This invention relates to the field of temperature sensing apparatuses, specifically those specially adapted for use on an infant.
The health of one""s children has always been considered to be of the utmost importance. This is especially true of newborns and infants who, having built up few immunities to sickness and disease, are very vulnerable. Furthermore, serious disease or maladies early in life may lead to permanent physiological problems in the child""s future. Therefore, many parents spend a great amount of time checking on their infants so that they may either prevent sickness from occurring or help eliminate it as soon as it does occur.
One very important key to an infant""s health is maintaining an infant""s body temperature within a certain tolerance level of the average human body temperature. A high body temperature beyond a certain tolerance level may be undesirable. The third leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year in age is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the unexpected death of an infant typically under 1 year old, without explicable cause. While SIDS has no symptoms and provides no indication, parents can follow some precautionary measures to help minimize the possibility that their child may afflicted. One precautionary measure now being advocated by doctors is preventing a sleeping infant""s body temperature from rising too highly and/or too rapidly.
A high body temperature is undesirable for other reasons as well. For example, a high body temperature may cause a small infant discomfort, leading him to cry and scream. A high body temperature may also be the sign of an infectious disease which should be attended to by the parent. An extremely high body temperature at an early age may even cause permanent brain damage or death.
An abnormally low body temperature is equally undesirable. Because an infant contains less body fat than an adult, certain ambient temperatures that may be comfortable for an adult may be too cold for an infant. This would leave the infant uncomfortable which may lead to the infant crying and screaming. Furthermore, a low body temperature may also be indicative of a malady or sickness.
It would be desirable, then, to have a device that periodically monitors an infant""s body temperature automatically so that a parent may take appropriate measures if the infant""s body temperature is too high or too low.
The present invention is a system for continuously monitoring the body temperature of an infant in order to promote health and comfort.
According to one aspect of the invention, the monitoring system includes a temperature monitoring station having a housing, a temperature sensor and a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver and a companion station having a housing, an RF transceiver and an output device.