Why does a child sweat on his head?

If a child sweats on his head while sleeping, parents should pay more attention and find out the cause of the child's sweating. There are several reasons why children sweat while sleeping, such as physiological sweating, which is normal sweating, and pathological sweating, which is generally caused by physical weakness.

What causes children's heads to sweat when sleeping?

Physiological sweating

Physiological hyperhidrosis refers to sweating during sleep when the child is well-developed, healthy, and has no disease.

In fact, sweating is a normal physiological phenomenon of the human body. Sweat can take away excess heat and some metabolic products such as uric acid and fatty acids in the body. Because children grow and develop rapidly, their metabolism is more vigorous than that of adults, and the heat and metabolic products generated

Also relatively more.

At the same time, children's autonomic nervous system is not fully developed. When they fall asleep, the sympathetic nerves in charge of the sweat glands will be temporarily excited due to the loss of control by the brain, resulting in excessive sweating. This is completely normal.

As long as the child has no other symptoms, such as irritability, crying, easy waking, etc., there is no need to worry about him. This type of sweating often occurs within half an hour after falling asleep, and is mainly on the forehead. It usually stops slowly within 2 hours after falling asleep. It is more common in children aged 3-7 years old and gradually disappears with age.

Pathological sweating

If a child is usually weak and sweats profusely when falling asleep at night, as if he is being drenched in water, or even sweats all night long, wetting his pillow and clothes, and is accompanied by symptoms such as irritability, crying, and weight loss, then he has pathological hyperhidrosis. A common cause is vitamin D deficiency rickets. In addition to excessive sweating at night, there are also symptoms such as irritability, restless sleep, easy awakening, square head, baldness, and pigeon chest.

If a child sweats a lot on his head when sleeping, it may be caused by calcium deficiency. The sweating is mainly on the head, and in severe cases, hair loss will occur, which is called pillow baldness. In this case, it is recommended to go to the hospital for a blood trace element test to confirm the diagnosis.

If you are calcium deficient, you need to supplement calcium in time. You can take calcium gluconate orally together with vitamin D, which will promote calcium absorption. You can eat more foods high in calcium, such as soy products.

There are only two reasons why children sweat while sleeping. The important thing is for parents to compare their own children and find out the "culprit behind" their children's sweating. Mothers don’t need to worry too much about physiological sweating, but if it is pathological sweating, parents need to take their baby to the hospital for examination!