Baby bumper headguard cap

A baby bumper headguard cap, also known as a falling cap, or pudding hat, is a protective hat worn by children learning to walk, to protect their heads in case of falls.

Drawing by Rembrandt of a woman teaching a child to walk with leading strings and a falling cap, or valhoed, 1646

Known as a pudding or black pudding, a version used during the early 17th century until the late 18th century was usually open at the top and featured a sausage-shaped bumper roll that circled the head like a crown. It was fastened with straps under the chin.

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  Teaching a Child to Walk, by Pieter de Hooch
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  Portrait of Christian Hendrik Jacob Pielat van Bulderen in falling cap, by Pierre Frédéric de la Croix
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  Child in a falling cap in Indonesia, 1920-1940

The modern-day version can be many colors and may cover the entire head like a helmet.

References

• Worrell, Estelle Ansley (1980). Children's Costume in America, 1607-1910. Ansley, Estelle (illus.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 20, 31. ISBN 978-0684166452.

External links

• Media related to Falling caps at Wikimedia Commons
• Pudding hat at the V&A Museum of Childhood Archived 2014-03-24 at the Wayback Machine