Patent Application
20140303597
This invention concerns the administration of a dose of medicine in solid form to infants and nursing age children. It is difficult to get an infant or small child to swallow medications since the medications do not taste or have the texture of something to eat or drink. The medication will sometimes be spit up rather than swallowed, and there may be a danger of choking.
There has heretofore been proposed to dispense liquid medicines using a baby bottle and nipple by providing a cavity into which a liquid medicine is measured, such that the medicine will be ingested by a baby nursing.
However, this approach does not solve the problem of administering solid medications. The present invention provides a device and method for safely administering solid medicine by inducing a swallowing reflex when accurately depositing the medicine in the infant's mouth where formula is normally ingested from a bottle.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a device and method for depositing solid medications into the mouth of an infant or nursing child and at the same time inducing a swallowing reflex to insure that the medicine is swallowed.
The above object and other objects which will be understood by those skilled in the art are achieved by a device which includes a tube having one end held in a hole in the end of a nipple of a type used with baby bottles. The tube has an opposite end which may be positioned to allow a dose of solid medicine which is in a particulate for or has been comminuted to be able to be poured thereinto. The does is held at a location defined by a bend manually formed in the tube by a user. After the nipple has been received in the mouth of the baby or child, the bend is released to allow the dose to pass into the child's mouth and it will then be reflexively swallowed.
The tube is resiliently bendable and may be a plastic drinking straw, which is received in a holder piece provided with a hand grip.
The holder piece also has an elongated body with a forward projecting end portion disposed above the grip which end portion is shaped to receive the nursing nipple thereover with a frictional retention thereon. A lengthwise through opening is provided through the body aligned with the nipple held on the end portion and sized to receive the resiliently bendable tube which can be positioned with one end held by friction in an enlarged hole in the end of the nipple.
The tube may have a pleated section on an end segment positioned to the rear of the holder piece allowing it to be positioned and retained in an angled up position to present the tube rear open end to receive medicine which has been comminuted, as by being crumbled or powdered, by being poured into the open end of the tube to load the device with the solid medication.
The tube can then be bent up with the thumb of the gripping hand of the user at a point where the tube enters the rear end of the holder piece, causing the medication to drop down by gravity to be deposited behind the bend in the tube. This readies the device for use.
The nipple is then offered to the baby or nursing child with the tube inclined downwardly and the thumb released to allow the tube to straighten and the medication to drop down through and out the end of the nipple for ingestion.
A natural reflex to swallow insures swallowing of the medicine by the infant.
A regular baby bottle containing formula can then be offered to wash down the solid medication.
In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology will be employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodiment described in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it is to be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and should not be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking many forms and variations within the scope of the appended claims.
Referring to the drawings, a device 10 according to the invention is comprised of a holder piece 12 having a hand grip 14 sized to be readily grasped by one hand of a user.
An upper elongate portion 16 has a nipple 18 fit to a reduced forward end 20 (
The nipple 18 is of a type conventionally used with baby bottles, but with an enlarged opening 17 able to receive one end 22 of a resiliently bendable tube 24 such as a plastic drinking straw.
The tube 24 inserted into a lengthwise through hole 26 in the elongated portion 16 and advanced therein until the one end 25 enters a hole 28 in the nipple 18.
The hole 28 is enlarged from the conventional hole smaller than the hole used for nursing, sized so that the tube end 25 is gripped by the nipple 18 to be held substantially flush to the end 19 of the nipple 18 so as to not protrude significantly past the end thereof.
The tube 24 has a pleated section 30 near the opposite open end 32 to be readily bent and retained to create the angled up shape shown positioning the end 32 to enable medication to be poured therein.
A tube fold locator feature is provided as by a U shaped wire piece 34 fixed to the holder piece 12 extending across the top of the hole 26.
In use, a measured quantity of comminuted solid medication to be administered is poured into the tube 24 through the open end 32.
The holder 10 is held level as shown in
The user then bends up and holds the tube 24 in the folded up position shown in
This readies the device 10 for use.
The device 10 is angled down to offer the nipple 18 to the baby/toddler, and once the nipple 18 is safely in his or her mouth, the tube 24 is released to assume its normal straightened position shown in
The baby/toddler will reflexively swallow anything exiting the tube 24 so that the medicine will be safely ingested by the child.
The nipple 18 may be readily removed from the end 20 for cleaning.
The tube 24 is also easily removed and may be replaced with a fresh tube to insure a sanitary condition of the device 10.
A flange 34 on the nipple 18 prevents the end of the nipple 19 from touching a surface when put down (
