Three-Layer Nursing Garment with Foldable Shield Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Busy nursing mothers face the challenge of expressing breast milk from both breasts simultaneously while needing to free their hands for other activities, and existing garments require frequent changes, increasing the burden on them.
Innovation Solution
A three-layer nursing garment with a soft interior layer for breast support, a padded intermediate layer for additional coverage and shape, and an exterior layer that folds down to allow access for milk expression or direct nursing, enabling hands-free milk expression without the need for separate garments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a woman uses existing garments to hold shields during milk expression, then her hands are freed for other activities, but she must change garments before and after expressing milk, increasing the burden on her
Solution Approach 1:
The nursing garment is designed to serve multiple functions: it provides breast support during normal wear, holds pumping shields during milk expression, and allows direct breastfeeding. The garment includes openings that can accommodate shields when needed, and these openings can be covered with opaque material for modesty during non-pumping wear. This multi-functionality eliminates the need to change garments between different nursing activities, resolving the contradiction between hands-free operation and time spent changing.
2Productivity
If a woman expresses milk from both breasts simultaneously using shields, then her productivity increases, but she needs to use both hands to hold the shields, reducing ease of operation
Solution Approach 1:
The garment merges the function of holding shields with the breast support function. The garment includes opening coverings that can be positioned over the openings to hold shields in place during pumping, and these same coverings can be removed or adjusted for direct breastfeeding. This integration allows simultaneous pumping from both breasts without requiring manual holding of shields, maintaining both productivity and ease of operation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a garment provides full breast coverage for style and support, then it provides continuous support, but it blocks access to breasts for nursing or pumping
Solution Approach 1:
The garment incorporates dynamic opening coverings that can be moved between different positions. During normal wear, the coverings are in place to provide full breast coverage for support and style. During nursing or pumping, the coverings can be removed or repositioned to expose the openings, allowing access to the breasts. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between continuous support and accessibility for different nursing activities.
Data Source
AI summary
A nursing garment includes an interior front layer, an intermediate front layer, and an exterior front layer. The interior front layer includes soft cups for supporting breasts of the wearer and each defining an opening through the interior front layer providing access to a different one of the breasts of the wearer. The intermediate front layer includes two padded cups, is positioned immediately adjacent the interior front layer, and defines an intermediate front layer neckline edge and intermediate front layer underarm edges. The two padded cups overlie the soft cups such that each of the two padded cups covers a different one of the openings of the interior front layer. The exterior front layer extends over the intermediate front layer substantially covering the intermediate front layer and defines exterior front layer underarm edges each sewn to a different one of the intermediate front layer underarm edges.