Garment for selectively supporting shields for expressing milk

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9402425-B2
Application number	US-201313843058-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

A nursing garment configured to be worn by a wearer having a breast includes an interior layer, an intermediate layer, and an exterior layer. The interior layer is positioned immediately adjacent the wearer during use of the nursing garment and defines soft cups for supporting the breasts. Each of the soft cups defines an opening therethrough providing access to a different one of the breasts. The intermediate layer defines padded cups, is coupled to the interior layer, and is positioned immediately adjacent the interior layer. The padded cups overlie the soft cups of the interior layer covering the openings of the interior layer. The exterior layer extends over the intermediate layer opposite the interior layer substantially covering the intermediate layer. To permit nursing, the intermediate layer and the exterior layer collectively fold down away from the interior layer permitting access to the breasts via the openings in the interior layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A nursing garment configured to be worn by a wearer having breasts, the nursing garment comprising:
an interior front layer adapted to be positioned immediately adjacent the wearer during use of the nursing garment, the interior front layer defining soft cups for supporting the breasts of the wearer, wherein each of the soft cups defines an opening therethrough providing access to one of the breasts of the wearer, wherein each said opening is a slit,
further the interior front layer includes: two separate side panels including a first side panel and a second side panel, a center panel interposed between the two separate side panels, a first seam line extending between the first side panel and the center panel, and a second seam line extending between the second side panel and the center panel, and the openings are each formed along a different one of the first seam line and the second seam line between the center panel and a corresponding one of the two separate side panels;
an intermediate front layer defining padded cups, wherein the padded cups are preformed with a convex outer profile along each of the padded cups, the intermediate front layer being coupled to the interior front layer and positioned immediately adjacent the interior front layer, wherein the padded cups overlie the soft cups of the interior front layer covering the openings of the front interior layer; and
an exterior front layer extending over the intermediate front layer opposite the interior front layer, the exterior front layer substantially covering the intermediate front layer;
wherein to permit nursing, the intermediate front layer and the exterior front layer collectively fold down away from the interior front layer permitting access to the breasts via the openings in the interior front layer; and
wherein each of the interior front layer, the intermediate front layer, and the exterior front layer defines a separate neckline edge that remains free from directly coupling to another one of the interior front layer, the intermediate front layer, and the exterior front layer.

2. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate front layer is characterized by an absence of any apertures formed therethrough.

3. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein the openings of the interior front layer are sized to have a largest overall dimension of less than 3.5 inches.

4. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein each said slit is substantially closed when the garment is worn during periods of normal wear and is open when the garment is worn during nursing periods.

5. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein the interior front layer is configured to entirely cover the breasts of the wearer other than the openings.

6. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein: the center panel defines a neckline edge and a bottom edge, a length of the center panel is defined between the neckline edge and the bottom edge, and the first seam line and the second seam line each extend along an entirety of the length of the center panel.

7. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein: the center panel is formed of a single ply of material, and each of the two separate side panels is formed of at least two plies of material, one of the at least two plies being a stabilizer.

8. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein the interior front layer includes elastic along at least one edge of each said opening.

9. The nursing garment of claim 1 , further comprising: an elastic band coupled to each of the interior front layer and the intermediate front layer the elastic band being configured to extend around a torso of the wearer below the breasts; straps coupled to and extending away from a top edge of the interior front layer; first clip portions each coupled to one of the straps; second clip portions each coupled to both the intermediate front layer and the exterior front layer; wherein the first clip portions and the second clip portions selectively interact to selectively hold the intermediate front layer and the exterior front layer up and extending over the interior front layer, and the first clip portions and the second clip portions release from one another to allow the intermediate front layer and the exterior front layer to fold down away from interior front layer exposing the openings.

10. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein the interior front layer is maintained tightly against the breasts of the wearer such that when a breast pumping shield is positioned inside interior front layer, the breast pumping shield is tightly held to the breasts of the wearer by the interior front layer while a milk transfer cylinder extends from the breast pumping shield and out one of the openings in the interior front layer allowing the wearer to express milk in a hands-free manner.

11. The nursing garment of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate front layer and the exterior front layer are coupled to one another along underarm edges of each of the intermediate front layer and the exterior front layer.

Assignees

• Target Brands Inc

Inventors

• Cortese Daniele M
• Weich Emily

Classifications

• A41C3/04 Primary

  for nursing mothers {(nursing clothing in general A41D1/215)} · CPC title

• A41D1/215 Primary

  Nursing clothing, e.g. for breastfeeding · CPC title

• A41D1/205 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic