Night sweats in 3 1/2 year old

[bluebellinthewood]

My son has had a dry cough for a couple of weeks I guess, he coughs so hard sometimes he throws up but other than that he seems quite normal. He's been at nursery and plays with his brother who is 10 months older than him like he usually would but at night when he settles down for a sleep, then several hours later he's restless and he's absolutely dripping wet. It's just like you've showered him all over, his hair is fully wet.

Like tonight for example he's just woke us up and he's soaked through we haven't had the heating on at all and he has the exact total quilt that my other son has who is perfectly normal in temperature snoozing away. Whilst he is fairly hot when he wakes he doesn't appear to have a temperature although he has had last week he doesn't tonight. This is three nights in a row this has happened and I am quite worried now. I wonder if anyone has any advice and has this happened to their child. Thank you

So it can be a symptom of something serious, my SDS had awful night sweats when he had leukemia. But it can't also just be them fighting off a bug, the child themselves can have a tendency towards night sweats etc. If it was something more serious you would likely see other symptoms, before diagnosis my SDS was exhausted, falling asleep at nursery, appeared anemic etc. It is very unlikely to be anything more serious, but if you're worried no GP is going to be unhappy with you checking it out with them.

I'd be wanting him checked for a chest infection or something similar. My DS had similar symptoms and turned out to be an ear infection.

Has he been tested for covid, might be worth testing, I had similar symptoms to that and came on in phases. I would get doctors opinion to see what they think needs to be done, hopefully just a temporary thing, but best to check its not something more serious.

Hi thank you for the replies
I am going to ring the dr tomorrow and insist he is seen. He's been quite hyper this evening in fact, so I hope that's a good thing.
I covid swabbed his last night with lft and it as all negative.

Has he been having calpol at bedtime for the cough? My toddler pours sweat after having calpol.

I only try to give Calpol as and when it's an actual fever but in these instances it wasn't it was hot flushes/night sweats. I think?!

Update. I had a doctor call me today and I went through all the symptoms with her quite thoroughly, and based on the fact he's eating okay and he's quite lively most of the time she didn't seem to want to see him. In fact she made it quite clear that she would only see us on a negative PCR even though I had done an LFT on him.

I kind of feel a bit frustrated however, she did say if he should worsen or symptoms persist and you're not happy she would see him presumably for examination but on the basis that he is eating and drinking lively etc.. she thinks it will just fizzle out by itself.Elimination of Covid seems to be a priority for them. Which I do get totally for me and he's 3 1/2 and I just feel helpless.

I then rang the school to find out what the situation was and was totally shocked when they office chap said until he has a "positive PCR ", my son can still attend and so can my other son who is in reception. I can't find anything online about this on their webpage or the local authority webpage. To make matters worse I explained this to my boss as I work in healthcare and she said I have to stay home until he has a negative or positive test and take it from there so potentially I'm off tomorrow with no kids and it seems bonkers.

Lft are only for asymptotic testing. Your son has a cough so should really have had a pcr test which is why the drs can't see him without it. But with a gp telling you that he needs a pcr test I would be isolating him until you have the results definitely not sending him to school. According to current guidance (at least where I am) your other son can continue to go to school while brother waits on results unless he develops symptoms too or his brothers test comes back positive. Ds with the cough would have to isolate while awaiting results.
As a side note on the night sweats could he be burying himself under the duvet /pillow? My 3.5 year old wakes up with soaking wet hair half the time but usually after I go in and remove the pillow off the top of his head apparently it's nicer to sleep under the pillow 🙈

Thank you that's what I think as well. I think the school have got it totally wrong but I feel awkward questioning the office man with the deputy head. They are so usually on the ball!

Regarding the extreme sweating, I know what you mean about smothering and they do tend to do that at but in these instances it wasn't the case. Guess I will just have to see what comes of that and hope that this passed. Many thanks

Hi there, my daughter has these exact same symptoms! Just wondering if you ever got a diagnosis or did it go away on its own? Thank you

Hi, sorry to hear that, however my sons just kinda went away on its own. I can only assume it was some sort of viral Infection that was causing it. Just loose or no layers, fan on circulating and keep an eye on them. Best of luck!

Thanks so much for replying! She didn't sweat as much last night so hopefully she is on the mend

Night sweats are one of the new symptoms of the latest Covid variant.
Glad your ds is better OP.