“It is well
known that a great many difficulties rise in raising and properly housing
babies and small children in crowded cities, that is to say from the health
viewpoint.”
Eleanor
Roosevelt ordered one for her daughter and a neighbor threatened to report her to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Eleanor
said, “This was rather a shock to me, for I thought I was being a very modern
mother.”
Not
being particularly bomb proof, Baby Cages were used in London until the Blitz. Then
kids were shipped to the country to live with strangers. Also, based on the
advert below, fresh air wasn’t particularly fresh and the kids may have been
better off inside.
In America, the Baby Cage never really caught on,
which is just as well. This left windows open for attractive air conditioning
units. In addition, the floor of the standard cage was mesh, leaving room for
um . . . “over spills” to plop on pedestrians.
However, I think Mrs. Reed would have been more
successful with a bit of market research. Who wants a Baby Cage, portable or
not? Call it a Fresh Air Delivery System, hire a celeb mommy spokesperson and every
mom would have been clamoring for one.
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