| Baby cribs have a gone a long way to being what | | | | their being constructed out of solid wood. This was |
| they are now: a safe place to leave your baby in, | | | | also the time when the nuclear family became larger in |
| while versatile enough for all sorts of devices for both | | | | general, with more children than before. This allowed |
| play and learning for your child. Their history is said to | | | | for a system wherein the crib would be used by |
| have dated back several hundred years. | | | | whoever was the youngest at the time, until he or she |
| The first baby cribs were nothing more than hollowed | | | | outgrew the crib. This way, one crib could be used by |
| out logs, which were primarily meant to keep a baby | | | | many children before it was passed on. |
| lying inside from accidentally falling off the crib. Then | | | | Nowadays, baby cribs have evolved not only |
| came the innovation in the form of the suspended | | | | regarding their overall construction, but on the rules for |
| frame, which allowed baby cribs to be rocked, the | | | | constructing them as well. Organizations such as the |
| swaying motion simulating the feeling of being in the | | | | Consumer Product Safety Commission now circulate |
| womb of a mother and being carried around in it, with | | | | a set of standardized regulations regarding the |
| the rhythm imitating the relaxing heartbeat of a mother. | | | | construction of cribs for babies, with precise |
| Baby cribs, however, were not famous then, as large | | | | requirements regarding measurements of bars, |
| houses were not in fashion until around the 1800s. This | | | | protrusions, sides and openings. This is to ensure that |
| was the advent of hand carved cribs, ornate wooden | | | | when inside the crib, your baby is as safe as possible, |
| pieces that were passed from generation to | | | | hearkening back to its original purpose. |
| generation, and lived through years of abuse due to | | | | |