Daily AncestorMilk fever
Milk fever was a fever in a new mother around the time her milk came in, usually brief and mild.
Webster's 1913 defines milk fever as a fever that comes with or just before the first flow of milk, usually short-lived. In farm language the same words also name a disease of cows after calving.
Because Webster's calls it usually short-lived, a death given as milk fever may point to a worse infection after childbirth, called childbed or puerperal fever.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Susan Fry, 24, F, W, Milk fever, 9 days
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Daily Ancestor. "Milk fever." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/milk-fever. Last checked 2026-10-10.