This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Kquerna Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.kings/15568.4/mb.ashx Message Board Post: the other issue here is Lack of Breastfeeding. During this time mothers were beginning to use infant formulas more. The ability to by caned milk (Carnation) made this possible. Also if a mother was poor and needed to work, breastfeeding was very difficult and the child was weaned early. Babies were fed cows milk if formula was not affordable. During this time the availability of pausterized milk was limited. So cows milk would take several days to make it into the cities, so many times by the time a poor mother would feed it to her baby it was full of bacteria. Strep infections were also common so it could of been Strep who knows what else. When one looks at early childhood survival during the late 1870's to the early 1900's in the cities it was bad. By not breastfeeding children for at least 2 yrs. many children died. I totally know this was not intentional, mother's esp. the poor did what they had to do. If you are interested in childhood morbidity during that time (ie what happened to all my cousins) There are multiple books written on this. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.