Patent Publication Number: US-2004045088-A1

Title: Portable device for sleep-inducing and pacifying crying infants

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     [0001] A provisional patent application was filed in Aug. 16, 2001 consisting of a series code jc872 v.c. PTO and serial No. 60/312,862. 
    
    
     
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002] “Not Applicable” 
       REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX  
       [0003] “Not Applicable” 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] The present invention relates to a device and method for sleep-inducing and pacifying a crying infant. More particularly to a portable device which can be manually or mechanically manipulated to provide a soothing and calming upwardly and downwardly motions which gives to the crying infant the same feeling of security experienced inside the mother&#39;s womb.  
       [0005] Parents are well aware of the general discomfort experienced by infants as they are developing as a fetus inside the mother&#39;s womb to becoming a baby in the outside world. This discomfort usually exist during the six months or more of the new baby&#39;s life is commonly believed to be caused by abrupt transition from inside the womb to the new environment outside the womb. It becomes common for all infants to cry while on the adjustment stage to a new life outside the womb.  
       [0006] It has been found that soothing crying infants outside of the womb can be achieved by creating an environment that simulates the condition inside the womb. The most practical and effective way to do this is to put the infant in a condition the same as being suspended in the mother&#39;s womb by the amniotic fluid and through movement.  
       [0007] Infants who cry normally and colicky infants who cry more than normal need soothing now and then. This invention is purposely intended for them. It is true that attempts to remedy discomfort of these infants have been made over the years which include holding, cuddling infant in an adult&#39;s arm, and also by using rocking cribs or chairs and the swing. However, these devices are bulky thus, difficult to transport and requiring adult supervision during use. The disadvantages for these attempts are obvious especially when the parents maybe pre-occupied.  
       [0008] A review of the prior art reveals some U.S. Patents to this effect. U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,912 to Hughes is concerned with baby sleep-inducer and baby calmer which simulates an environment for the benefit of the baby as similar as possible to that just prior to the birth of the baby. The sound produced by self-contained sound developer having the characteristic of a sound heard by a baby in a womb during the last four months of pregnancy that gives a soothing, calming and sleep-inducing effect on a newborn infant.  
       [0009] U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,832 to Blitzer is concerned with apparatus for treating or relieving colicky infants by simulating an intra-uterine environment experienced prior to birth by an unborn child in a womb comprising a frame for use in a bed adapted for having a mattress positioned therefor on which an infant with colic can be rested, a series of upwardly and downwardly movable elements, said elements being arranged along the longitudinal direction of said frame, and distributed drive means acting on said movable elements for producing repetitive and sequential upward and downward motion by said movable elements of about 6 mm to about 10 mm for producing regular, repetitive predetermined uniformly advancing traveling sine-wave like motion in the longitudinal direction of the frame and having frequency in the range of about 7 to about 20 cycles per minute.  
       [0010] U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,096 to Cuervo is concerned primarily with efforts to artificially simulate an automobile motion and sound which discloses a child pacifying device having an electric motor mounted to a base of a housing. The device is considered to have quite limited utility, and that the housing can only be attached to the springs of the infant&#39;s crib. Cuervo further discloses and claims the need for a random noise sound generator providing frequency between 200 and 4000H2 at intensities of 60 and 80 db as necessary to complete the simulation of an automobile traveling 45 to 55 mph.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011] According to the invention, a device and method are provided to induce an infant to sleep and to pacify a crying or colic infant. The device comprises of two parallel tube posts supported by a square tube stand laying opposite the horizontally positioned tube connected to both upper ends of the two parallel tube posts. A set of stationary clips are attached one each near both ends of the horizontally positioned tube connected to both upper ends of the two parallel tube posts. A set of springs and safety cords means enclosed in a casing for access protection of which the upper ends are attached to the set of stationary clips near both ends of the horizontally positioned tube connected to both upper ends of the two parallel tube posts.  
       [0012] The lower ends of the set of springs and safety cords are attached to a separate set of stationary clips attached to a longitudinal adjustable hard plastic support means for providing hanger for the breathable fabric where an infant is put to rest therein. A self-contained housing means with switches for providing energized musical lullaby and a resiliently upwardly and downwardly motions of the breathable fabric is attached to one of the two parallel tube posts and to the lower ends of the spring and safety cord. After adjusting the adjustable longitudinal hard plastic support means for providing hanger for the breathable fabric according to the infant&#39;s height, the infant is put to rest longitudinally along the longitudinal direction of the breathable fabric.  
       [0013] Previous referenced approaches such as Blitzer believes that colicky infants are unprepared to make the sudden transition from inside the womb to post-gestational life and that the purpose of his invention is to aid the infant in making a gradual transition from inside the womb to the outside world. Further, he believes that the colicky symptoms of the infant result in an inability of the newborn to integrate all of the novel environment and sudden physical stimuli of this abruptly new extra-uterine habitat. That the infant&#39;s crying and apparent discomfort result from an inability to understand and adopt to the infant&#39;s own incompletely developed nervous system and it&#39;s responses to the suddenly imposed new world outside of the amniotic fluid and the sounds and motions experiences while safely supported within this liquid during maturation in the womb. Furthermore, he believes that recreating the uterine environment and allowing the newborn infant to regress into that secure experience in effect enables the newborn infant&#39;s nervous system to bridge the drastic changes in environment occurring on birth, with which the colicky infant is unable to cope. 
     
    
    
     [0014] All of the above Blitzer&#39;s statements maybe correct, however, he is solely concerned to colicky infants. It is an object of this invention to provide a new device and method to relieve the apparent physical and psychological suffering not only of the colicky infants but also of a normal crying infants as well, and of the parents and care-givers of the infant.  
     [0015] Another object of this invention is to provide a portable, effective, safe and inexpensive child sleep-inducing and soothing device.  
     [0016] Still another object of this invention is to alleviate the burden and stress experienced by the parents and care-givers in the performance of the task of baby-sitting.  
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING  
     [0017] “Not Applicable” To be filed later.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0018] “Not Applicable” To be filed later.