The disclosure relates to a nipple, nipple assembly and a bottle assembly.
Feeding bottles, typically comprising a bottle, a nipple (or teat) and a screw ring for mounting them together are well known. Research indicates that it is desirable to avoid the infant sucking air with milk from a feeding bottle as this is thought to lead to colic. As a result, the research currently indicates that it is preferable to feed the infant while the infant is relatively upright, for example at 45°, and to keep the teat full of liquid so that the baby doesn't suck air. Various approaches have been adopted to achieve this including angled feeding bottles and angled or offset teats. Various nipple configurations have also been disclosed, including a nipple with an elliptical cross-shape and a round teat with ‘wings’ to improve the seal with an infant's mouth. Non-conventional nipple configurations are in some instances used in conjunction with an offset teat portion of the nipple which ensures that as the bottle is tilted the teat portion is more likely to be filled hence reducing the risk of a baby ingesting air.
However, modern, wide-necked bottles of this type often suffer from liquid ‘pooling’ in the teat and/or the bottle, which leads to the teat portion being improperly filled and thus leads to an increased risk of the infant ingesting air.
A further problem is that modern, wide-necked teats are necessarily made from soft, flexible materials to provide a breast-like feel but their domed shape and thin walls mean the dome may be too easily deformed and prone to collapse or pushing back into the bottle.
An invention is set out in the claims. By providing a nipple having a radially offset teat portion in conjunction with an aligned inner surface of the nipple, a substantially flat flow surface is provided, ensuring reduced pooling as liquid traps are substantially reduced or eliminated.
Embodiments will now be described with reference to the Figures, of which:
In overview, a nipple and bottle assembly is provided with enhanced feeding capability. The nipple includes a domed portion and a radially offset teat portion, as a result of which the teat portion will be better filled with liquid during feeding. According to an embodiment, the bottle has a very wide neck which in turn allows maximization of the offset of the teat portion. The screw ring can also be configured to provide maximized offset. As a result, when the bottle is in use, there is limited pooling of liquid in the domed (or ‘areola’) part of the nipple. Instead, the liquid can flow through the teat portion during feeding. This is enhanced by provision of a substantially flat surface within the nipple, aligned with the offset teat portion again reducing pooling. Yet further in view of the offset, the bottle surface can also be substantially aligned, providing throughflow of liquid from the bottle, through to the nipple and teat portion, again reducing pooling in either the bottle or the nipple.
A valve can be provided to equalize pressure within the bottle and the offset of the teat portion from the center of the nipple allows the valve to be offset in an opposite, or different, direction on the nipple surface. This enables the valve to be spaced as far away as possible from the teat portion hence reducing the risk of damage of or interference with the valve by the feeding infant. The nipple can be located in the screw ring by cooperating locating features ensuring that it is aligned correctly with the screw ring which in turn can then be aligned correctly with the bottle to ensure that the various parallel offset and/or flattened surfaces are in alignment.
Referring now to
The bottle includes at its upper end, a bottle neck 113 which defines an opening at the top of the bottle 104. The opening defined by the bottle neck 113 is substantially as wide as the widest part of the bottle itself allowing a wide neck nipple 100. This means that the teat portion 106 can be offset on the surface of the nipple 100 as close as possible to the wall of the bottle 104. This means that when the bottle is in feeding position the filling of the teat portion is enhanced during feeding. The bottle itself has an asymmetric design and in particular includes a flattened profile 114 aligned with the offset teat 106 minimizing pooling.
The valve 108 is provided in the nipple 100 at a periphery of the domed portion 112 offset radially opposite to, distal to, for example, the teat portion 106. As a result a maximum distance is placed between the nipple and the valve to avoid unwanted deformation or tampering of/with the valve by an infant and providing improved air venting. In an embodiment the valve is a duck-bill valve providing a high degree of sensitivity such that even a small pressure difference caused by sucking will be equalized to avoid any collapse of the wide nipple. For example a duck-bill valve of the type described in International patent application publication number WO 06103379,incorporated herein by reference, can be used or any other suitable type of valve or duck-bill valve.
In an embodiment, as shown in
Turning to
Referring to
In
The shape of the break 502 at the base of the elliptical portion 501 is preferably oval when viewed from the top, as shown in
With the length of the minor axis determined, the ratio of lengths of the major axis to minor axis is chosen so that the teat 505 is placed close to the outer perimeter of the nipple, while still substantially concentric with the ellipse. As shown in
The ratio of lengths of the major axis to minor axis for the elliptical portion is preferably in the region of 2.5-3.5:1.5-2.5, more preferably in the region of 2.8-3.2:1.8-2.2, and even more preferably in the ratio of 3:2. In the arrangement of
The ellipse allows the teat section to be located in a position that minimizes pooling as described above in reference to
In operation, the nipple 100 is mounted into the screw ring 102 and located via the cooperating cut out portion and locating features in a desired rotational position. The bottle is filled and the screw ring is screwed down onto the bottle. In a clamped position the teat portion is aligned with the flattened portion of the bottle. When the bottle is then tilted for use, minimal liquid traps are provided, avoiding pooling by virtue of the alignment of the fluid flow surfaces. In particular pooling is stopped both within the teat, and is minimized between the teat and bottle.
The various components including the nipple, screw ring and bottle can be formed in any appropriate manner such as moulding and from an appropriate material. For example the bottle and screw ring can be made of polypropylene whereas the teat can be made of silicone or a thermoplastic elastomer. It will be noted that it would be possible to include the teat and screw ring in a single integral portion in some instances for example using co-moulding.
Although the disclosure is directed to feeding of an infant it would be appreciated that the same approach can be used in relation to other vessels where pooling is to be avoided including for example adult or animal feeding bottles.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1515376.0 | Aug 2015 | GB | national |
This application is a national filing under § 371 of International Application No. PCT/GB2016/052640, with an international filing date of Aug. 25, 2016, claiming priority from Great Britain Application No. 1515376.0, with a filing date of Aug. 28, 2015, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/GB2016/052640 | 8/25/2016 | WO | 00 |