far from abstaining from sex, baker suggests that the lincolns were part of a new development in america of smaller families; the birth rate declined from seven births to a family in 1800 to around 4 per family by 1850. as americans separated sexuality from child bearing, forms of birth control such as coitus interruptus, long-term breast feeding, and crude forms of condoms and womb veils, available through mail order, were available and used. the spacing of the lincoln children (robert in 1843, eddie in 1846, willie in 1850, and tad in 1853) is consistent with some type of planning and would have required "an intimacy about sexual relations that for aspiring couples meant shared companionate power over reproduction".