Young children are generally much hotter than adults. This usually causes them to be very hot at night and even sweat a lot when they sleep. In most cases, it is causal, by the environment, by the fabrics of the bedding or by the type of food that children eat at dinner time. However, excessive sweating at night can be caused by various pathologies that must be treated.
Even if the child continues to sleep peacefully despite sweating a lot, even wetting the sheets or soaking his hair, it is important to discover the cause. In this way, you will get your child's sleep of higher quality. Do you want to know why your child sweats a lot when he sleeps? Let's first discover the possible causes and in them, you may find the solution to this problem.
Child who sweats a lot when sleeping, possible causes
According to studies carried out in this regard, excessive sweating at night affects boys to a greater extent than girls, which can have a hormonal cause. It is estimated that at least 12 percent of the child population sweat a lot when they sleep. But something even more curious is to discover that excessive sweating does not prevent the child from continuing with his sleep.
For any adult, waking up with a wet pillow or noticing sweat on the body would be a disruption to sleep. Therefore, even if the child continues to sleep with that excess sweating, it is most likely that his sleep is not comforting, or so pleasant. Namely, child may wake up tired, groggy, as if I hadn't gotten enough sleep.
These are the most frequent causes from excessive sweating in children at night:
- Ambient temperature: To have very high heating or poorly ventilated room, it can cause the child to get hot and sweat a lot when sleeping.
- Excess bedding: Quilts that are too thick, excessive blankets or sheets too warm. Use cotton sheets and blankets or duvets of different thicknesses, taking into account the weather at the time.
- A too copious dinner: Normally, children tend to have dinner shortly before going to sleep, which means that the digestion process continues in bed. This can lead to excessive sweating, in addition to stomach discomfort. Make sure the children's dinner is light and easy to digest, here are some ideas for how should the children's dinner be.
- Too much activity before sleeping: A good sleep routine includes a decrease in activity at least an hour before bedtime. Otherwise, the child maintains a very high energy rate causing you to sweat excessively while you sleep.
Pathologies, when to go to the pediatrician
Although in most cases the causes are environmental, such as those described, there are other possible causes that the pediatrician should analyze. Sleep apnea is one of those pathologies which can cause the child to sweat a lot while sleeping. Also other problems such as respiratory diseases, skin problems or congenital heart disease, among others.
However, it is more likely that the child sweats a lot while sleeping for other simpler reasons. Try to ventilate the room, use cooler bedding or introduce changes in your children's sleep routine to see if the situation improves. In case you detect other problems or this does not improve with the proposed changes, make an appointment with the pediatrician so that an evaluation can be carried out.
Remember first of all that each child is very different and some sweat more than others, not just at night. If you have a hot child, who sweats a lot when he sleeps, make sure that his activity in the afternoon is more relaxed, that he takes a warm shower before going to sleep or that he takes fresh and light dinners. The important thing is that the child sleeps well and wakes up rested, even if it is excessively sweating.