Wrap for nursing mothers

Abstract

A garment for use by lactating mammals, the garment comprising a body capable of providing heat therapy or cold therapy and one or more straps connected to the body such that the straps are capable of holding the body in place on a user's breasts, udder, or dugs. The garment may allow hands-free application of heat therapy and/or cold therapy to the user's breasts. The garment may have openings capable of holding breast pump flanges, allowing the garment to be worn while using a breast pump. The fit of the garment 1 may be customizable for the comfort of the user. The garment 1 may be large enough to cover the entirety of both of the user's breast simultaneously and may conform to the user's breasts. The use of the extenders 10 may allow the garment 1 to provide compression to decrease milk supply when desired.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A garment for use by lactating mammals, the garment comprising:
 a body, where the body is capable of providing heat therapy or cold therapy; and   one or more straps connected to the body such that the straps are capable of holding the body in place on a user's breasts, udder, or dugs.   
     
     
         2 . The garment of  claim 1  where the body is sufficiently large to cover all parts of the user's breast, udder, or dugs. 
     
     
         3 . The garment of  claim 1  where the body is flexible and capable of conforming to the user's breasts, udder, or dugs. 
     
     
         4 . The garment of  claim 1  where the body has two layers forming at least one closed compartment therebetween, the garment further comprising one or more heating and/or cooling elements located within the at least one closed compartment. 
     
     
         5 . The garment of  claim 4  where the heating and/or cooling elements are capable of:
 being heated and retaining their heat for a period of time; 
 being cooled and retaining their cool for a period of time; and 
 being re-heated and re-cooled for repeated use. 
 
     
     
         6 . The garment of  claim 1  further comprising a plurality of openings in the body located such that the openings are located at the user's nipples or teats during wear. 
     
     
         7 . The garment of  claim 6  where the openings comprise a vertical slot and an intersecting horizontal slot. 
     
     
         8 . The garment of  claim 6  where the openings are circular. 
     
     
         9 . The garment of  claim 6  where the openings are sufficiently large to accommodate a tunnel of a breast pump flange but small enough not to allow passage of a base of the breast pump flange therethrough. 
     
     
         10 . The garment of  claim 1  where the one or more straps comprise elastic. 
     
     
         11 . The garment of  claim 1  where the one or more straps are permanently attached to a first side of the body and temporarily attached to a second side of the body. 
     
     
         12 . The garment of  claim 1  where the one or more straps are removably attached to a first side of the body and removably attached to a second side of the body. 
     
     
         13 . The garment of  claim 1  where the one or more straps attach to the body via hook and loop material. 
     
     
         14 . The garment of  claim 1  where the one or more straps are three straps, where each of the three straps is capable of being secured to the body independently of the other straps. 
     
     
         15 . The garment of  claim 1  further comprising one or more extenders, where the extenders are capable of extending the one or more straps and stretching across the body to provide compression to the user's breasts, udder, or dugs during wear.