Children with Night Sweats Should Not Be Over-Nourished
Children with Night Sweats Should Not Be Over-Nourished
Clinical observations show that children with night sweats commonly suffer from internal heat—either from accumulated heat in the spleen and stomach or yin deficiency with internal heat. Heat forces fluids outward, causing persistent sweating. Without clearing the heat, sweating cannot stop. To eliminate night sweats, one must first clear the underlying heat.
For children with spleen-stomach heat accumulation, symptoms include either increased or decreased appetite, good spirits, constipation lasting several days, thin appearance without fatigue, and constant playfulness. Treatment principle: clear heat and promote bowel movements to expel heat downward.
The most common type is yin deficiency with internal heat. Prolonged sweating depletes body fluids, leading to yin deficiency. These children exhibit red lips and tongue, hot palms and soles, dry mouth, infrequent bowel movements, hard stools shaped like pellets. Treatment should clear heat while nourishing yin, allowing heat to dissipate internally and sweat to cease quickly.
Children with night sweats often catch colds, but true physical weakness is rare. Most cases result from getting chilled during sleep after kicking off blankets due to sweating. This differs from colds caused by actual physical weakness. Some children with night sweats don’t have internal heat—they sweat excessively, catch colds easily, cough, feel cold, and sweat even with slight activity. For such children, avoid blindly using tonics or supplements; instead, focus on harmonizing the spleen and stomach.
Parents must not misuse tonics for children with night sweats. On the contrary, they should adjust diet, limit meat and dairy intake, and encourage children to eat more vegetables and fruits—this helps treat night sweats. Observation shows that most children with night sweats are picky eaters who exclusively eat fish, meat, chicken, love chocolate, and refuse green vegetables—such diets easily generate internal heat.