent or caretaker, and are connected to a suction nozzle (2) by a hose (3) 10 to 40cm long; wherein the mouthpiece has on its handle a thickened portion of increasing wall thickness and a surrounding recess, onto which a hood (6) with a matching key-shaped cut-out (11) is inserted, which is inserted onto the recess so that a suitable cross-sectional constriction can be formed in the handle; wherein the shield (6) has an end gap (14) which can be pressed into the last circumferential recess (10) of the suction handle (7) to block the transfer of liquid food.

2. The system for infant food tempering and delivery according to claim 1 wherein said pouch is comprised of a flexible, transparent film.

3. The system for infant food tempering and delivery of claim 2 wherein said hose is comprised of silicone and has an inner diameter of less than 2 millimeters.

4. The system for infant food tempering and delivery of claim 1 wherein said hose is comprised of a plastic film folded concertina-like or prevented from collapsing by a helical insert.

5. A system for infant food tempering and delivery according to any of claims 1 to 3 wherein said hose is helically wound and rotated 360 ° to 480 ° in a suspended condition.

6. System for infant food tempering and delivery according to claim 1 wherein said mouthpiece (2) is fitted with sensors for measuring physical conditions in the infant's mouth including humidity, temperature and inhalation intensity of the infant's mouth.

7. System for infant food tempering and delivery according to claims 1 or 3 or 4 wherein transmission lines from sensors integrated into the mouthpiece lead inside or along said hose to connection elements on pouch suspension.

8. The system for infant food tempering and delivery of claim 1 wherein said pouch is heated with a sheath or pillow containing electrical or other heating elements.