Patent ID: 8852144

Claim:
A nursing device for feeding infants with a cleft lip or cleft palate, said device comprising: an upper portion including a clear or transparent bottle having an opening at an upper end thereof and a closed bottom portion for containing a supply of liquid; a nipple and means for maintaining said nipple in sealing engagement with said opening in said bottle, and in which said nipple includes a thin soft rubber shield constructed and dimensioned to cover a defect of an infant's mouth to thereby prevent liquid leakage due to a cleft lip or cleft palate; a submersible rotary pump disposed in said closed bottom portion of said bottle and a tubular member passing through said nipple from a forward opening in said nipple and connected to said submersible rotary pump for delivering pre-selected volumes of liquid from the bottle and through the nipple for feeding an infant; a lower portion of said device isolated from said fluid containing closed bottom portion of said bottle and including a housing, a motor including an output shaft disposed within said housing and a magnetic coupling extending through said closed bottom portion of said bottle for driving said pump in response to rotation of said output shaft of said motor; a programmable timer for selecting an amount of liquid to be delivered to an infant in a cycle and regulating the volume of liquid pumped and the length of pauses between pumping for each feeding cycle and in which said timer includes a visual display to illustrate the relative volume of liquid pumped and timed intervals in a feeding cycle in said lower portion of said device; a first knob for adjusting the volume of liquid pumped and a second knob for adjusting the time for a pause and an LED display for indicating the volume of liquid pumped and length of a pause disposed in said lower portion of said device; and a battery for powering said motor and means for connecting said battery to a charger.