How to deal with children who sweat easily

Patient's question:

Often sweats, is it a lack of calcium or other elements? Please advise, thank you! Current general condition: easy to sweat and catch cold

Doctor's answer:

Currently, many Chinese people have turned calcium, zinc, and fish oil supplements into high-end nutritional products. It seems that no matter what situation a child faces, as long as they take calcium, zinc, and fish oil supplements, they can be cured of all illnesses. This is truly strange. I remind parents that "medicines are poisonous to some extent." Calcium supplements are medications used to treat calcium deficiency, not health supplements for maintaining well-being. A balanced diet and nutrition are the best ways to nourish the body. This is not an issue of calcium or zinc deficiency, but rather a lack of balanced nutritional elements. Don’t just think about giving your child medicine; instead, focus on how to provide them with a balanced diet and nutrition.
This is due to the fact that you dress them too warmly and cover them too thickly when they sleep, not because of any illness. Infants under several months old have not yet developed and matured their temperature regulation functions, so their body temperature basically changes with the external temperature. If the external temperature is high, their body temperature rises accordingly, and sweating is a sign of cooling down. Pay attention to dressing and covering your child appropriately, and don’t overdo it. Parents should always keep in mind not to let their child overheat. Many parents only worry about keeping their child warm but never consider whether they might be overheating them. This is a misconception.
How to Improve Children’s Immunity
1. Pay attention to your child’s temperature – Don’t dress them too warmly and let them have some appropriate cold tolerance training. It’s not just about keeping them warm, but more importantly, ensuring they don’t overheat. Some children are always dressed too warmly, even in winter, and their clothes are always wet with sweat. If they wear wet underwear all day, how can they avoid catching a cold? As the ancients said, "To keep a child healthy, let them experience three parts of hunger and three parts of cold." This is the principle.
2. Loosen clothing promptly if they get hot after exercise and avoid wearing wet clothes.
- Parenting requirement: Before a child starts kindergarten at age three, teach them to dress and undress by themselves. If their clothes get wet, change them into dry underwear immediately. Don’t let them wear wet underwear all day. Children under three have not yet developed their temperature regulation functions, so their body temperature changes completely with the environment. If they get hot, they sweat to cool down. Therefore, excessive sweating in children is usually caused by wearing too warmly, and most are not suffering from illness-related sweating.
- After sweating, the pores on the skin expand, making them more susceptible to colds. Some children are said to be "wind-sensitive," meaning they catch colds easily when exposed to wind, due to this factor or cause. If this happens frequently, their resistance will be significantly weakened.
3. If your child has a cold, treat it as early as possible to avoid delaying the condition.
- Traditional Chinese pediatric medicine believes, "Children are prone to illness and their conditions change rapidly." If a child catches a cold, taking medicine one hour earlier versus one hour later can result in completely different outcomes. Parents who frequently interact with children should learn to observe any unusual signs of colds and take timely action if they notice them.
4. Ensure the illness is fully treated without giving up halfway.
- If a child has a fever above 39°C, lower their temperature below 38°C within two hours. A fever lasting above 39°C for more than two hours can cause brain cell damage and affect the child’s intelligence. Some children develop swollen tonsils or coughing (bronchitis) after a cold. If the condition is not fully treated, it may lead to chronic tonsillitis or bronchitis in the future, making it difficult to cure completely.
- This can lead to two possible outcomes:
1. The child frequently gets sick and is hard to cure, weakening their resistance.
2. Frequent medication increases bacterial resistance to drugs in the child’s body, reducing the effectiveness of treatment. In such cases, to cure the child’s illness, stronger antibiotics may be needed, which is why it’s said, "Children’s medication leaves a lasting impact."
5. Maintain a balanced diet, enhance nutrition, and strengthen the body.
- The human body requires seven essential nutrients: water, protein, fat, carbohydrates, trace elements, vitamins, and dietary fiber. The nutritionist’s principle of "comprehensive nutrition, reasonable proportions, and balanced diet," as well as "one handful of vegetables, one handful of beans, one egg with some meat, and enough whole grains," well reflects the idea of dietary balance.
- At the same time, avoid letting children eat snacks arbitrarily, as snacks are harmful, and most parents understand this. Don’t just give children high-nutrient refined foods out of pity, as this can also lead to "high-nutrient malnutrition."
6. Train children to do things for themselves and develop relatively independent living and eating habits.
- Only when they learn to dress and undress themselves based on their own perception of cold and heat can they reduce the frequency of colds. Only when they eat by themselves will they develop a appetite and eat well, ensuring they get the nutrition needed for growth and development. Parents should not always think of children as too young to handle anything themselves and should start educating them early. The earlier, the better.