Cradle

By the time this cradle was manufactured in the mid-19th century, the cradle was already falling out of fashion. Although infants had been lying in cradles since the Middle Ages, new ideas about the health and development of children caused many Americans to reject the cradle in the early 19th century. Traditionally, cradles held swaddled infants securely in place, protecting them from cold and drafts with solid wood sides and hooded coverings. What colonial parents viewed as protection, 19th-century medical experts condemned as stifling. The traditional, solid-construction cradle gave way to cradles with slat or spindle sides that permitted the free flow of air. 19th-century manufacturers produced a wide variety of open cradle forms, from simple and inexpensive spindle cradles to more ornate and costly styles. This elaborate cradle, made of walnut and pine with turned spindles and curved ends, would have been fairly expensive; most American babies slept in simpler ones. By the end of the century, even rocking became a concern. Babies, experts advised, should only be rocked by the mother's gentle hand, not by untrustworthy servants or exuberant older children, who might do it too hard.