By: René Madeleyn
Original title: Anthroposophische Kinderheilkunde. Der Merkurstab 1997; 50: 266-80.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14271/DMS-17130-DE
English by A. R. Meuss, FIL, MTA.
This translation is published with the kind permission of the journal Der Merkurstab.

JAM Vol. 15(1), Spring/Summer 1998

Reprint of Chapter 16.04 in Buhring M, Kemper FH (Hrsg). Naturheilverfahren and unkonventionelle medizinische Richtungen (Buhring et al. 1997).

Anthroposophical pediatrics gradually differentiated itself from anthroposophical medicine after the Second World War. Many aspects of Waldorf education have come into it, so its basic character is that of an "educational medicine." Anthroposophical pediatrics started in pediatric practices; inpatient treatment developed when pediatric departments opened at Herdecke Hospital in 1969 and the Filderklinik in Filderstadt in 1975.

This made it possible to maintain regular records in specific fields within pediatrics and assess the value of anthroposophical medicine in this discipline compared to the conventional medical approach. A first overall report on anthroposophical pediatrics was given by Husemann and Wolff (1986), and some guides have been produced mainly for parents (zur Linden 1982; Goebel and Glockler 1988; Stellmann 1989).

Anthroposophical medicine considers typical childhood diseases in relation to typical diseases of adults and the elderly. In childhood, febrile, catarrhal and inflammatory conditions dominate the picture, while in old age the emphasis is on degenerative cardiovascular disease and tumors. Young children tend to develop rickets; older people sclerosis. Taking this point of view, pediatricians can have a powerful influence on the disposition to health or disease for the rest of an individual's life.

In the anthroposophical view of the human being, these groups of diseases are seen as polar opposites. They go with the periods in life when the child takes hold of the body (incarnation) and when the individual gradually leaves the body again (excarnation). If health is regarded as a state of balance between polar opposite diseases, it can be seen why excessive prevention of "physiological" illnesses in childhood may, under certain circumstances, create a tendency to develop diseases specific to old age when this is reached. A good review of the literature to substantiate this and provide empirical evidence is given by Albonico (1996).

Citation: Madeleyn, R. (1998). Anthroposophical Pediatrics (A. R. Meuss, Trans.). Journal of Anthroposophic Medicine, 15(1), 27–51.