The author reviews, in a historical trajectory, formulated hypotheses on the existence of a field of medical knowledge - Pediatrics. He identifies a path that was just made possible due to changes in the social statute on children and the social role they play in the contemporary society. Establishing a periodization starting from centuries XVII and XVIII, he observes a succession of historical events that culminated with the appearance of a scientific interest for children and their body so that, in the end, trasforms them both in prisoners of procedures harnessed to clinical mentality, tied to the ecletic paradigm of the knowledge referred to as the health/disease process, as marked by QUEVEDO (1989). The consequences, for children and social practices, among them the medical practice, are expressed in a way to contribute with elements for future historical studies that are deepened on theoretical pertinence and improvement of medicine for children.
medical pratice; pediatric pratice; epistemology