Years ago I was buying some items from an older lady, and included was a Victorian era chair which had its legs shortened. I commented about it being a youth chair, and she corrected me. “No, no” she said; “That was Mama’s chair. We had a large family, and there was usually a baby on the floor that Mama tended to. All the while she did her mending and sewing, sitting in that chair”. Thinking about that, in lieu of a playpen, if the baby was on the floor a short chair would make sense.