Swivel teat for baby bottle

In combination:

• a beverage container and an artificial teat therefor,
• said teat having walls of material sufficiently rigid to allow a beverage to flow therethrough during an infant's nursing,
• means facilitating the use of said teat to feed an animal, without tilting said teat in conjunction with said beverage container when drinking the beverage in said container, said means allowing said teat to bend freely without substantially decreasing the lumen thereof, said means having a body having an interior and exterior profile and first and second opposite ends, said means comprising a zone of at least one expandable transverse corrugation formed in said wall material extending from said interior to said exterior profile of said teat and intermediate the ends of said teat,
• said at least one corrugation allowing said teat to bend freely without limiting the depth of insertion into said mouth of said infant nursing,
• the body of said teat containing a downwardly and inwardly tapered portion below said at least one corrugation sufficient to define where said teat may bend during use without blocking the flow of beverage therethrough.

A method of feeding a liquid to an infant or other animal without said animal having to drink from an open-mouthed container, and while allowing said animal to drink with the head of said animal inclined in a comfortable position throughout drinking, comprising the following steps:

• providing an elongated beverage container having walls which are concentric to an axis of elongation of said container, said container having an open mouth closed by an artificial teat through which said liquid in said container can be dispensed to the mouth of said animal in response to suction on said teat from said mouth of said animal,
• said teat comprising an elongated member having two opposite ends, one end having means for attaching said teat to said open mouth of said container, an other end having a discharge outlet,
• said teat having a body having an interior and exterior profile and first and second opposite ends, said teat having a cylindrical wall portion concentric to an axis of elongation of said teat, said axis of elongation of said teat being coaxial with said axis of elongation of said container, said wall portion having at least one expandable and compressible corrugation intermediate said ends thereof, said at least one corrugation extending from said interior to said exterior profile of said teat and being sufficiently flexible to enable a base part of said teat between said at least one corrugation and said one end thereof to be freely bent away from a front part of said teat between said at least one corrugation and said other end thereof while still allowing said liquid in said container to flow freely from said container through said teat, said at least one corrugation being capable of being inserted into said open mouth of said animal without restriction,
• orienting said head of said animal so that it is inclined at a comfortable position between the horizontal and the vertical,
• placing said teat into said mouth of said animal with the axes of elongation of said teat and said container also inclined at an angle between the horizontal and the vertical and being generally perpendicular to said head of said animal,
• allowing said animal to suck said liquid from said container through said teat, and
• as said liquid in said container is depleted, bending said base part of said teat and said container such that (a) the axes of elongation of said base part of said teat and said container are oriented to a more vertical position than the axis of elongation of said front part of said teat, (b) said teat bends at said at least one corrugation, and (c) said liquid flows by gravity to the mouth of said container until said mouth of said container is completely covered with said liquid so as to prevent said animal from drawing air through said teat while allowing said head of said animal to remain in said comfortable, inclined position through feeding.