Baby Bottle Preparation

Abstract

A method of filling a baby bottle is provided which comprises providing a baby bottle containing a hermetically sealed bottle liner, which contains a measured amount of powdered infant formula. The bottle liner comprises a lip retainer for preventing the bottle liner from falling into the bottle. The hermetic seal on the bottle liner may be opened. The method includes disposing filtered, heated water into the liner to mix with the powdered infant formula. A cap and nipple assembly is applied to the bottle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) [0001]The present application is a divisional patent application that claims priority benefit to (i) a co-pending and commonly assigned non-provisional, 371 national patent application entitled “Baby Bottle Preparation” that was filed on Aug. 27, 2009, and assigned Ser. No. 12 / 528,838, (ii) a PCT application upon which the foregoing non-provisional, 371 national patent application was based, namely PCT / US2008 / 055189 that was filed on Feb. 27, 2008, and (iii) an underlying provisional patent application filed on Feb. 27, 2007 and assigned Ser. No. 60 / 891,805. The contents of each of the foregoing applications are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]The present disclosure is directed to advantageous apparatus and associated methods / systems for preparing a baby bottle and, more particularly, to apparatus, systems, kits and associated methods for conveniently providing a supply or quantity of warm, sanitized ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]The disclosed apparatus, systems, kits and methods operate to make the process of baby bottle preparation faster, more convenient and more accurate, advantageously combining separate activities for installing the bottle liner, formula dosing and water sanitizing. The disclosed apparatus, systems, kits and methods also reduces and / or substantially eliminates the need for the time consuming process of boiling water for sanitization. By combining sanitization and temperature control into the disclosed apparatus, systems, kits and methods, the need for cooling is also reduced and / or substantially eliminated.

[0014]In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, an improved baby bottle liner is provided that is convenient to use and can be easily and economically manufactured. The bottle liner may be constructed of a flexible, non-breakable material, e.g., plastic, and allows the liner to expand into the baby bottle.

[0015]In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a disposable baby bottle liner is provided, comprising a bottle liner formed as a bellows with an open end that contains a measured amount of feeding powder. A seal covers the open end of the filled liner and is removably secured thereto to prevent contamination of the feeding powder. A pull tab is integrally formed on the sealing cover to facilitate removal of the sealing cover when it is desired to begin feeding. A lip ring is positioned on the upper exterior surface of the bottle liner proximate its topmost portion and is molded thereto to prevent the bottle liner from falling into the empty bottle. When it is desired to begin filling the bottle with water, the sealing cover may be removed by pulling up on the pull tab. A standard cap and nipple assembly may then be positioned onto the bottle, making it ready for use.

[0016]In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, an improved filling means for filling a baby bottle is provided. The filling is accomplished by a filtering, heating and dispensing device for quickly supplying sanitized water at an ideal temperature that is subsequently mixed with powdered infant formula contained in the bottle liner.

[0019]In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, such automatic sanitization can occur both after dispensing and prior to dispensing. The automatic closure may comprise a one-way fluid control valve acting to open during the pumping operation, and to automatically close to prevent air from contaminating the water inside the filter at all other times.

[0023]In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a pod for mixing water and powdered infant formula is provided. The pod includes walls defining a body, the body containing a predetermined amount of powdered infant formula, an inlet aperture for admitting water into the body for mixing with the powdered infant formula, an outlet aperture for dispensing a liquid infant formula mixture, and a screen disposed across the outlet aperture, the screen being configured to substantially prevent the infant formula from being dispensed through the outlet aperture in the powdered form, but to permit the infant formula to be dispensed through the outlet aperture upon the same having been mixed with the admitted water sufficiently to dissolve therein.

Problems solved by technology

Current processes for preparing a baby bottle can involve numerous steps, some of which can be time-consuming.

For example, the bottle may need to be submersed into cold water, a cooling process which often takes more time than a hungry baby has patience for.

Another deficiency in many common bottle preparation processes is that the user may not have an easy and accurate way to measure the temperature of the cooled formula mixture.

In such circumstances, a risk exists that the formula will not have been cooled sufficiently to avoid scalding the baby during feeding.

Another risk is that the temperature of the formula mixture may have dropped to too great an extent, potentially resulting in the baby rejecting the formula because it is not warm enough.

An additional process that can be time-consuming involves the cleaning and sanitizing of the actual bottle or container that contains the liquid formula during feeding.

Secondly, the heating elements are supplied with power to sanitize and heat and dry the flow passage between the filter end point and the exit orifice.

Images