Baby Bottle Preparation

Abstract

A method of filling a baby bottle is provided which comprises providing a baby bottle containing a hermetically sealed bottle liner, which contains a measured amount of powdered infant formula. The bottle liner comprises a lip retainer for preventing the bottle liner from falling into the bottle. The hermetic seal on the bottle liner may be opened. The method includes disposing filtered, heated water into the liner to mix with the powdered infant formula. A cap and nipple assembly is applied to the bottle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) [0001]The present application is a divisional patent application that claims priority benefit to (i) a co-pending and commonly assigned non-provisional, 371 national patent application entitled “Baby Bottle Preparation” that was filed on Aug. 27, 2009, and assigned Ser. No. 12 / 528,838, (ii) a PCT application upon which the foregoing non-provisional, 371 national patent application was based, namely PCT / US2008 / 055189 that was filed on Feb. 27, 2008, and (iii) an underlying provisional patent application filed on Feb. 27, 2007 and assigned Ser. No. 60 / 891,805. The contents of each of the foregoing applications are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]The present disclosure is directed to advantageous apparatus and associated methods / systems for preparing a baby bottle and, more particularly, to apparatus, systems, kits and associated methods for conveniently providing a supply or quantity of warm, sanitized ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The disclosed patent describes an improved apparatus, system, kit, and method for making the process of baby bottle preparation faster, more convenient and more accurate. This is achieved by combining separate activities for installing the bottle liner, formula dosing, and water sanitizing. The improved baby bottle liner is constructed of a flexible, non-breakable material, and a disposable options are also provided. The apparatus for filing the baby bottle includes a filtering, heating, and dispensing device for quickly supplying sanitized water at an ideal temperature that is subsequently mixed with powdered infant formula contained in the bottle liner. The patent also includes a one-way fluid control valve that automatically opens during the pumping operation and closes to prevent air from contaminating the water inside the filter at other times. Overall, the patent provides technical improvements for making baby bottle preparation easier and more efficient.

Problems solved by technology

Current processes for preparing a baby bottle can involve numerous steps, some of which can be time-consuming.

For example, the bottle may need to be submersed into cold water, a cooling process which often takes more time than a hungry baby has patience for.

Another deficiency in many common bottle preparation processes is that the user may not have an easy and accurate way to measure the temperature of the cooled formula mixture.

In such circumstances, a risk exists that the formula will not have been cooled sufficiently to avoid scalding the baby during feeding.

Another risk is that the temperature of the formula mixture may have dropped to too great an extent, potentially resulting in the baby rejecting the formula because it is not warm enough.

An additional process that can be time-consuming involves the cleaning and sanitizing of the actual bottle or container that contains the liquid formula during feeding.

Secondly, the heating elements are supplied with power to sanitize and heat and dry the flow passage between the filter end point and the exit orifice.

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