Abstract
In this article, we investigate to what degree infant mortality risk was transferred from grandmothers to
mothers in the Antwerp district, Belgium, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. We also
investigate some of the determinants of infant mortality and explore the role of the family - paternal factors
(presence, age, and social class), mother’s childcare experience, and infant household location - in the survival
of infants. The data for this research were retrieved from the Antwerp COR*-database and were transferred
into the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS). The results of the survival models show that women whose
mother experienced three or more infant deaths had a 77% higher risk of experiencing the loss of an infant
themselves, compared to women whose mother experienced zero infant deaths in the past. These results
remained robust after controlling for potential mediating and moderating factors. The results on the age
of the mother at birth, her marital status, as well as the living environment suggest that at least part of the
intergenerational transfer in infant mortality can be explained on the basis of life history theory: women who
grew up in a high-risk family tended to reproduce earlier and faster, and often raised their children without
a partner. In this way they unconsciously created riskier conditions for the raising of their own infants: the
mothers had little life experience, limited resources, and often no assistance from a partner. As a result, their
own children were also at an increased risk of dying in infancy.
