Grandparenthood makes a person go a little baby crazy. A mind consumed with baby thoughts. Sentences reduced to baby talk. Conversation reduced to discussions about what baby gifts to purchase for Christmas. And today, a top ten list of the greatest baby inventions of all time.
10. The microwave. The man of steel’s mom gave us an Amana Radar Range (that’s what microwaves were called in the olden days when our firstborn came along) for a baby present. It was a godsend for thawing frozen breast milk and/or heating bottles.
9. The baby gates. Our second born would have been in the emergency room constantly without a baby gate to keep the stairs off limits to her.
8. Cardboard boxes, wooden spoons, and pan lids. The best baby toys ever.
7. The snaps. Can you imagine how long it took to fasten teeny-tiny baby buttons before snaps came along?
6. The wheel. We should all be eternally grateful to the prehistoric inventor who got the wheel rolling. How would parents calm fussy babies if they couldn’t take them for rides in strollers or cars?
5. The baby swing. How did parents get through the first three months of a baby’s life without one?
4. The car seat. How many lives have they saved?
3. The modern breast pump. The pump pictured above–yes the one that resembles an instrument of torture–belonged to my grandmother. (Are you writhing in pain yet?) One look at that thing and every woman who uses a modern breast pump will write a letter of thanks to its manufacturer.
2. Diaper pins. My head hurts when I try to picture how moms kept diapers on their babies before these over-sized safety pins came along.
1. Rubber pants. When my sister and I used disposable diapers on our boys, Mom scoffed and called us namby-pambies. Until my sister replied, “So did your mom call you a namby-pamby because you used rubber pants because they weren’t around when you were a baby?” My admiration for Grandma increased tenfold that day, and my gratitude for the invention of rubber pants is undying.
How about you? What’s your favorite invention for babies and their parents? Leave a comment.
