Modular Baby Safety System for On-Furniture Deployment

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to products for safeguarding children, and more particularly to modular safety systems, operable to be readily mounted on any conventional flat top surface furniture items, or for deployment on any other substantially flat and stable surface, to secure the child within a predefined controlled area therein, and to provide protection from falling and accidental injuries to infants and toddlers positioned therein, during sleep, rest, interaction, and other activities thereof.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present patent application is a non-provisional of, and claims priority from, the co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application of Ayana S. Kelly and Ameera S. Simpson, entitled “BABY BUMPER BED GUARD” (Ser. No. 61 / 205,783), filed on Jan. 24, 2009.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to products for safeguarding children, and more particularly to modular safety systems, operable to be readily mounted on any conventional flat top surface furniture items, for providing protection from falling and accidental injuries to infants and toddlers during sleep, rest, interaction, and other activities thereof.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]There is no question at all that the safety of a child is of paramount importance to parents and other caregivers. However, it is well established that ensuring the safety of infants (and especially newborns), and toddlers, 27 / 7 is much more difficult than most realize, until ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0040]The inventive modular child safety system, in various embodiments thereof, is very easy to deploy, use, transport, and maintain, takes up very little space, and is very inexpensive to manufacture. Moreover, in various embodiments thereof, the inventive modular child safety system utilizes one or more protective modules to secure and protect a corresponding child, and is advantageously extremely flexible and modular with respect to quantity, positioning, and size / configuration of each such one or more protective modules.

Problems solved by technology

However, it is well established that ensuring the safety of infants (and especially newborns), and toddlers, 27 / 7 is much more difficult than most realize, until faced with the need to do so.

In particular, the time during which the infant is sleeping or resting, poses some of the greatest challenges and risks faced by caregivers.

Even without delving into the myriad possible neonatal health risks facing a sleeping infant, the most common sleep-related caregiver challenge is quite simply the fact that, because virtually all infant caregivers lead a rest- and sleep-deprived lifestyle, the times during which an infant naps or rests, is also typically the caregiver's rare opportunity to get some rest as well.

Unfortunately, unless another caregiver is available to watch the infant, the resting caregiver is faced with a difficult choice—(1) place the infant in a crib, possibly in a different room (which limits the caregiver's ability to respond to the infant's distress or other issues), or (2) try to rest on an adult bed, while holding or otherwise attempting to secure the infant.

While the second option offers the caregiver the opportunity to rapidly respond to any infant distress, notwithstanding the “pillow and blanket” walls that caregivers try to build on their bed to secure the infant while they both rest, there is a very significant risk of the infant falling off the bed with potentially disastrous consequences—either inadvertently during sleep, or if they awaken while the caregiver is still asleep, and begin “exploring”.

Furthermore, while some caregivers are “light” or “sensitive” sleepers, many exhausted individuals may inadvertently roll over, or otherwise shift in their sleep, and either accidentally hurt the infant directly or push them off the bed.

But mere convenience “while catching a needed nap” is far from the only reason why, notwithstanding the above risks, many parents prefer to have the infants sleep in their adult beds and not in their crib (especially overnight).

(1) Fear of infant coming to harm without the parent knowing (especially if the infant is ill, or born prematurely);

(2) The desire to “bond” with the infant to a greater degree;

(3) Improvement in the infant's sleep patterns due to proximity of their mother;

(4) Convenience for night feedings;

(5) Lack of a crib (financial reasons, limited space, travel, etc.), etc.

Moreover, in addition to the various above-noted reasons for allowing infants to spend the night in their caregiver's bed, in many cases, while watching a resting or sleeping infant, caregivers may want to engage in activities other than just sleep (such as read, speak on the phone, use their computer, read, etc.), which would take their attention away from their charge, but during which activities, transporting the infant to their crib and leaving them there is not practical or is otherwise inconvenient.

However, as is noted above, there are very significant risk factors to sharing an adult bed with an infant (or moreover with two infants, as the case may be)—the aforementioned dangers of infant rolling or crawling off the bed while the caregiver is asleep or is otherwise distracted, or being inadvertently hurt by a sleeping adult are of course of greatest concern, but the additional drawbacks of this course of action include, but are not limited to: the fact that the infant is likely to soil the adult bed, requiring a change of entire bedding, the inability to easily provide infants with developmental stimuli that are typically only available in cribs (such as musical mobiles, etc.), and of course, the sheet lack of any privacy for a married couple sharing the bed with an infant.

There have been many attempts to address the challenges posed by sharing adult beds or similar furnishings with infants, however, to date, none have achieved any appreciable functional or commercial success, because each previously know solution only solves one of two of the many aspects of this challenge, while often creating new issues.

For example, transportable “soft cribs” that may be placed on a bed may prevent the infant from crawling off the bed but are still vulnerable to being accidentally knocked off the bed, especially because they take up so much room that they are often positioned at the foot of the bed.

Another attempted solution—bumper guards are extremely cumbersome to install and use, and while they may prevent an infant from falling off the bed, they pose a huge inconvenience to the adults using the bed, and offer absolutely no protection at all against an infant being hurt by an adult accidentally rolling over them.

Finally, no practical solution at all exists for satisfying the safety requirements when twin infants are concerned.

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