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I happen to both understand and agree with Faldage's view. The number of families in which children died - and it was 17 in the case of Queen Anne, if my memory is not too faulty - prior to the 20th century was so high that it was something to be expected. Why no English word was coined to describe a parent who had lost a child is no clearer to me than to Faldage, but his explanation of why one may not have been required rings quite true.
For most of human history, infant mortality in the region of 25% seems to have been the norm. You bred four times to ensure three. Or something like that anyway!
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