U.S. patent application number 09/840108 was filed with the patent office on 2002-11-28 for baby head pillow mattress pad.
Invention is credited to Appleton, Rosemary.
Application Number | 20020174488 09/840108 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25281468 |
Filed Date | 2002-11-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020174488 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Appleton, Rosemary |
November 28, 2002 |
Baby head pillow mattress pad
Abstract
A polyurethane foam mattress or pillow overlay for a mattress
that prevents plagiocephaly by allowing a recess in a mattress pad
or pillow for the Baby's head to protrude backwards while lying
flat on its' back instead of lying against a flat surface. An
over-mattress, foam mattress pad, or pillow, the support assembly
comprising a shaped rubber foam cradle for a baby's head and/or
baby's head and body covered with a mattress cover or pillowcase
composed of comfortable quilted cloth material.
Inventors: |
Appleton, Rosemary; (Fort
Lauderdale, FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROSEMARY APPLETON
4281 NORTHWEST 35 TERRACE
FORT LAUDERDALE
FL
33309-4125
US
|
Family ID: |
25281468 |
Appl. No.: |
09/840108 |
Filed: |
April 24, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
5/731 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47D 7/02 20130101; A47D
15/008 20130101; A47D 15/001 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
5/731 |
International
Class: |
A47C 017/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An engineered foam pillow or mattress overlay for a baby
mattress, the support assembly comprising: A polyurethane foam
pillow mattress cushion overlay with indented recessed body cavity
depressions for the major parts of a baby's body or in the case of
just the pillow, the baby's head. Drawing #1 shows the Baby Head
Pillow Mattress Pad showing the baby's head and body recessed using
the pad with recessed cutout portions of a mattress pad.
Pediatricians currently recommend putting babies to sleep on their
backs to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The purpose of the
recessed portions in the foam mattress overlay is to prevent a
baby's head from flattening out in the back when the baby is laid
down on its' back thereby preventing the baby's head from
flattening out in the back and looking like a square head otherwise
known as positional plagiocephaly. Using it as a mattress cushion
it is comprised of polyurethane foam having an indention load
deflection of 1 to 20 pounds, and being from about two to about
four inches in thickness, and generally the same length and width
as, but substantially thinner than, a conventional baby mattress.
The mattress overlay is preferably sized to fit standard cribs,
with a length of approximately 52 inches, a width of approximately
24 inches, and a thickness of approximately four inches. Variations
of shortening the mattress pad and using just the head portion for
a pillow could be any size that comfortably cradles the baby's
head. Ordinarily the pad and the pillow would be used with a
washable fabric cover. The cushion and the fabric cover could be
portable.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to an apparatus and the use of the
apparatus to prevent positional plagiocephaly by more evenly
distributing loads on the head of an infant lying on a sleep
surface in the supine position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Cranial asymmetry (plagiocephaly) and deformations may occur
from various causes including premature closure of the cranial
vault and/or skull base sutures (craniosynostosis), syndromal
craniofacial dysostosis, intracranial volume disorders such as
hydrocephalus, microcephaly or tumor, metabolic bone disorders such
as rickets, and birth trauma such as depressed skull fractures.
[0003] Plagiocephaly is characterized by unilateral occipital
flattening with contralateral occipital bulging or, a flat spot at
the back of the infant's head which makes the baby's head look
square. As the deformation becomes more severe there is ipsilateral
forehead protrusion, contralateral forehead flattening and
endocranial skull base rotation with anterior displacement of the
ipsilateral ear. If not prevented this is a deformity that remains
the shape of the person's head their entire life.
[0004] There has been an increase of infants diagnosed with
plagiocephaly corresponding to the "Back-to-Sleep" campaign by the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), recommending that infants be
placed in the supine (lying on the back) sleeping position in an
effort to decrease the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS) resulting in a decrease correlated with a 15-20% decrease in
the incidence of SIDS. SIDS is the leading cause of early infantile
deaths in the United States. Approximately 6,000 infants die of
this syndrome each year, an incidence of 1.2 deaths per 1,000 live
births.
[0005] Infants more than three months of age and those who have not
responded to repositioning are placed in an individually tailored
cranial molding helmet. The helmet is a custom fitted apparatus
that is designed to apply continuous pressure to the cranium. This
apparatus has proved to be very effective in allowing the growing
brain to reshape the still-malleable cranium. It is applied
continuously and removed only for bathing until the child is twelve
months old. After twelve months of age or if the deformity is
severe, molding helmets are of little value and surgical cranial
recontouring is required.
[0006] Positional plagiocephaly is preventable by manipulation of
the infant's head. It is thus desired to provide a method and
apparatus which prevents plagiocephaly in infants and thus removes
a potentially debilitating side effect from the well known measure
of putting an infant to sleep on its' back to prevent SIDS.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The recessed concave cavities of this baby mattress pad are
designed to prevent plagiocephaly--malformation in the shape of a
baby's head from sleeping in the supine position.
[0008] It is well known to provide foam support pads or mattresses
for supporting a user reclining on a pad. For example, U.S. Pat.
Nos. 4,879,776; 5,038,433; 5,077,849; 5,111,542; and 5,172,439, all
to Farley, disclose mattress overlays and pads for supporting a
user and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,424,600 and 4,435,864 to Callaway,
disclose supporting surfaces having selectively adjustable
firmness.
[0009] A pillow and mattress structure in accordance with the
present invention is suitable to use on top of the standard baby
mattress and may be modified to include only the bead portion used
as a pillow.
[0010] The mattress further includes a mattress cover comparable to
a quilted pillowcase.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The invention is directed to a method and apparatus that
prevents positional plagiocephaly in infants by spreading out over
a defined range in a recessed cavity the load that is placed on a
infant's head when the infant lies on his or her back on a sleep
surface. The method is safe, inexpensive, and is easy to use.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The detailed description particularly refers to the
accompanying figures in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 shows the recessed cavities hollowed out of the form
to hold the baby's body and head in a position where the baby can
lay on its' back and not flatten out the cranial bones of the back
of the head. It is shown without the pillow mattress pad cover.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a side cutout view showing the cavities in the
foam from a right angle.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a shortened version of the Baby Head Mattress Pad
used as a pillow.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0016] FIG. 1 shows the cavity in the mattress for the head 1 and
body 2 in a full perspective view. The mattress surface 3 is
broadly defined to encompass any mattress surface on which the
infant is placed in the supine position in a sleeping or waking
state. The sleep surface 3 may thus include a mattress pad, a pad
including only the length of the baby or a pillow 4 with just the
cavity for the baby's head.
[0017] D PILLOW MATTRESS PAD ppleton; Rosemary A. (Fort Lauderdale,
FL) Class: 5/727; 5/722; 5/690; 5/738; 5/926 s: A47C 027/14 ch:
5/690, 722, 723, 5/726, 737, 738, 420, 925, 926 References
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