The Infant Life Protection Act was a British law passed in 1872 to stop the practice of baby farming, where unwanted babies were boarded out for money and frequently neglected or killed. It required the registration of all residences where more than one child was taken for payment and kept for longer than 24 hours. It was later replaced by the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897, which extended the time frame to 48 hours and raised the age of the notified child from one years to five.
Background Baby farming, a term coined by the British Medical Journal in 1867, generally referred to the practice of placing infants, particularly those born to unmarried or working mothers, with women or families who received payment for caring for them. Before 1871 in the United Kingdom, the death rate among these babies was disproportionately high.
References
Further reading Baby farming, British Medical Journal. 1867 Dec 21;2(364):570–5. PMCID: PMC2310790