[19th-century medical treatment of childhood diseases]

In the 19th century, illnesses, including those of children, were treated at home. That pertained to urban as well as rural children alike. In the impoverished Polish countryside, medical treatment was largely confined to the folk-medicine practices that had been passed down from one generation to another. In rural villages and small towns, where doctors of medicine were few and far between, the parents of sick children would seek the help of folk healers or simply older women who made use of various herbal remedies. Such treatment was of a symptom-relieving nature and therefore affected the young patient's entire system. Children were also treated in their homes and family circles in cities. One can even distinguish a characteristic form of therapy which might be referred to as home medicine. It made use of a variety of therapeutic methods carried out in a domestic setting by physicians or parents. Usually those methods were based on traditional folk superstitions, additionally bolstered by rational premises. Generally accessible means, not only herbs but also diets, hydrotherapy, blood-letting and pharmacological preparations were used to treat sick children at home.