Abstract:
The nursing garment of this invention is in the nature of a bib, small enough to be easily carried with a baby&#39;s paraphernalia and easily positioned over a user&#39;s conventional outerwear when desired. The bib-like garment is preferably made from flannel into a body portion with a loop to pass over the head of a user, a panel that can be adjusted by the user to form either one or two openings for the breasts or to cover the breasts, as desired, and a second layer of privacy provided by at least one freely hanging flap extending over the panel. Reinforced edging extends around all sides of the garment.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to women&#39;s apparel, and more specifically to a nursing garment for use with outerwear that provides the type of privacy a mother desires while she attends to the details of nursing her baby in a public setting.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,953 for NURSING SHAWL issued Jan. 17, 1989 to Roger S. Dameron. Dameron&#39;s nursing shawl is intended to be used with conventional outerwear and is easily adaptable to provide privacy for a mother nursing her baby in a public place.  
           [0003]    The nursing garment of this invention has the same attributes as Dameron&#39;s shawl, yet provides more of the privacy a mother desires, with dual layers of protection, while she prepares for nursing and nurses the baby in a public setting. After the nursing, the mother can easily remove the nursing garment from her dress or other outerwear she is wearing, pack it with the rest of the baby&#39;s paraphernalia, and do as she pleases. The nursing garment of this invention is clearly an improvement over Dameron.  
           [0004]    As noted in the Dameron patent, the nursing garments in many prior patents are not suitable to be worn over the mother&#39;s clothes, restricting their use to the home. Alternatively, certain prior art nursing garments are designed as outerwear but they must be worn in lieu of more conventional outerwear. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 621,761; 4,106,122; 4,468,816; 4,567,611; and 4,601,068. See also the more recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,528, to Trombetti-Dickson, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 309,522 to Merritt, and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 359,838 to Laseinde.  
           [0005]    None of the prior art patents relating to nursing garments provide the privacy and convenience of use in public that is provided by the nursing garment of this invention.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The nursing garment of this invention is in the nature of a bib, small enough to be easily carried with a baby&#39;s paraphernalia and easily positioned over conventional outerwear, and removed, when desired. The bib-like garment is available in different sizes for women of different sizes.  
           [0007]    All sizes of the nursing garment are made alike, preferably from an easily handled fabric such as a tightly woven flannel. Each size of the nursing garment includes three components: (1) a body portion, (2) a panel that the user can adjust to form openings for the breasts and to cover the breasts when desired, and (3) either one or two flaps hanging freely from the body portion and over the panel to provide a second layer of protection. The flaps provide a second layer of privacy by hiding from the public the mother&#39;s adjustment of the panel to first expose the beasts for nursing and then cover the breasts after the nursing of an infant. A loop extends from the body portion to be placed over the head and around the neck by a user as she prepares to nurse a baby. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 is a front elevation of one embodiment of the nursing garment;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the garment shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line  3 - 3  in FIG. 1;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 is a front elevation of a second embodiment of the nursing garment;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 5 is a rear elevation of the garment shown in FIG. 4;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 6 is a front elevation like FIGS. 1 and 4, showing a single flap that can be used, instead of the two flaps, with either embodiment;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the garment of FIG. 1 being used by a mother while nursing her child, the mother and child being shown in dotted lines;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the garment of FIG. 4 being used by a mother while nursing her child, the mother and child being shown in dotted lines;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 9 is a front elevation of the garment of FIG. 1 with the panel opened as it is for nursing a baby and with one of the flaps raised to disclose the opened panel for illustration purposes only;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 10 is a front elevation of the garment of FIG. 4 with the panel opened as it is for nursing a baby and with one of the flaps raised to disclose the opened panel for illustration purposes only;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the nursing garment of this invention being worn over conventional outerwear;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 12 is an exploded view of the snap fastener on the right side of the garment in FIG. 1; and  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 13 is an exploded view of the snap fastener on the left side of the garment in FIG. 1. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]    Referring more specifically in the drawings, the nursing garment of FIG. 1 is broadly indicated at  10  and the nursing garment of FIG. 4 is broadly indicated at  10 A.  
       THE EMBODIMENTS OF FIGS  1  AND  4   
       [0022]    Each garment  10  and  10 A is a bib-like structure proportioned to effectively function as a nursing garment over conventional outerwear, and to be easily carried with a baby and its paraphernalia by a woman dressed in conventional outerwear and intending to nurse the baby while she is in a public area. Both of the garments  10  and  10 A include a body portion  11 , a panel  12 , and either two flaps  13  and  13   1  or a single flap  13 F (FIG. 6). The single flap  13 F may be used in lieu of the flaps  13  and  13   1 . The flap  13 F serves the same function as the two flaps,  13  and  13   1 , providing another layer of protection, and may be preferred in some instances.  
         [0023]    The body portion  11  is formed with a rounded neckline  14  joined to a loop  15 . The body portion  11  extends downwardly and laterally from the neckline  14  and is patterned to terminate at the top of the breasts and beneath the shoulders of the user.  
         [0024]    The loop  15  is formed of a folded strip of fabric  16  sewn together with a double row of stitches  17  and  18  (FIG. 3) to define reinforced edging  19 . The reinforced edging  19  extends along the upper edge  20  and side edges  21  and  22  of the body portion  11  and throughout the sides  24  and  25  of the panel  12 . The reinforced edging  19  also extends along the upper ends of the flaps  13 ,  13   1  and of flap  13 F, and connects the flaps to the hem  23  of the body portion  11 . The reinforced edging  19  extends past the flaps to the reinforced edging  19  at the sides  21 ,  22  of the body portion  11 . The reinforced edging functions as a strengthening agent and helps define the shape of the body portion  11 , the panel  12 , and the flaps  13 ,  13   1 , and  13 F.  
         [0025]    The panels  12  (FIG. 1) and  12 A (FIG. 4) are of planar configuration, and are adjustable to expose the beasts for nursing and to cover the breasts when desired. Each of the panels  12  and  12 A extends downwardly from the body portion  11  to the lap of a seated user. The flap  13 ,  13   1 , and  13 F hand freely from the hem  23  of the body portion  11  in overlying relation to the panel  12  and in overlying relation to the panel  12 A. The flaps supplement the panels&#39; coverage of the user&#39;s breasts.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 9 illustrates the panel  12  adjusted to its open position and FIG. 10 illustrates the panel  12 A adjusted to its open position. The flap  13   1  is raised in FIGS. 9 and 10 only for the purpose of illustration. It is intended that the flaps always remain lowered when the nursing garment is in actual use. The panels are adjusted to form or close openings by a mother&#39;s manipulation of manually operable fasteners  35  and  37  positioned to normally overlie the beasts of the user (FIGS. 1 and 4).  
         [0027]    It is generally known that in order for babies to get the best nourishment they should be offered the beast opposite the one last used in a nursing session. Nursing sessions are generally 4 or 5 hours apart and some mothers find it difficult to remember which breast was last used.  
         [0028]    As an aid to remembering which breast to first offer at a nursing session, the fastener  35  that overlies the left breast has a different color than the fastener  37  that overlies the right breast of the user. For example, FIG. 12 shows the fastener  35  with horizontal shading  39  indicating the color blue for the fastener over the left breast. FIG. 13 shows the fastener  37  with vertical shading  40  indicating that the fastener  37  over the right breast is red. Any colors can be used within the spirit of the invention.  
       THE EMBODIMENT OF FIG.  1   
       [0029]    The panel  12  is permanently attached to only the ends of the body portion&#39;s hem  23  and to the mid-point  41  of the hem  23 . Additionally, the panel  12  is releasably attached to the body portion intermediate the mid-point  41  of the hem  23  and the opposite ends of the hem  23 , as indicated at  35  and  37  in FIG. 1.  
         [0030]    The juncture of the panel  12  and the juncture of the flaps  13 ,  13   1  with the body portion  11  is illustrated in FIG. 3. As there indicated, the body portion  11  is folded on itself as at  32  to form the hem  23  at the lower edge of the body portion  11 .  
         [0031]    The upper end of the panel  12  is folded on itself as at  33  to form a hem  34 . Manually operable fasteners releasably connect the upper end of the panel  12  to the body portion  11 . In the illustrated embodiment, the male portion  35   1  of a snap fastener  35  is fixed to the inner surface  34   1  of the hem  34 . The inner surface  34   1  of the panel&#39;s hem  34  lies against the hem  23  of the body portion  11 . The female portion  35   2  of the snap fastener  35  is fixed to the hem  23  of the body portion  11  in mating relation with the male portion  35   1  of the snap fastener  35  on the hem  34  of the panel  12 .  
         [0032]    Similarly, but not shown in FIG. 3, a second snap fastener  37  is fixed to the panel&#39;s hem  34  and to the hem  23  of the body portion.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 9 illustrates the panel  12  after having been adjusted to form an opening B for the purpose of nursing. The opening B is formed after the male portion  35   1  of the snap fastener  35  is released from the female portion  35   2 . With the snap fastener  35  opened, the panel  12  is unsupported between its mid-point  41  and the side  25  of the panel  12 . The loosened portion of the panel may then be pulled down from the female portion  35   2  of the snap fastener  35  to form the opening B, as seen in FIG. 9. When nursing is finished the mother can reconnect the portions of the snap fastener  35  to close the opening within the privacy provided by the flap  13   1 . The portion of the panel  12  beneath the flap  13  is opened and closed in the same manner.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 7 shows the nursing garment  10  in use while a mother is nursing her baby. It illustrates the privacy provided by the flap  13   1  while the panel  12  is opened.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 11 illustrates the nursing garment  10  as it may be worn over conventional outerwear by a mother expecting to nurse her baby in a public setting but not in the act of nursing.  
       THE EMBODIMENT OF FIG.  4   
       [0036]    The only difference between the embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 1 is in the structure and handling of the panel  12 A to form the opening B 1  in FIG. 10.  
         [0037]    Like the panel  12 , panel  12 A hangs down from the body portion  11  to the lap of a seated user, and panel  12 A is the same width as the panel  12 . But, unlike panel  12 , panel  12 A is permanently attached to hem  23  of the body portion throughout its width, from side  24 A to side  25 A of the panel  12 A, preferably a distance of 18 to 24 inches.  
         [0038]    Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, two vertical lines of cut extend through the panel  12 A. A first line of cut extends between the point  42 A at the hem  23  of the body portion and the point  42 A 1  at a hem  44 A on the bottom of the panel. A second line of cut extends between a point  43 A at the hem  23  of the body portion  11  and a point  43 A 1  at the hem  44  on the panel  12 A, preferably a distance of 8 to 12 inches. These two cuts in the panel  12 A are positioned to be centered over the user&#39;s breasts when the garment  10  is worn.  
         [0039]    A narrow strip of fabric  45 A is sewn to the panel  12 A along one side of each of the vertical cuts. Male portions of snap fasteners  35  and  37  are fastened to the fabric strips  45 A and female portions of snap fasteners  35  and  37  are fastened to the over-lapping portions  47 A of the panel  12 A.  
         [0040]    Referring to FIG. 10, the opening B 1  in the panel  12 A is obtained by the mother releasing the male portion  35   1  from the female portion  35   2  of the snap fastener  35 , within the privacy provided by the flap  13   1 . In actual use, the flap  13   1  will not be in the illustrative position of FIG. 10 but in its normal position of FIG. 4, overlying the panel  12 . With the snap fastener  35  opened, the opening B 1  in FIG. 10 is formed by the mother grasping the panel  12 A in the area of the snap fastener portions  35   1  and  35   2  and pulling those portions of the snap fastener away from each other in the directions of the double arrow in FIG. 10.  
         [0041]    When nursing is finished the mother can close the opening B 1  and cover the breast with the panel  12 A by reconnecting the two parts of the snap fastener  35  within the privacy provided by the flap  13   1 .  
         [0042]    The portion of the panel  12 A beneath the flap  13 , on the left side of the garment in FIG. 10, is opened and closed in the same manner, when desired.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 8 illustrates the privacy provided by the flap  13   1  while the panel  12 A is open and a mother is nursing her baby.  
         [0044]    The shaded areas  50 , in both embodiments of the invention, represent the user&#39;s choice of embroidery. It is not part of the invention and may be used as desired.  
         [0045]    The nursing garment of this invention is designed for use with conventional outerwear, but its utility is not so limited. The nursing garment is user friendly and can be satisfactorily used in the environment of the user&#39;s choice.  
         [0046]    There is thus provided a nursing garment with two layers of protection for the privacy a mother seeks when nursing her baby in public. The panel normally covers the breasts and provides some privacy even when the panel is open for nursing. The overlying flap shields the mother&#39;s breast before, during, and after nursing, and also shields the mother&#39;s manipulation of the panel to form an opening for nursing and to close the opening after nursing.