Would you believe that there was a time in the U.S. where you could mail your baby to grandmas house?

The answer is: Yes.

From 1913 to 1920, it was legal to mail a child.

In January 1913, the US Postal Service introduced Parcel Post, which allowed people to ship packages that was too heavy for the traditional letter carrier. Packages could weigh up to 11 pounds.

It has been reported that there were some instances where people would actually mail their young children - who met the weight requirements - to a relative.

As shocking as this sounds, the reality was not so awful.

There were instances where parents would pay the postage cost for their baby to travel by train because it was cheaper than buying a ticket. Other instances of baby-mailing were no more than publicity stunts or parents having the postman “deliver” their baby to a relative who lived down the street.

The New York Times reported two separate incidents where a baby was shipped to a relative through the mail.

The first was in 1913 in Ohio where mail carrier Vernon O. Lytle accepted and delivered a baby boy weighing 10 ¾ pounds to his grandmother who lived a mile away. The postage for the baby boy was fifteen cents and he was insured for $50.

In February the following year, a Wellington, Kansas woman received the delivery of her two-year-old nephew who had been shipped by parcel post from his grandmother in Stratford, Oklahoma. The postage was 18 cents and he was transported 25 miles along the rural route to the railroad. On the train, the boy sat with the mail clerks for the journey.

The postmaster general at the time was disturbed to hear that people were actually sending children via the parcel post and made it known that he did not approve of this practice.

However, it was not until 1920 that it was officially stated that children could not be transported via the US Postal Service.

Gives new meaning to "going postal".