Why is the baby's pillow wet when sleeping?

Sweating is our physiological characteristic, just like our metabolism. In the hot summer weather, it is easy to sweat, and newborns are no exception. Some mothers have noticed that their baby’s pillows are always wet when they sleep. This is a phenomenon of night sweats in babies. Let’s understand why the baby’s pillow is wet when he sleeps.

(1) Physiological night sweats: In childhood, the skin is very tender, contains more water, has abundant capillaries, has active metabolism, and the autonomic nervous system regulation function is not yet perfect, so children are prone to sweating during activities. If children are too active before going to bed, the metabolism of various organs in the body will be active, which can increase the body's heat production. During sleep, the blood vessels in the skin will dilate, the sweat glands will secrete more, and the child will sweat profusely to help dissipate heat. Secondly, eating before going to bed can enhance gastrointestinal motility, increase gastric juice secretion, and increase sweat gland secretion, which can cause children to sweat more after falling asleep, especially within the first 2 hours of falling asleep. In addition, if the indoor temperature is too high, or the quilt is too thick, or electric blanket is used, it can cause profuse sweating during sleep.

(2) Pathological night sweats: Some children sweat mainly in the first half of the night after falling asleep, which is often caused by low blood calcium. Low calcium can easily increase the excitability of the sympathetic nerves, just like turning on the "faucet" of the sweat glands. This situation is particularly common in children with rickets. However, night sweats are not a unique symptom of rickets. A comprehensive analysis should be conducted based on the child's feeding conditions, outdoor activities, etc. Blood calcium, blood phosphorus and wrist bone X-rays should also be checked to determine whether the child has active rickets. When children have night sweats, the first thing to do is to find out the cause in time and give appropriate treatment. Drug treatment is generally not recommended for physiological night sweats. Instead, appropriate measures should be taken to eliminate factors in life that cause high fever. For example, if a child exercises too much before going to bed, or eats a high-calorie meal that causes night sweating, the child's activity level and food intake before going to bed should be controlled. This will also help the child sleep and control obesity, and is beneficial to the child's physical and mental health. Some children sweat profusely at night because the room temperature is too high or the quilt is too thick. The bedroom temperature in winter should be between 24℃ and 28℃; the thickness of the quilt should be increased or decreased with the change of temperature. Generally speaking, if parents pay attention to the above-mentioned factors that may easily cause increased heat production and overcome them, the chances of night sweats will naturally decrease.

The above is a detailed explanation of why the baby’s pillow is wet when sleeping. If there are some abnormal phenomena in the baby’s body, symptoms of sweating will also appear. For the baby’s health, it is necessary to observe whether the baby’s sweating symptoms are normal. Sweating in low temperatures is abnormal and you should go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time.