5 The present Invention relates to a device for a sucking and teething instrument for children, particularly small children from the age of 3 months and up to the age when they normally stop using such devices. More specifically, the device consists of a pillow having one or more arms projecting ι° outward therefrom, to which arms' outer end is releasably attached a pacifier, teething ring, or the like. For parents of little children who use a pacifier or teething ring, it has been a recurrent problem that the children loose the pacifier at night and are unable to find it again. This

'5 often results in the child's crying, so that the parents must get up to find the pacifier and give it back to the child. As a consequence, both the child and the parents are awakened unnecessarily many times during the night. The reason the child is unable to find the pacifier is generally that it

²⁰ falls out of the bed (in the case of a crib with slatted sides) or that it is lying under the quilt or becomes separated from the child in some other way.

There has previously been an attempt to solve this problem 25 by making a pacifier with a luminous end. This was not a success, since it is of no particular advantage for the pacifier to be luminous if it falls out of the bed or becomes separated in some other way from the child in the bed.

5° Fastening chains that are used on jackets and the like cannot be used at night, since the chain would generally have to be so long that there could be a danger of its encircling the child's throat when the child is asleep. It is necessary for the child to be able to turn around, so a short chain

'5 therefore cannot be used, either. A solution whereby teething rings and pacifiers are suspended above the child is

effective only in those situations where the child is awake and is able to see these sucking and teething devices.

Thus, there is currently no known solution which functions satisfactorily with regard to its effectiveness and safety.

The present invention, however, provides an device for a sucking and teething instrument of the type described above, characterized in that the arms projecting outward from the

10 pillow are formed as loops or straps for said releasable attachment to a pacifier, teething ring, or the like, and wherein the loops or straps may be opened with the aid of snap fasteners or similar means.

Ϊ5 According to a particular embodiment of the device, the pillow is provided with an internal bell surrounded by a safety pouch. The invention will now be described in more detail, with reference to the attached figures.

²⁰ Fig. 1 is a horizontal view of the device according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the device of Fig. 1.

? Fig. 3 is a horizontal view of a modification of the device in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the device in Fig. 3.

0 The basic idea of the device according to the invention is the use of a central pillow 1 which may be formed in various shapes, for example, round, oval, square, triangular or another geometrical form. To make it easy for the child to register where the pillow is situated in the bed, the pillow 5 may be provided with a bell 2 (see Figs. 1-4) which is placed within a safety pouch 12 (see Figs. 3 and 4). The purpose of said safety pouch 12 is to enable the bell to be fastened to

the pillow in such a way that there is no risk of the child's managing to get the pillow bell into his mouth and possibly swallowing it or being choked by it. As illustrated in the figures, the pillow is provided with arms 3, 4, 5 and 6, and 3', 4', 5' and 6', respectively, in the form of straps to which the pacifiers and teething rings may be attached by threading said straps through the teething ring or pacifier and fastening the ends thereof closest to the pillow with the aid of snap fasteners 7 and 7', respectively.

With the device according to the invention it is possible for the child to have in his bed an article which is soft and comfortable to hold, at the same time as the child is easily able to find one of the pacifiers or teething rings on the arms projecting outward from the pillow. When the child wakes up during the night to find the pacifier or teething ring, the child will begin to move about. This means that the pillow will move, too, since it is lying in the bed. On hearing the bell, the child is quickly able to relocate the pillow with its sucking and teething instruments. In the illustrated device, the pillow has a plurality of arms designed to make it somewhat exciting for the child. For example, in one embodiment the pillow itself could be formed as the body portion of a stuffed animal, with said arms representing the animal's legs. It is also possible to vary the signalling means inside the pillow. The stuffing material in the pillow may also be varied.

In one preferred embodiment, the pillow has a thickness of 7 cm, for example, which prevents it from easily falling out between the slats in a crib. If the pillow and arms are designed appropriately with respect to both color and shape, the device according to the invention will gradually be perceived as a cuddle toy by the child.

The use of snap fasteners 7, 7' or the like on the straps 3, 4 , 5 and 6 , or 3' , 4 ' , 5 ' and 6' forming the arms that

project outward from pillow 1 makes it possible to replace the pacifiers, teething rings, or the like when necessary or when the pillow is to be washed. Since it is now easier for the child to gain access to the pacifier or teething ring, the child will not as easily wake up completely during the night when the need for sucking or teething is felt. This in turn will have great significance for the child's parents.

In a practical embodimient, the pillow should be fabricated of wear resistant fabric with solid stitching and should be filled with a wadding filler, or the like, which easily may be washed and dried. It would not be possible for the bell placed in the pillow in a small pouch to be reached by the child and taken out and put in the mouth if the seams of the pillow should possibly come unsewn.

An important factor for the arms of the device is that they should be of such a length that the child's head cannot enter the looped strap forming each arm; and the arms must not be so long that the child can get the arm wound around its throat. In a presently preferred embodiment form, the maximum length of the arm is 14 cm.

In the modification of the device shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the snap fasteners are positioned near the sucking or teething instrument and are designated by reference numeral 7'. This means that the loop formed by each arm 3', 4', 5' and 6' is considerably shorter than in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

An appropriate width for each arm is, e.g., 3 cm. A suitable diameter for pillow 1 may be, for example, 23 cm. The indicated measurements should not, however, be regarded as restrictive for the inventive idea and the embodiment of the invention, as it is presupposed that these measurements would be variable according to need and to the design of the device. The snap fasteners 7, 7' must be of very good

quality so that they do not release easily, and the pacifiers 8, 9 and 10 and the teething ring 11 that are mounted on the device should be products that have already been approved.