Baby bibs
Protective garments such as infant bibs are used on most infants and children to protect their bodies and clothing from dribbled and spilled liquids and other food-stuff materials. A bib is a cover for temporarily protecting a person’s body or clothing from liquids or stains during the consumption of food and drink. Bibs are also used to protect babies and their clothing from saliva from drool or spit. Bibs are commonly used on newborn babies and young children to protect the chest area, especially clothing (e.g., shirts, pajama tops, etc.) that the baby wears while eating, from food stains. Various bibs are well known for the purpose of covering the front of the torso of a wearer. These normally serve a protective purpose, a particularly broad range of bib designs having been directed to keeping food off the wearer’s clothing. Baby bibs are widely employed while feeding a baby to protect the baby or the baby’s cloths from food and drink that is invariably spilled during the feeding process. Larger toddler bibs are also widely used to protect the clothing of older children who may be old enough to feed themselves or require limited help with feeding, but who are likely to spill food or drinks on themselves while eating. Adults similarly may use bibs to protect their clothing when eating foods that are particularly prone to dripping or slipping off eating utensils. Additionally, bibs are worn by patrons of restaurants.
Bibs are most commonly used while feeding a baby or young child. Baby bibs are commonly used to protect the upper torso of babies and small infants when they are still perfecting the the art of eating solid foods. Bibs are typically constructed of a piece of material that is coupled about the child’s neck using a pair of strings or other fasteners, such as snaps of a hook and loop fastener material. Most commonly bibs for children have tails or ends which encircle the child’s neck and are tied or otherwise fastened behind the neck. Such bibs easily rotate as the child moves his or her head, diminishing the bib’s primary purpose, which is to protect the garments on the child from food spillage, throw up or dribbling. Various baby bib configurations have been developed to place and secure the bib to a baby. While there are many configurations for securing a bib to an infant, they can all be placed into two general categories. The first category includes bibs with two arm-like appendages which wrap around the infant’s neck and attach/secure behind the infant’s neck using fasteners such as buttons, strings, snaps, tape or hook and loop fasteners. The second category includes bibs having an opening within the body of the bib so that the bib can slide down over the infant’s head. The opening may be a circular hole cut into the bib, or else comprise a cutout employing a neck band to hang the bib around an infant’s neck. Various enhancements have been made to baby bibs to make them more attractive or more functional. For example, adding pockets to the bib for holding food, drinking containers, and wiping clothes improves the functionality of the bib. Adding sewn on or embroidered representations of animals, cartoon characters, and the like improve the decorative nature of the bib, provide stimulation or amusement to the baby or child during the feeding process or enhance acceptance of the bib by the baby or child during feeding.
Many bibs use absorbent materials, such as terrycloth, while others use impermeable materials that repel liquids and food instead of absorbing them. In order to be more effective, some bibs come with permanently formed pouches located at a lower section of the bib. These pouches are intended to trap and catch solids and liquids that are spilled or dropped by the bib’s user. Baby bibs are made of cloth or paper and only protect the clothing located directly under a user’s bib. Cloth bibs need to be washed and more than one bib may need to be kept on hand for use while other bibs are waiting to be cleaned. Some baby bibs are reusable, like clothing, and can be washed in a washing machine while others are made of plastics and can be wiped with a cloth. Others are disposable and are meant for single use. Disposable bibs used during dental procedures have been made of various plastic and cloth materials, and are attached by chains around the neck, or by adhesive areas that are temporarily attached to clothing under the bib. Disposable bibs are generally made of a sheet of material which is fluid impervious on the body facing side and fluid retentive on the outward side to retard the spillage and over-run of fluid when it contacts the outward surface. These disposable baby bibs may be fastened about the neck by a string or by an arcuate extension of one side of the bib material which is designed to encircle the neck and mate with a portion of the other side of the bib extending upward. Disposable bibs can have a laminate construction comprising multiple layers. For instance, disposable bibs can include an absorbent paper or nonwoven topsheet for receiving spilled food material and a plastic film backsheet for preventing penetration of spilled liquids through the bib and onto the baby’s clothing. Other multiple layer bib constructions are also known.