star child?

I don't know if it's just me, but I would avoid naming the subject itself in whatever way.

Ich schließe mich piet an - derjenige weiß ja, wofür Du Dein Beileid aussprichst, und man will ja nicht noch Essig in die Wunde schmieren.

Wie wäre es statt dessen mit "your loss", vielleicht auch "tragic loss"?

Schmetterlingskinder sind aber die mit der schrecklichen Hautkrankheit, epidermysis bullosa.

is what people usually say, but I agree with the others - they know what the condolences are form no need to spell it out.

or angel child.

Thanks for your comments. I completely agree, there is no need to spill it out. My question was not carefully worded. I am wondering if there is an english word for "Sternenkinder". Does this exist?

No, not that I know of. I've also never heard anyone use 'angel child/baby' in that way.

Since many people today don't believe literally in angels or in heaven as a physical place, I personally would not refer to such concepts, unless you could explain that it's more a poetic image than a supernatural belief.

Perhaps you could just write whatever you would like to for your friend in German, because it will be more meaningful for you and for her in your native language, and then write a shorter sentence or two in English for both of them together, with something standard like 'I'm so sorry to learn of your tragic loss / the loss of your child / your infant son/daughter.'

hm--us, ich kannte den Begriff bis eben auch nicht, aber knapp 100 000 Google hits können nicht irren.

Weder "angel baby" noch "star child" oder "star children" bringen irgendwelche brauchbaren Ergebnisse bei Google. Entweder kennt man im englischen Sprachraum dafür keine adäquate Bezeichnung oder es ist ein völlig anderes Wort.

Davon abgesehen ist Sternenkind ein sehr schönes Bild. Das Kind, das sein Leben nicht leben durfte ist jetzt ein blinkender Stern am Himmel, gefällt mir.

Ich habe mal asterisking child gelesen. Gibt es das?

bluesky, if you notice, I was responding to the question about whether such a term exists in English.

re #10: No, I can't imagine why anyone would write that. An asterisk is a symbol on your computer keyboard, not a verb.