Bite-safe artificial teat

A bite-safe artificial teat comprising:

• a nipple portion, formed of an elastomer having a hardness of about Shore A 1 to about Shore A 20, and having at least one duct extending generally longitudinally from a distal end of said nipple portion to a proximal end of said nipple portion;
• a base portion attached at the distal end of the nipple portion and having an open interior volume contiguous with the distal end of the at least one duct;
• and
• a fiber mesh tube consisting of fibers that extend from the proximal end of the nipple portion through the distal end of the nipple portion for attaching the nipple portion to the base portion without providing tension or compression to the nipple portion during elongation;
• where the fibers of the fiber mesh tube are bonded at crossover points and extend distally into the base portion,
• wherein proximal fibers are fibers of the nipple portion and distal fibers are fibers of the base portion,
• wherein proximal fibers are less frequently bonded at crossover points than the distal fibers, and
• wherein the distal fibers splay out and have more crossover points throughout the base portion.

A bite-safe artificial teat having:

• a composite nipple portion composed of two portions;
• wherein a first portion comprises a contiguous elastic substance;
• wherein a second portion comprises helically wound fibers disposed within the elastic substance;
• wherein the helically wound fibers do not stretch;
• wherein both portions may obtain within 3% of the maximum stretch of said elastic substance during elongation of said nipple portion;
• and
• wherein the fibers of the fiber mesh tube are arranged at a pitch Pr that is determined according to Pr=πDr√((1−1/X)/((X2−1)) in which Dr is the relaxed diameter of the fiber mesh tube and X is the fractional elongation at which the fiber mesh tube exhibits no tensile stress.