Safety Sleeping Bag For Infants And Babies

Abstract

A zipper opening blanket of resilient material having a bodice-like upper portion and a bag-like lower portion is secured to a crib mattress by a back portion sewn jointly with a soft absorbant filler and a retainer for a disposable diaper to a stretchable bedlinen sheet and a tension band surrounding the mattress.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to safety sleeping bags for infants and babies provided with means for securing the bag to the mattress of the crib whereby the baby can move in a relatively free manner, yet is prevented from standing up in the crib or kicking the clothes off.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Such a safety sleeping bag is disclosed in German Utility Model Patent 7132 774. In this safety bag, a portion of the sleeping bag is enlarged and attached to the mattress by pulling it around the latter. While this permits the infant to have some freedom of movement, it is desirable that the infant be able to move even more freely and unrestrainedly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention aims at producing an improved safety sleeping bag by attaching a sleeping blanket, in the area of the back, to a bedlinen sheet which can be stretched and fittedly attached to the crib mattress in a well known manner. The special advantage of this invention is the infant is permitted the maximum of movement possible while still prevented from standing up in the crib. With all this, the safety sleeping bag of this invention can be rapidly and easily attached and detached from the crib mattress.

The back area of the sleeping bag can be attached to the bedlinen sheet in several ways. Perferably, a surface portion of the back area is sewn to the sheet. In a further development, the surface portion is sewn to the stretchable sheet together with a soft absorbant filler such as that known under the mark MOLTON. This filler prevents the wetting of the mattress and covers the possibly harder seam area. In this structure, the surface portion which is sewn on is shaped as an ellipse whose longitudinal axis extends in the head-to-foot direction. In this embodiment, when the infant tries to rise, a force is transmitted from the child to the sleeping bag and from the back area thereof, which is sewn on, to the stretchable sheet, which is pulled around the mattress.

To improve the attachment in preferred embodiments of the invention and particularly in the caSe of children already able to stand or walk, there is attached, preferably by sewing on to the stretchable sheet on the side facing away from the safety sleeping bag, a tension band which surrounds the crib mattress. Such a tension band absorbs even rather strong forces without undesirable permanent extensions. Further, such a tension band eliminates the need for possibly dangerous strips or straps on the upper surface of the sleeping bag.

The bedlinen sheet can be of various shapes. For example, it can be shaped as a bag in which the mattress is inserted in a longitudinal direction. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a stretchable sheet is sewn in the shape of an open case with flaps adjacent to the edges. The periphery of the flaps is provided with a preferably elastic rubber ribbon. To attach the safety sleeping blanket to the mattress, the stretchable sheet is placed on a support with a sleeping bag below. The mattress is placed on top of the sheet and the flaps adjacent to the edges are then pulled upward over the edge of the mattress. The four flaps are tightened together by means of the elastic ribbon. If a tension band is provided, the ends of the tension band are joined by an appropriate closure.

In a further development of this invention, the sleeping bag is provided with a bodice-like upper portion having an open square neck of the same dimensions in the front and in the rear. This embodiment presents the advantage that the child can lie with equal comfort on his back or on his stomach.

It is known to provide sleeping bags with a zipper so that the child can be conveniently put into and taken out of the sleeping bag. Such zippers are all indivisible and their slides in the closed position are located near the neck opening of the sleeping bag. This results in the disadvantage that the child can play with the slide and possibly suffer some injury and can open the sleeping bag and crawl out of it, so that the bag no longer complies with the necessary requirements for constraining the child.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a longitudinally extending divisible zipper is provided whose slide at the closed position is in the area of the child's feet. Thus, the child cannot reach the slide and neither get pinched nor open the sleeping bag. The use of the safety sleeping bag is in no way restrained since by the employment of a known divisible zipper the two zipper halves can be separated when the slide is fully pulled upward to the neck opening.

The employment of a divisible zipper in an arrangement where the slide is located at the closed position in the base area is not limited to the use in safety sleeping bags, which in the back are attached to a linen sheet, but rather such an arrangement can be used in all sleeping bags which are not to be readily opened by the person in the sleeping bag.

A further improvement of the safety sleeping bag is achieved by attaching a retainer for disposable diapers below the ellipse shaped surface portion. After the child has been placed with his buttocks on the disposable diaper, flaps can be folded upward around the child's legs and secured to the back portion of the sleeping bag. The flaps retain the disposable diaper in position relative to the child and prevent the child from sliding down in the sleeping bag even in the case of vigorous kicking movements. The retaining means also can be used with a conventional diaper or no diaper at all.

The safety sleeping bag of the invention as well as the stretchable bedlinen sheet may be made of a diversity of materials. Preferably, the sleeping bag is made of a stretchable terrycloth and the edges of the bag, as well as the top of the sheet, are covered with the same material. The employment of this material is advantageous because it is absorbant and soft. The stretchable bag has the further advantage that the number of sizes to be manufactured and to be kept on hand can be kept relatively low .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevated perspective view of a safety sleeping bag attached to a mattress.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the safety sleeping bag of FIG. 1 from the opposite side of the mattress.

FIG. 3 is a perspective detail of a retainer for a disposable diaper within the safety sleeping bag of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A stretchable bedlinen sheet 2 is placed on a mattress 1 and can be pulled around the edges of the mattress to secure the sheet. The sheet 2 is sewn in the shape of an open case whose bottom abuts the upper surface of mattress 1 as shown in FIG. 2. Flaps 4, attached to the edges 3, are located in the plane of the lower surface of the mattress 1.

The edge of these flaps is covered with a strechable terrycloth material and a ribbon is inserted therein which consists preferably of an elastic rubber material.

A sleeping blanket 5 has a lower region which is bag-like and an upper region which is bodice-like. The back area of the sleeping blanket 5 is sewn with an ellipseshaped surface portion 6 to the stretchable bedlinen sheet 2. A tension band 7 is sewn on the side of the sheet which faces mattress 1 and passes between mattress 1 and sheet 2 around the mattress and is tied or otherwise secured in the area of the free ends 8. The infant sleeping bag 5 is thereby detachably connected with mattress 1. Nevertheless, the greatest freedom of movement for the child is secured since only the area of surface portion 6 is attached to the bedlinen sheet. No banded structure, or the like, whatsoever is provided on the top side of the sheet.

The bodice-like upper portion is provided with an armhole 9 on each side while a square neck 10 is provided with equal dimensions in the front portion as well as the back portion. A zipper 11 is affixed to the front portion of the bag and extends from the square neck to the base area of the bag. Zipper 11 is a divisible type whose divisible end is located in the region of square neck 10. The slide 12 of the zipper 11 is in a closed position in the base area of sleeping bag 5 and can therefore not be reached by the baby or infant. The edges of armholes 9 as well as of square neck 10 are covered with stretchable terrycloth material.

According to FIG. 3, a retainer for a disposable diaper 15 is attached to the back portion of the sleeping bag below the ellipse-shaped surface portion 6. The attachment can be carried out by means of buttons 16 or may be sewn in place to the back portion of sleeping bag 5.

After the child has been placed with his buttocks on a disposable diaper appropriately positioned, and the legs of the child placed in the direction of the two arrows 17, the two flaps 18 are folded upward over and around the legs of the child and fastened to buttons 16 by means of buttonholes 19. The two flaps 18 prevent the child from sliding down even in the case of vigorous kicking movements without otherwise practically restricting his freedom of movement. Since the child is prevented from sliding down in the bag, unnecessary chafing of the child's neck at the square neck of the sleeping bag is prevented. A disposable diaper is readily replaceable within the retainer 15 and if necessary to improve the hygienic conditions, a waterproof support may be buttoned on beneath the disposable diaper.

Some of the characteristics of the invention can be employed separately, or in combination. For example, a divisible zipper arranged in a manner described can also be employed in other sleeping bags for children or kicking bags and the like. Likewise, a great variety of modes of attaching the bedlinen sheet to the mattress is possible, such as shaping the sheet as a bag for the insertion of the mattress therein.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A safety sleeping bag for infants adapted to be detachably connected to the mattress of the crib comprising a stretchable bedlinen sheet, a closeable blanket of stretchable terrycloth, having a bodice-like upper portion with a square neck and a bag-like lower portion, sewn jointly with a soft, absorbant filler, to the sheet at an elliptically shaped surface portion of a back area of the blanket, a tension band, attached to the opposite side of the sheet in the area of the surface portion and adapted to securely surround the crib mattress, a divisible zipper, extending from the top of the bodice-like upper portion to the base of the bag-like lower portion, the slide of which is located in the bag-like lower portion when the zipper is closed, and a retainer for a disposable diaper, secured to a back portion of the blanket below the elliptically shaped surface portion.

2. A safety sleeping bag for infants adapted to be detachably connected to the mattress of a crib comprising a fitted bed linen sheet, a closable blanket, having a bodice-like upper portion and a bag-like lower portion, sewn jointly with a soft, absorbant filler, to the sheet at a surface portion of a back area of the blanket, a retainer for a disposable diaper secured to a back portion of the blanket, and a tension band attached to the opposite side of the sheet in the area of the surface portion and adapted securely surround a crib mattress.

3. The safety sleeping bag of claim 2 wherein the bodice-like upper portion has a square neck.

4. The safety sleeping bag of claim 2 further comprising a divisible zipper extending from the top of the bodice-like upper portion to the base of the bag-like lower portion.

5. The safety sleeping bag of claim 2 wherein the slide of the zipper is located in the lower bag-like portion when the zipper is closed.