Patent Application
20160021936
The embodiments herein relate generally to apparatuses for swaddling infants.
Parents often swaddle their infants when they sleep. This technique mimics the comfort of the womb and enables the infant to stay warm, sleep soundly and for a longer period of time. Currently, to place an infant in a swaddle, a blanket is wrapped around the infant. However, this practice has several risks, particularly if the blanket is wrapped too tight around the infant. This can increase the risk the infant overheats or develops a respiratory infection. Further, if the infant's hips or knees cannot move when wrapped by the blanket, the infant can develop hip dysplasia.
To address these problems, parents loosen the blanket around the infant. However, this often renders the procedure ineffective and/or impractical because the infant can then wiggle his/her arms out of the blanket, thereby interrupting the infant's sleep.
As such, there is a need in the industry for an article of clothing that effectively aids in swaddling an infant, which addresses the limitations of the prior art discussed above.
An article of clothing for use with an infant and configured to aid in swaddling the infant while minimizing the risk the infant will overheat or develop hip dysplasia is provided. The apparatus comprises a fabric layer configured to be secured to the infant and comprising an upper portion, a lower portion, a first side portion, a second side portion, a first arm portion and a second arm portion, a first fastener disposed along an interior portion of the first arm portion, a second fastener disposed along an interior portion of the second arm portion, a third fastener disposed along the first side portion, and a fourth fastener disposed along the second side portion, wherein the first fastener is detachably coupled to the third fastener and the second fastener is detachably coupled to the fourth fastener to swaddle the infant.
In certain embodiments of the invention, the article of clothing can be used by itself or in combination with a blanket to swaddle the infant. If the article of clothing is used in combination with a blanket, the blanket does not have to be secured as tightly around the infant, which prevents the occurrence of several health risks discussed above.
The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention will be made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein the figures disclose one or more embodiments of the present invention.
As depicted in
In a preferred embodiment, clothing 10 is a one-piece cotton pajamas comprising an upper portion, lower portion, side portions and arm portions comprising sleeves 22. Sleeves 22 correspond to the left and right arms of operator 20. Zipper teeth 12 are disposed along an interior portion of each sleeve 22 from an armpit region to the cuff of sleeve 22. In addition, zipper teeth 12 are also disposed along each side portion of clothing 10 at a location proximate the armpit region of sleeve 22 and extending along the side portion of the clothing where the torso of operator 20 is located. Zipper handles 18 are slidably mounted to zipper teeth 12 on each side of clothing 10. In particular, each zipper handle 18 is mounted to any portion of zipper teeth 12, either to the teeth disposed along the interior of sleeve 22 or the teeth disposed along the side portion of clothing 10. As depicted in FIG. 2, this allows sleeves 22 to be fastened to the side portions of clothing 10 when zipper handles 18 are used to engage the zipper teeth along sleeves 22 with the zipper teeth on the side portions of clothing 10. It shall be appreciated that any alternative type of fasteners may be used instead including, but not limited to, hook and loop fasteners, lace, pins, snap components, or the like.
As depicted in
In operation, clothing 10 is secured around operator 20. As depicted in
It shall be appreciated that the components of clothing 10 described in several embodiments herein may comprise any alternative known materials in the field and be of any color, size and/or dimensions. This allows the clothing to accommodate any sized infant. It shall be appreciated that the components of clothing 10 described herein may be manufactured and assembled using any known techniques in the field.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above.
