CPC A61J 13/00 (2013.01) [A61J 11/0005 (2013.01); A61J 15/0053 (2013.01); A61M 1/068 (2014.02)] | 7 Claims |
1. A nipple shield comprising: a tip section having an interior tip surface, an exterior tip surface and at least one perforation passing through the tip section between the interior tip surface and the exterior tip surface; a substantially frustoconical-shaped middle section having a middle section upper portion adjoining the tip section and a middle section lower portion opposite the middle section upper portion, the middle section upper portion having a diameter less than the middle section lower portion, the middle section having a substantially frustoconical-shaped interior middle surface that adjoins the interior tip surface, the middle section having a substantially frustoconical-shaped exterior middle surface that adjoins the exterior tip surface; a lower section having a lower section upper portion adjoining the middle section and a lower section lower portion opposite the lower section upper portion, the lower section having an interior lower surface that adjoins the interior middle surface, the lower section having an exterior lower surface that adjoins the exterior middle surface, the lower section having an open port passing between the interior lower surface and the exterior lower surface; a supply tube adjoining the lower section at the open port forming a passage through the supply tube to the interior lower surface; a channel configured as a depression in the interior middle surface of the middle section, wherein the channel is open to an interior section of the nipple shield along an entire length of the channel, which extends from proximate to the open port in the lower section to proximate to the at least one perforation of the tip section; and a channel cover of flexible sheet material disposed on the interior lower surface and the interior middle surface so as to cover the open port and the channel, the channel cover being attached to portions of the interior lower surface proximate to the open port wherein the channel cover is not attached to the interior lower surface on the open port or the interior middle surface on the channel.
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