A look at the origins of some of the baby basics on every new parent’s baby shower registry.
1. Stroller
The first perambulator, also known as the “pram,” was built in 1733 by famed architect William Kent to entertain the children of the Duke of Devonshire. The pram consisted of a wicker basket set on an ornately decorated wooden frame with four wheels and a harness so it could be pulled by a pony, goat, or dog. The novelty vehicle caught on with the English elite, who commissioned similar models from local craftsmen who put their own spin on the design.
One of the first changes was replacing the harness with two handles, so an adult pulled the child instead of a pony. Later, after too many children fell out of prams, a bar was placed between the handles, allowing parents to push the cart and keep an eye on their little one. One design change was made to skirt the law: It was illegal to operate four-wheeled vehicles on footpaths, so after many mothers and nannies received citations for pushing a pram, manufacturers produced two- or three-wheeled prams to keep their patrons out of trouble.
Prams became more popular after World War I thanks to a post-war baby boom, as well as breakthroughs in plastic production. Replacing expensive wood and wicker bassinets with plastic shells, and brass fittings with chromed metal, meant the price of a pram came down considerably. More changes were made to the design, including deeper baskets, thicker wheels, lower clearance to the ground, and foot brakes.
In the 1940s, strollers, or pushchairs, designed for toddlers were introduced. Children in strollers faced forward, rather than the more common parent-facing seats of prams. Early designs were little more than wheeled chairs with a metal hoop around the child. A major redesign occurred in 1965 when Owen Maclaren, an English aeronautical engineer, heard his daughter complaining about the struggles of taking a pram on an airplane. Using his knowledge of aircraft manufacturing, Maclaren designed a stroller from lightweight aluminum that could be folded when not in use. His “umbrella stroller” became a huge hit and is still popular today.
Another major design shift came in 1984, when Phil Baechler tried jogging with his infant son in tow. Baechler soon realized that strollers were “awful for running and they come to a complete stop on grass or sand.” So he began experimenting with aluminum tubing and bicycle wheels, eventually coming up with the three-wheeled Baby Jogger, which he initially sold out of the back of running magazines for $200 a piece.
2. Baby Monitor
Spurred by paranoia after the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping, Eugene F. McDonald, Jr., head of General Electric, asked his engineers to come up with a way for him to listen in on his newborn daughter. The new gadget, called the Radio Nurse, was released in 1937 and consisted of two pieces: the Guardian Ear, which sat by the crib and served as the transmitter, and the Radio Nurse, the receiver, which could stand on a bedside table or hang over the headboard. Although the Guardian Ear isn’t much to look at, the Radio Nurse, with its striking, human-like appearance, is an example of the early work of designer Isamu Noguchi, now best known for his iconic coffee table.
Unlike today’s monitors, the signal from the Ear to the Nurse was not broadcast over the air. Instead, the signal was sent through the home’s electrical wiring. This system was imperfect because it was not unusual to pick up other radio signals in the area. In addition, at $19.95 (or $325 today), it was too expensive for most people, so the Radio Nurse did not last long. The baby monitor would wait another 50 years to the time when wireless phones came into vogue in the 1980s when it became a staple in the nursery.
3. Infant Formula
For centuries, the only options for women who were unable to or chose not to breastfeed was whole cow’s milk or use a wetnurse to handle the duties instead. As the Industrial Revolution evolved and the science of food was better understood, companies began to produce breastmilk replacements that provided more nutritional value than plain old milk.
One of the most successful was Henri Nestlé, a German pharmacist living in Switzerland, who would one dayplay a part in revolutionizing the chocolate business. Nestle used wheat flour, milk, and sugar for his Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé (Henri Nestlé’s Milk Flour) released in 1867. Most formulas were difficult for babies to digest but Nestlé had removed the starch and acid in the flour which made it easier on little tummies and making it a favorite. The formula sold for 50 cents a can (approximately $10.50 today), but mothers could send away for a free sample good for about 12 meals before committing to purchase.
4. Disposable Diapers
Valerie Hunter Gordon was about to give birth to her third child in 1947and decided she had had enough of time-consuming washing of dirty cloth diapers. With a bit of ingenuity and her trusty Singer sewing machine, Gordon created the Paddi, the first disposable diaper system.
The Paddi consisted of two parts: a strip of inexpensive, cellulose-based gauze as an absorbing pad, and a nylon outer shell that held the pad in place, made from an old parachute she procured on the Army base where her husband was stationed. To eliminate the need for cumbersome and dangerous safety pins, she added snap closures to make the shell adjust to nearly any size infant.
With her system, instead of washing the entire diaper, the gauze, which started to break down once it was soaked, could be removed and flushed down the toilet. The nylon shell was then wiped off and reused with a new pad in place.
The Paddi was a major hit with her homemaker friends, and she wound up sewing over 400 sets at her kitchen table. Although the diapers proved popular, Gordon could not convince a company to manufacture them, it was thought there was little market for them. Finally, in 1949, Gordon sold the idea to Robinson and Sons, one of the first to make disposable sanitary napkins. After a slow start, Paddis became popular leading other companies to tweak Gordon’s two-part design and release their own disposable diapers. In fact, not until 1961, when Pampers were introduced, did the completely disposable diaper became the norm.
Oddly enough, things are coming full circle, as the public has become more aware of the environmental impact of disposable diapers. Today, eco-friendly parents have a variety of choices, including new style cloth diapers, or gDiapers, which feature a flushable pad and a waterproof outer cover, proving that good ideas never truly die.
5. Pacifier
Met Museum
It is impossible to know how far back pacifiers go but some believe they were first “sugar rags” or “sugar tits” - tied-off scraps of linen covering a lump of animal fat or bread mixed with honey or sugar. The child would suck on the fabric and their saliva would slowly dissolve the sugar for a sweet treat. Sometimes the rags were dipped in brandy or whiskey to alleviate the pain of teething, with the unintended, but not unwelcome, side effect of helping the baby fall asleep.
In the 18th Century, commoners used wood or animal bones to keep children quiet but the rich had custom soothers called “corals,” made of polished coral, ivory, or mother of pearl with a gold or silver handle. It was not unusual for the handle to double as a whistle and a rattle, with small bells attached to keep the child entertained and also to ward off evil spirits. Some believe silver corals might be the origin of the phrase “born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”
6. Baby Bottles
In the past, high rates of mortality among women during childbirth meant it was not unusual to feed babies by artificial means. Until the late 19th Century, baby bottles made from ceramic or metal and shaped like flattened tea pots, tapered to a point for suckling, with a hole in the top to pour in the breastmilk substitute. Unfortunately, sanitary conditions were poor and bottlefed babies often died by getting sick from bacteria built up inside improperly cleaned bottles.
7. Car Seats
For decades after the automobile’s invention, child seats were less about safety and more about keeping the child contained in the car. Early child seats were nothing more than burlap sacks with a drawstring that hung over the headrest on the passenger’s seat. Later models, like the one produced by the Bunny Bear Company in 1933, were booster seats, propping backseat riders up so parents could keep an eye them.
In the 1940s, many manufacturers released canvas seats on a metal frame attached to the car’s front seat so a child could get a better view through the windshield. To help complete the illusion, a toy steering wheel was often added to the frame so they could pretend to drive.
The first true safety seat appeared in 1962 when Britain’s Jean Ames created a rear-facing car seat, complete with a Y-shaped strap system to securely hold the baby in an accident. He chose rear-facing because he was operating on the concept of “ride down,” which essentially says it’s safest to decelerate in the same direction the car is moving.
Also, Leonard Rivkin of Denver, Colorado invented the Strolee National Safety Car Seat for Children, which saw the child buckled into a chair surrounded by a metal frame. It could be used on the front or back bench seat and even between the new-fangled bucket seats that were becoming popular at the time.
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