What are cold sweats in children?

Cold sweats, or night sweats as they are often known, happen during the night and are fairly common.

If your child has a cold, the flu or a sinus infection, they may have a fever. When a fever breaks and the illness is gone, the body’s temperature is still a few degrees too high. Sweating helps the body’s temperature cool and get back to normal. The body releases sweat to the surface of the skin to be evaporated by body heat, The energy required to evaporate the sweat helps the body cool down.

There are non-illness related reasons why your child’s clothes or bedding are wet from sweating. Sometimes it’s simply because your child is too hot in bed. Check the room temperature and make sure they don’t have too many blankets and their pyjamas are light. And just like with adults, bad dreams can sometimes cause sweating.

If your child is not sick and sweating a lot at night, there could be other medically related causes. Speak to your doctor if you’re concerned.