[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Baby illness term

[F&RM Haddad]

My grandmother had three children who died in infancy in Volhynia. I just
heard from one of my aunts, that my grandmother had told her that they had
died of "Kraempfe" - and please excuse the spelling, if it is incorrect. I'm
not too fluent in German - and the thought that comes to mind is "cramps?"
Can anyone enlighten me as to what this might mean? Was it a non-technical
term for a medical condition? Or . . . ?

Rose-Marie