This invention relates to children's clothing in particular but not exclusively to a paediatric treatment garment that provides access to medical equipment attached to a child's body or limbs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The treatment of children for conditions requiring extended stays in hospital is a universal situation. Often conditions require the child to be treated with drips in their arms or legs supported by cardboard paddles covered in bandages. Patients, especially young children often get tangled in lines attached to them, intravenous ports, nasal gastric tubes and other pieces of equipment used for various procedures. This is problematical where there is very sparse or no specially adapted prior art clothing available in the case of very young children. Parents or hospital staffs often have to leave the body parts out of ordinary clothing or cut the child's clothing or put clothes that are too big on the child. In some cases, lines are simply taped to the clothing or just left hanging by hospital staff. This can result in a child's slow recovery as not all the body is covered and kept warm. Children's clothes are often ruined from cutting them to accommodate hospital procedures. Children can get tangled in clothes that are too big for them. Young children may rip lines out or get tangled in them and in the worst case scenario, choked by them. To promote a child's recovery from hospital, the child should not be disturbed as much as possible and given time to recover without being moved or undressed. There is therefore a need for a paediatric treatment garment wherein the child does not have to be woken and which provides ease of access with the least disturbance- Furthermore, ease of access for nurses and doctors promotes staff efficiency by getting through patients quickly in not having to undress and dress patients constantly. There would also be a saving by not having to throw away cut clothing or spending money on clothes that do not fit just for the child's hospital visits.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to ameliorate some or all of the above disadvantages of the prior art by providing a novel and innovative paediatric treatment garment which provides ready access to medical equipment attached to a child's body or limbs with as little disturbance to the child as is possible.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

In one aspect therefore the invention resides in a paediatric treatment garment including in combination:

a body having a neck, a bodice with arm and crotch portions;

a pair of sleeves joined to the arm portions of the bodice;

the sleeves preferably of a winged or tapering configuration wherein the sleeves widen as they approach the region of a child's hands;

a pair of legs joined to the crotch portion of the bodice;

the legs preferably of a tapering configuration wherein the legs widen as they approach the region of the child's feet;

openings located substantially along the lengths of the body, sleeves and legs;

closure means associated with the openings; the openings adapted to facilitate access to medical equipment inclusive of leads, tubing, drips, taps, manifolds and arm boards attached to the child during extended periods of treatment or hospitalization.

Preferably, the garment is of the style of a jump suit. In the alternative, the garment may comprise a top and trousers or skirt.

Preferably, the sleeves and legs are of longer lengths that that of the child's limbs wherein they can be folded back to completely enclose the child's arms and legs.

In another example, the openings are adapted to open across the entire garment including sleeves, entire bodice and leg portions whereby the garment can be opened and lain flat under the child to provide complete and unrestricted access to the child.

Preferably, the closure means includes zippers, Velcro, buttons or press studs or any combination of the same.

Preferably, the sleeves and legs are removable parts of the garment to provide full access to the child's arms or legs.

Preferably, there are releasable tabs to secure lines and leads on the garment.

In another example, the garment has sleeve and leg openings with added wings or extendable sections to provide increased room and which can be opened and lain flat for improved access to the arms and legs of the child- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order for the invention to be better understood reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a preferred garment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a closed sleeve of the garment of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 shows a garment with openings adapted to open across the entire garment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to Figure 1 and Figure 2 there is shown a preferred example of the invention. In this embodiment the paediatric treatment garment 10 in the style of a jump suit has a neck 12, a bodice 14 with arm 16, 18 and crotch 20 portions- There is a pair of sleeves 22, 24 joined to the arm portions of the bodice. The sleeves are preferably of a tapering configuration wherein the sleeves widen as they approach the region of a child's hands 26, 18. A pair of legs 30, 32 are joined to the crotch portion of the bodice and also preferably of a tapering configuration wherein the legs widen as they approach the region of the child's feet 34, 36. These 'wings' or tapered sleeves and legs are to provide room for paddle boards and/or bandaged limbs due to the inclusion of intra venous drip lines 38 or other treatment equipment and interventions attached to the child 40. There are zipper openings 42,43,44,46 located substantially along the lengths of the body, sleeves and legs. The closure means associated with the openings may be zippers, Velcro, buttons or press studs or a combination of them. The openings in the sleeves and legs and bodice are adapted to facilitate access to medical equipment inclusive of leads, tubing, drips 38, taps, manifolds and arm boards during extended periods of treatment or hospitalization the child may undergo. Figure 2 shows the sleeve 22 zipped up leaving a small opening 22a for the drip line 38 to exit the garment.

While not shown in the drawings, preferably, the sleeves and legs can be of longer lengths wherein they can be folded back to completely enclose the child's arms and legs. In another example, the sleeves and legs may be removable parts of the garment to provide full access to the child's arms or legs. There can also be releasable tabs 50 to secure lines and leads 52 on the garment.

Figure 3 shows an example of the garment 60 having openings adapted to open across the entire garment including sleeves 62,64, entire bodice 66 and leg portions 67,68 wherein the garment can be opened and lain flat under the child 70 to provide complete and unrestricted access to the child. In this example, the fasteners 70,74,76,78 are press stud fittings however other fasteners such as hoop and loop fasteners, typically also known as "Velcro", buttons or zippers may be used. In this example there are also shown extendable arm wing sections, 61 and 63 and extendable leg wing sections 66 and 69 (shown in the opened and flat position) to provide increased room and improved access when in the opened and flat position to the arms and legs of the child.

It will of course be realised that while the foregoing has been given by way of illustrative example of this invention, all such and other modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is herein set forth. in the specification the terms "comprising" and "containing" shall be understood to have a broad meaning similar to the term "including" and will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps. This definition also applies to variations on the terms

"comprising" and "containing" such as "comprise", "comprises", "contain" and "contains".