Infant Feeding Sensor Bottle for Suck-Swallow-Breath Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current tools fail to accurately measure the coordination of sucking, swallowing, and breathing in infants, particularly preterm infants, which is crucial for safe oral feeding and respiratory function, as they lack the ability to quantify oral cavity changes and respiratory patterns at a frequency faster than 1/second, leading to potential health risks and complications.
Innovation Solution
A device with embedded sensors and a computerized data processing system that captures pressure and temperature fluctuations to differentiate sucks, swallows, and respiration, providing quantitative data on feeding performance, maturation, and neurodevelopment, and enables remote monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If no specialized measurement device is used, then the device complexity is low, but the measurement precision of feeding performance and respiratory coordination is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple measurement functions (pressure sensing for sucking/swallowing, temperature sensing for respiration, and data processing) into a single integrated device that attaches to the feeding bottle. This merging approach enables comprehensive measurement of feeding performance and respiratory coordination without requiring multiple separate complex devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The device serves multiple functions: it measures sucking pressure, detects swallowing events, monitors respiratory patterns through temperature changes, and provides quantitative feedback on feeding performance. This multi-functionality allows one device to address various measurement needs that would otherwise require separate specialized equipment.
2Measurement precision
If measurement frequency is increased to capture rapid oral cavity changes, then the measurement precision improves, but the use of energy and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs measurements at periodic intervals appropriate for capturing feeding and respiratory events. Rather than continuous high-frequency sampling, it detects pressure changes and temperature variations that occur naturally during sucking, swallowing, and breathing cycles, processing data at a rate that matches the physiological events being measured.
Solution Approach 2:
The measurement system leverages the natural physiological processes of the infant (sucking creates pressure changes, breathing creates temperature changes) to generate the signals it needs to measure. The device passively detects these self-generated signals without requiring active stimulation or high-energy measurement processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device provides objective data for optimizing discharge protocols, reducing hospital readmissions, and improving care by quantifying oral feeding and developmental changes, supporting clinical decision-making for high-risk infants.
Implementation Method 1
a pressure sensor in fluid communication with the nipple aperture and configured to measure pressure fluctuations
Implementation Method 2
a respiratory sensor in thermal communication with the infant's nose and configured to measure temperature fluctuations
Data Source
AI summary
A device for measuring or evaluating infant feeding performance is described herein. Specifically, the device improves the care of infants, particularly, high-risk infants by safely and effectively capturing quantitative infant feeding parameters, longitudinally incorporating this data into a database, and providing caregivers the means to optimize care, discharge protocols, optimize a length of stay, and monitor the infants remotely.