Managing Night Sweats During Pregnancy: Causes and Relief

This article is not meant to serve as medical advice. Please consult with your physician for individualized guidance.

From feeling the flutter of your little one’s feet to suddenly possessing a superhuman sense of smell, pregnancy is nothing if not irrefutable evidence of the wonders of the human body. But night sweats during pregnancy? Now there’s a new meaning to bun in the oven.

In a similar vein to the other lows and highs that tend to characterize pregnancy—like the nuisance of tender breasts coupled with the joy of thick, lustrous hair—night sweats are both awe-inspiring and maddening. Sure, waking up drenched in night sweat is palpable evidence that you and your baby are hard at work behind the scenes, but it can also exacerbate pregnancy insomnia and compound your discomfort.

Fortunately, sleep may be less elusive if you have a solid handle on why excess sweating seems to occur—especially once you pair that knowledge with the savviest ways to find both immediate and lasting relief. Let’s swim right in.

Understanding Night Sweats During Pregnancy

Rising with the birds slicked in perspiration might be the real reason you’re rocking that early pregnancy glow first thing in the morning. But regardless of what is pregnancy glow, it can nonetheless dampen your day (pun intended), particularly if you were tossing and turning all night.

Your middle-of-the-night monkey mind might suggest that you’re alone in your misery or that something is amiss. Yet, night sweats (and increased sweating, period) are, really, part and parcel of the physical changes that occur as you’re busy doing the most magnificent (and natural) of all things: Building a human. Plus, night sweats during pregnancy are only rarely indicative of a medical issue—a topic we’ll delve into soon.

First, though, what qualifies as night sweats, exactly?

What are night sweats?

The Cleveland Clinic defines the condition as “drenching sweats” that are profound enough to soak your bedding and clothes. They may also be accompanied by symptoms like:

• Disturbed sleep
• Increased heart rate
• Reddened skin

Medically referred to as hyperhidrosis, or “nocturnal hyperhidrosis” when they present alongside sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea, night sweats occur when the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) overexcites eccrine sweat glands in the skin.

Why do they occur?

Night sweats during pregnancy tend to occur for wholly natural reasons, namely:

• Hormones
• Low blood sugar
• Boosted blood flow

Night sweats during pregnancy may also be due to fluctuations in your thyroid gland and function, certain medications such as antidepressants, weight gain, and good old anxiety, which is perfectly understandable given the huge and thrilling life change you’re experiencing. An infection such as listeriosis is one of the less common, but no less disturbing, things that causes night sweats.

Let’s take a peek at the three most common causes.

Hormones

Feeling slick as a seal? You can point a finger at the very thing that, well, made your pregnancy possible: Your hormones.

From the point of conception, and even prior, your body goes through wild and often dramatic hormonal changes. Specifically, you experience surges in estrogen and progesterone.

Both are vital to your future sweet pea’s health and development, but both can have a massive impact on thermoregulation:

• Estrogen is famous for its capacity to moderate your body temperature (which is precisely why women experience hot flashes when their estrogen hormone levels begin to dwindle during perimenopause). But this key hormone also possesses this capacity because it dissipates internal heat through sweat.
• Progesterone, meanwhile, warms up your core temperature, much in the way that you may have felt hotter and sweatier in the luteal phase of your cycle—pre-baby bump, that is.

Low Blood Sugar

If you consider a chocolate chip waffle crowned with maple syrup the breakfast of champions when you have a baby on board, the idea that you’re wrestling with low blood sugar may seem downright preposterous.

But pause for a moment and consider what eating for two actually means. You’re responsible for providing your baby with enough nourishment and energy (a.k.a. calories) to grow from the size of a poppy seed to a small pumpkin. So, even if waffles are part of your daily diet, your embryo’s needs may leave you drained and low on the blood sugar scale.

Technically called nocturnal hypoglycemia, and occasionally coexisting with night sweats and hot skin, it occurs when blood glucose levels plunge below 70mg/dl—a very real possibility once you consider your developing baby’s nutritional needs.

Boosted Blood Flow

Before seeing that plus sign pop up on your home pregnancy test, you may have felt unusually warm, even feverish.

It wasn’t just nerves or excitement: Blood volume soars when conception occurs and steadily rises throughout gestation. By the time you hit 16 weeks, your blood volume typically increases by 45-50%.

In turn, your metabolism revs up and body heat rises, just as your blood vessels dilate and push more heat into your skin. And while washing your sheets yet again after a particularly bad bout of night sweats may seem like a drag, bear in mind that this increase in blood flow is also imperative to:

• Encouraging placenta development
• Delivering key nutrients to your baby
• Providing your child-to-be with their own blood supply

Exciting? No doubt. We also have a piece of good news for those who are in their first trimester: Night sweating is often most acute during the first and third trimesters. In other words, you ought to experience a respite from waking with a swamped hairline when you greet pregnancy Week 13.

Tips for Managing Night Sweats

You might be tempted to sleep in a bathtub filled with ice or send your partner (and cat) packing to the living room couch, but we have a few more temperate suggestions in mind.

Comfortable Sleeping Environment

A tranquil and cool sleeping environment is critical to keeping night sweats at bay (or at least at a manageable level):

• Set your thermostat (or open your window or turn on your ceiling fan) to ensure your bedroom hovers between 60 and 67 degrees, which experts indicate is the optimal temperature for quality sleep
• Aim to keep your room clean and orderly
• Invest in curtains to keep your room dark and promote your body’s natural circadian rhythm
• Use a white noise machine or put on your chillest playlist (at a low volume, of course) to mitigate noise in your household or neighborhood

Lastly, refrain from scrolling through TikTok as you wait for Mister Sandman to arrive: While turning off electronics won’t diminish night sweats, per se, it may help you combat insomnia.

Suitable Sleepwear and Bedding

You may have adored your down comforter and flannel PJs before you started baking a baby. Yet, your bedding and sleepwear can worsen night sweats during pregnancy or soothe them substantially:

• Choose loose-fitting sleepwear in a breathable material such as cotton
• Opt for lightweight bedding and moisture-wicking sheets

Further, consider if you might benefit from investing in a cooling mattress before your baby arrives and in the future.

When to Seek Medical Advice

Night sweats during pregnancy usually aren’t cause for concern even if they can be incredibly uncomfortable. That said, it’s important to be frank with your physician and mention all of your symptoms throughout your pregnancy adventure.

Additionally, it’s important to seek medical attention if:

• Your temperature ramps up to 100.2 degrees or higher
• You also feel itchy but no rash appears to be present
• You have unusual muscle aches, nausea (beyond super-fun morning sickness), and/or diarrhea
• You feel faint, dizzy, dehydrated, or just plain ill

Identifying Underlying Health Issues

What could these symptoms suggest? There’s no replacement for a doctor’s expertise, of course, but your snooze-inducing sweats, paired with additional symptoms, may be a sign of:

• An infection – Pregnancy can up your vulnerability to infections. (This is due to the fact that your immune system is doing double-duty, as well as those hormone shifts.) A few of the most common linked to night sweats include:

• • Urinary tract infections that have spread to the kidneys
  • Influenza (flu)
  • Foodborne illnesses
  • Herpes simplex virus
• Thyroid issues – Fluctuations in your thyroid hormones may be perfectly normal during pregnancy, and an abundance may make you feel hotter in general and potentially leave you in a puddle of sweat. But night sweats that appear alongside an accelerated heart rate and a speedier-feeling body, in general, may be a sign of hyperthyroidism—a health condition that affects 0.01%-0.04% of mamas-to-be.

The bottom line is this: You know your body best and want only the best for your wee one on the way. So, regardless of the severity of your night sweats, you should visit your OBGYN if you’re concerned about your or your baby’s health.

Early Fetal Sex Testing for Peace of Mind

From hemorrhoids to having to pee every 3.5 minutes, pregnancy can feel like a test that requires Herculean tolerance. Night sweats during this time may only add to your discomfort and bafflement. But what you’re in the process of creating? A miracle.

The SneakPeek® test may curb some of that bafflement and help you feel a modicum of control during your pregnancy voyage. The SneakPeek® Early Gender DNA Test provides a literal peek into your little darling’s gender. With over 99% accurate and clinically proven results, you can get some rest knowing what to expect when that bun in the oven is ready to come out—and straight into your arms.

SneakPeek is the only patented baby sex test, ensuring reliable and accurate results that you can trust. Not only does SneakPeek offer a sense of clarity in the midst of pregnancy’s uncertainties, but it’s also the #1 OBGYN-recommended at-home fetal sex test, trusted by over 1 million parents. If you’re looking for reliable, accurate, and trusted insight into your baby’s gender, look no further. Try SneakPeek®.

Editorial Policy

At SneakPeek, our commitment is to provide accurate, up-to-date, and reliable information to empower our readers. Our content is thoroughly researched, reviewed by medical experts, and fact-checked to ensure its credibility. We prioritize the well-being and education of our readers, and our editorial policy adheres to the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in all our articles.

This post has been reviewed for accuracy by the following medical professional:

Katie Smith, MSN, APRN, CNM

Katie Smith is a seasoned Certified Nurse Midwife and a nurturing mother to six children, offering a unique blend of professional expertise and personal experience. She is the founder of Birth Your Way Midwifery and Women’s Wellness Center in Bay County, Florida. Katie's comprehensive approach to care is informed by her hands-on experience in motherhood and her passion for empowering women through their birthing journey. Her dedication extends beyond her center as she actively engages in community wellness and family health education.

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