You might be misunderstanding some of the dynamics here—it is really hard to successfully conceive a child if you are currently starving, because a very low BMI will interrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle. However, a lot of people live extremely marginal lives—for example one failed harvest away from going into calorie deficit, or reliant on transitional forms of employment. So people might conceive a child in relatively good circumstances, and then find that they hit an economically challenging period before the child is five. Children are very susceptible to starvation that an adult can survive too, unfortunately—so even quite a small income shock could be lethal for a small enough neonate
You might be misunderstanding some of the dynamics here—it is really hard to successfully conceive a child if you are currently starving, because a very low BMI will interrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle. However, a lot of people live extremely marginal lives—for example one failed harvest away from going into calorie deficit, or reliant on transitional forms of employment. So people might conceive a child in relatively good circumstances, and then find that they hit an economically challenging period before the child is five. Children are very susceptible to starvation that an adult can survive too, unfortunately—so even quite a small income shock could be lethal for a small enough neonate
I had not conisdered this before, thank you.