City apartments , as many the great unwashed know , can be small and stuffy . And while fresh air is a wonderful , sanitary thing for people of all ages , in the tardy 19th one C , the idea of actively " vent " your baby to promote wellness started cropping up in parenting books .
The conception was introduced by Dr. Luther Emmett Holt who wrote about " airing " in his 1894 bookThe Care and Feeding of Children .
" Fresh air is require to renew and purify the blood , and this is just as necessary for wellness and ontogeny as right food for thought , " he wrote . " The appetency is improved , the digestion is better , the cheeks become red , and all signs of wellness are seen . "
Essentially , the thinking was that this was part of a process to toughen up the babies , and make them better able to withstand common cold . It was believed that exposing infants to inhuman temperatures — both outdoors and through cold - water system washup — would accord them a certain unsusceptibility to catching nonaged illnesses . Holt respond to a series of hypothetical questions about his proposed methods , saying :
Dr. Holt himself does not seem to have specifically suggested an outdoor baby cage , but the airing he advocated presently led parents without garden space to improvise .
In 1922 , Emma Read of Spokane , Wash. , applied for a letters patent [ PDF ] on a " portable babe cage . " ( Long before there were commercial options , Eleanor Rooseveltbought a poulet - wire John Cage in 1906 to pay heed out the windowpane of her New York City townhouse on East thirty-sixth Street for her first small fry , Anna , to nap in — a practice for which her neighborsthreatened to call the authoritieson her . ) In Read ’s program , which was granted the following year , she advert that " it is well known that a great many difficulties uprise in raising and properly housing babies and small children in crowded city , that is to say from the wellness standpoint . " The solution she purport was as stick with :
A standardised product make an appearance in Louis Fischer ’s 1920 bookThe Health - Care of the Baby , which describes " a convenient outdoor sleeping compartment promptly attached to any window , " called the Boggins ’ Window Crib . The telegram gimmick , 36 " x 24 " x 27 " , is line as being " praiseworthily conform for city flat , " with an insulated cap that will keep the baby cool enough to build up a cold - weather margin even in summer .
Although patented in the other 1920s in the States , it was n’t till the ' thirty that these cages remove off — and in smogginess - filled London , of all place . Thewire cageswere attached to renter buildings and distributed to member of the Chelsea Baby Club who lived in high building without garden space in which to transmit their babies .
The fad proved to have some staying power , and in 1953,British Pathéproduced this pun - filled promotional television espousing the benefits of infant coop .
It ’s not entirely clear when exactly the baby batting cage ’s popularity began to wane , but it likely had something to do with grow concerns for child safety in the second half of the 20th century . But if it still seems like a with child idea to you , these daytime there are similar options forcats .
[ h / tApartment TherapyandGothamist ]
