Confirmatory evidence in infant mortality

We examine infant mortality in Figure 11.7 to detect any similarities to MM. Infant mortality increases over the time period, at about the same rate as net MM. There is also a rough coincidence of peaks and troughs for net maternal and infant mortality after about 1780. Both of these outcomes suggest that many of the social and economic factors affecting mothers also affected their infants. Indeed, the deaths of mothers may have led directly to the deaths of nursing infants, especially as the joint family system decayed and surrogate nursing became more difficult, but this effect would have been small, since relatively few mothers died, compared to infants.

7.