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Baby sweats a lot in sleep, feeding, temperature: causes

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
 
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Sweating in a child can be one of the reasons why parents may worry about the health of the baby. But this is not always the case, because it is a physiological process that is characteristic of each person. There are diseases in which sweating can be one of the main symptoms, so it is necessary to know about such symptoms.

Epidemiology

Statistics of prevalence show that sweating in a child is only one of the symptoms of the disease in 20% of cases. The younger the child, the more likely it is that sweating is caused by physiological reasons.

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Causes sweating baby

Why does a child sweat? As you know, sweating is a physiological process, but it is not typical for children of all ages. Newborn babies have features of the structure of the skin and its appendages, so sweating is not so typical for them. Sweat glands in newborn babies do not have clearly formed ducts, so the metabolism occurs through thin skin. And if increased sweating already appears in a child, then this concerns certain areas of the skin. In children of the first six months of life, sweating of the back of the head is most often observed, the cause of which is rickets. This disease is characterized by a deficiency of vitamin D, which reduces the level of calcium in the child's body. Calcium and vitamin D are involved in the metabolism of cells not only of the skeletal system, but also of many other organs and systems. The pathogenesis of increased sweating in a child with rickets is the effect on the autonomic nervous system. In the early stages, calcium deficiency activates the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which causes a number of symptoms, including sweating in a child.

Another reason for sweating in a child is an elevated body temperature due to a viral or bacterial infection. The pathogenesis of sweating in this case lies in the activation of the body's defenses. After all, when a virus or bacteria enters the child's body, the immune system immediately reacts to this, trying to protect the body. This causes the release of leukotrienes from leukocytes, which trigger a temperature reaction. In order to kill bacteria or viruses, it is necessary to increase the body temperature, and at the same time, the conditions for the reproduction of these bacteria become unfavorable. So impulses come to the thermoregulation center in the medulla oblongata and the body temperature rises. The increase in temperature has three successive phases - the increase phase, the plateau phase and the decrease phase. The body reacts to all these phases differently. In the phase of increasing body temperature, the child feels chills due to the fact that the thermoregulation center increases its threshold and the body feels that it is cold at the moment. In the plateau phase, the symptoms of chills and muscle tremors persist. During the temperature reduction phase, increased sweating is needed to quickly reduce the temperature, which is what happens during this period. It is sweating in a child that helps reduce body temperature.

As for older children, such as teenagers, their sweating can also be caused by a disease - vegetative-vascular dystonia. This pathology is characterized by the lability of the autonomic nervous system against the background of hormonal instability and a number of other reasons. At the same time, the autonomic nervous system reacts to any emotional experiences or stressful situations with excessive activity. This is accompanied by sweating in a child.

There are cases when sweating is normal and there is no need to worry. Very often, young parents worry about sweating in a baby. Most often, this happens when the body temperature of the environment is higher than the child's or when the child is overheated. Parents dress themselves comfortably, and try to wrap up the child so that he does not freeze. This is not always correct and can lead to overheating, which later leads to such sweating. At the same time, the baby cannot say that he is uncomfortable and can get sick, because he is all sweaty. Therefore, when looking for the cause of sweating in a child, you must first make sure that he is comfortable and not hot.

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Risk factors

Risk factors for sweating in babies:

  1. overheating and discrepancy between the ambient temperature and air humidity;
  2. infectious diseases;
  3. diseases of the nervous system;
  4. stressful situations and instability of the nervous system.

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Symptoms sweating baby

Rickets is one of the most common diseases in childhood, which is accompanied by excessive sweating. The first signs of rickets may appear precisely when the autonomic nervous system is affected. With rickets, a characteristic symptom of this is that the child's head sweats, namely the back of the head. Since the child constantly lies in this position, it is on the back of the head that increased sweating leads to hair pumping out. Therefore, sweating and hair pumping out on the back of the head are some of the symptoms of rickets. Other symptoms of rickets appear already with a long-term deficiency of calcium and vitamin D. The child's muscle tone decreases, bone tissue begins to deform. This can lead to the development of curvatures of the lower limbs.

When a child sweats heavily in his sleep, it may be a symptom of elevated body temperature due to a viral or bacterial infection. When a child sweats due to an acute respiratory viral infection or a cold, the first signs may appear in the form of nasal congestion, rhinitis, and the body temperature may rise the next day. Catarrhal symptoms appear - the throat begins to itch, a cough appears. When a child sweats and coughs, it is necessary to think that bacterial flora could have joined with the development of bronchitis. A deep, frequent cough with a fairly high body temperature may indicate a more severe bacterial infection. As for children in the first half of life, their symptoms of a viral infection may be blurred. At first, difficulty breathing through the nose, poor appetite and capriciousness may appear, and only then the body temperature rises. A baby sweats when the body temperature rises already when it reaches fairly high numbers. In this case, the child's forehead and nose sweat, as the most exposed areas of the skin that participate in heat exchange.

When a child sweats after an illness or after antibiotics, this indicates the success of the treatment. After all, the use of drugs leads to the death of most microorganisms and this can cause an immune reaction, which is accompanied by a rise in body temperature.

The symptom of sweating may accompany another disease - vegetative-vascular dysfunction. The characteristic signs of this pathology are that the child's palms, legs, feet sweat. These symptoms are provoked by emotional experiences, tension, stressful situations. In addition to increased sweating of individual parts of the body, other symptoms are characteristic of this pathology. This disease is often accompanied by an increased heart rate, a feeling of shortness of breath, a decrease or increase in blood pressure. All this can be in the form of attacks that end in such episodes of local sweating of individual parts of the body. These are very characteristic symptoms of VSD, and already at the stage of clinical manifestations, one can suspect the diagnosis.

It often happens that a baby sweats during feeding. This may simply be because he is tired. After all, the feeding process requires a lot of energy and it is often difficult for the baby to eat, especially if the mother does not latch him to the breast correctly or she has little milk. Therefore, it is important to make sure that there are no problems with the feeding itself.

If a child sweats when falling asleep or the child's back and neck sweat when he or she is just lying down, then most likely the cause is overheating. In this case, those places that are close to the bed are subject to overheating and lead to sweating.

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Complications and consequences

There are no consequences of the sweating process itself, because it is just one of the symptoms. If you do not take into account other manifestations of diseases, then there may be complications of rickets. Rickets initially affects the skeletal system, but then the internal organs. The degree of changes in untreated rickets can reach significant curvature of the limbs and spine. In this case, the heart, lungs, and normal breathing function may suffer.

Complications of vegetative-vascular dystonia, as a rule, do not occur, because it is a functional disease. But the pathology can affect the daily activity of the body and the child's condition, his success in studies.

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Diagnostics sweating baby

If we are talking about diagnosing a symptom such as sweating, then already at the stage of collecting complaints it is possible to determine a preliminary diagnosis.

During examination of rickets, it may be determined that the hair on the back of the child's head is matted. If such changes are present, it may also be determined that the muscle tone is somewhat reduced on both sides equally. The child may be lethargic. Curvature of the lower limbs may appear at later stages. It is very important to find out when such symptoms are detected whether the child is taking a prophylactic dose of vitamin D and whether such prophylaxis was given to the mother during pregnancy.

Diagnosis of viral and bacterial diseases is not particularly difficult. When the body temperature rises and sweating appears with it, other symptoms appear along with it - runny nose, coughing, sore throat. When examining such a baby, you can immediately see the source of inflammation and establish a topical diagnosis.

Diagnosis of vegetative-vascular dystonia is quite simple even based on complaints, but to confirm the diagnosis it is necessary to exclude all organic diseases. For this, a thorough examination of the heart is carried out, blood and urine tests are taken, and the respiratory system is examined. Cardiographic examination of the heart shows all the normative indicators. Tests for VSD also do not have any special changes. Instrumental diagnostics of the respiratory system is carried out by spirography. This allows you to study the activity and capacity of the lungs and bronchial tree, because often with VSD there are complaints of difficulty breathing. And since this is a functional disease caused by a violation of the autonomic innervation, the spirography data will be within the normal range. Such studies are mandatory for establishing the diagnosis of VSD.

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Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnosis should be made between functional states of the nervous system that cause periodic sweating and between a simple increase in the child's body temperature during an infection.

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Treatment sweating baby

Treatment of excessive sweating in a child is very individual. It is very important to find the cause of this before starting any treatment. If the cause is rickets, then a therapeutic dose of vitamin D is used.

  1. Aquadetrim is an aqueous solution of vitamin D. This drug enhances the absorption of calcium in the intestine and accelerates its absorption by the cells of the skeletal system. The dosage of the drug depends on the degree of rickets. At the first degree, 2 thousand units are used per day, at the second degree - 4 thousand units, and at the third - 5 thousand units per day. The drug is available in drops and one drop contains 500 international units. Accordingly, a child can receive from four to ten drops per day, depending on the degree of manifestations. Side effects may occur if the dose of the drug is exceeded - there may be muscle twitching, convulsions, allergic and dyspeptic disorders.
  2. Calcium-D is another drug for the treatment of rickets. In addition to the active aqueous solution of vitamin D3, the drug also contains calcium, which accelerates the effect of taking the drugs. The dosage of the drug also depends on the degree of rickets. The method of using the drug is in the form of drops, it is recommended to take the entire dose once a day. Side effects can be in the form of intestinal disorders, diarrhea, vomiting.
  3. Treatment of vegetative-vascular dysfunction is carried out in a complex manner using not only medications, but also non-drug treatments. It is very important to eliminate stressful situations, normalize the sleep and rest regime with work. In addition, it is necessary to monitor the child's blood pressure and, in this regard, adjust the regime and nature of nutrition.

Tonginal is a homeopathic remedy used to treat VSD. The drug is based on herbs with a calming and tonic effect, which helps to normalize the processes of inhibition and excitation and improve the severity of symptoms. The drug relieves symptoms of sweating, increased irritability and improves the general condition. The dosage of the drug is 20 drops once a day for at least one month. Side effects may include drowsiness, weakness, and decreased blood pressure. In this case, the drug should be taken at night. Precautions - take with caution in children under five years of age.

  1. Treatment of sweating caused by an infectious disease involves the use of agents that are etiologic. Antiviral agents are used - Laferobion, Rezistol, Immunoflazid. In case of proven bacterial infection, antibiotics are used. Also, depending on the severity of symptoms, antiseptic drugs, local aerosols for the throat and vasoconstrictor drops in the nose are used, taking into account the age of the child.

Vitamins for children who sweat can be used throughout the year in courses in spring and autumn. It is during this period that the child's body needs an increased amount of nutrients, especially in such children with lability of the autonomic nervous system.

Physiotherapy treatment can be used for older children. Microcurrents on the spine, mud applications, and contrast showers are used.

Traditional medicine is rarely used in such cases. Only if the child sweats can you use bathing him in herbs that contain antiseptics. For this purpose, chamomile, sage, and succession can be used, which tone the skin and calm the nervous system. Systemic use of traditional medicine for the treatment of sweating is not used in children.

Prevention

Prevention of excessive sweating of a child is the rules of care and dressing of the child, which exclude its overheating. Walks outside of the infant should be in accordance with weather conditions.

As for rickets, there is specific prevention of this disease. All pregnant women should receive a preventive dose of vitamin D3, starting from the 30th week of pregnancy. Newborns from the first month of life should also receive this vitamin for prevention up to three years.

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Forecast

The prognosis, if the child sweats, is always only favorable. But it is very important to find out the reason for this in order to prevent other symptoms in time.

Parents often worry that their child sweats a lot. There is always a reason for this. First, you need to make sure that the child is not hot, and then talk about other symptoms and consult a doctor. In any case, this condition does not pose a particular danger if there are no serious organic pathologies.

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