Final answer:
During historic periods of scarcity like the Great Depression and in slavery, feeding babies was particularly challenging. Infants were typically breastfed, offering some protection, but many suffered from malnutrition and diseases like marasmus. Slave children faced high mortality due to poor treatment, early weaning and lack of nutrition.
Step-by-step explanation:
During times of severe food shortages, such as those experienced during the Great Depression or in historical famines, providing food for babies and children presented heart-wrenching challenges. In the worst cases starvation led to desperate measures. However, typically the breastfeeding of infants by their mothers provided some immunity to starvation for the youngest as human milk was the usual and most reliable diet for newborns. In instances where malnutrition still occurred, such as with marasmus, the consequences were dire, with infants becoming severely underweight and frail as they lacked sufficient caloric intake.
Slavery also led to significant malnutrition issues, with an emphasis on the health problems and high infant mortality rates among the enslaved population. Due to inadequate nutrition for pregnant slaves and harsh conditions, many infants were born underweight or did not survive past their first year. What little food was provided to slave children often lacked in nutritional quality and was insufficient in quantity, reflecting a struggle for survival akin to that of the worst famines.