I am recently pregnant with baby #3 and am already having terrible leg cramps....mostly at night. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to help prevent them. I was thinking yoga might help, but I haven't ever tried it so I wasn't sure if I should start while I'm pregnant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
My friend had that and her doctor said to eat a banana and drink a glass of skim milk before bed. I believe the potassium helps the leg cramps. She said that is worked very well and that she would never skip her before bed snack. Good luck and feel better!
ahhhhhh yes, I remember this!!! The only thing that helped me was at least 3x's a day I would stretch my calves. Stretch your calf and hold the stretch for 30 sec. repeat on other side and do this for approx 5 repetitions. So that's 5 x's on each calf. again, do 3x's a day. It really helped me.
Good luck and hang in there!!!
I was told by my dr that you can eat TUMS everyday. It has magnesium and calcium. It didn't work completely for me. But it did lessen the intesity. Feel good!
Usually leg cramping is caused by low levels of potassium. Try eating a banana before bed. There is a leg cramp pill out there, but I don't know if you can take it while pregnant as it has quinine in it. Talk to your doctor.
I ate one bannana per day and it really did help.
Donna,
Congratulations on your pregnancy. I know this might sound a bit wacky but when I was pregnant and had those severe leg cramps I had my son "massage" my legs and I wore snug fitting socks to bed every night. I went out and bought a couple of pairs of those old style knee socks, that coupled with the fact that we had a waterbed seemed to help immensely. I still get leg cramps periodically so I just recently bought myself a pair of sneakers from Curves for Women and love them and trust me they make my legs feel absolutely wonderful; you might want to try them as well. I got mine from Avon, but my daughter said you can get them elsewhere too and she is getting herself a pair. Let me know how you make out.
Hugs,
Toni
I am pregnant with #2, and have not experienced the leg cramps this time around--they were pretty bad with my first. I am taking, in addition to my prenatal vitamins, calcium supplements and omega3 oil supplements. Don't know if that is why, but I did read recently that leg cramps in pregnancy can be helped with calcium supplements. So you might want to try those? Good luck and congrats.
I had the same thing with my first pregnancy. When I was pregnant for the second time, I had read that you can take vitamin B6 for leg cramps. I checked with my dr (as you should) and started taking a little extra B6 (above what is in prenatal). I had maybe 2 leg cramps with my second pregnancy as compared with almost every night with my first. It was a miracle supplement! Good luck.
I feel your pain, I wake up with horrible leg cramps as well. My doctor says it is a lack of magnesium. You can take a calcium supplement that has magnesium in it. Just clear it all with your doc before taking it, but it will make a huge difference.
Good luck!
Hi,
Lots of water because you are dehydrated even though you may not feel thirsty and lots of bananas because you need potassium. GL!
Make sure you are not using aspartame, it could also be a side affect from aspartame.
I am sure you have heard it before but you need to stretch every night before bed and then again in the morning. I stretched for 5-10 minutes every night and it really helped my my leg cramps. There was a point when I could not sleep at all until I starting stretching. I am sure that yoga would be really helpful also.
i had the same problem. really common. first, cramps tend to be a lack of potassium, so add banana to your diet. but - you're gonna love me for this one. i learned what to do when you have the cramp. i used to wake up in pain and stretch my legs and it would get worse, oddly. i stretched with my toe pointed. i ended up finding the answer somewhere on the internet. when you stretch with toe pointed it cramps up more; but if you flex your foot it relieves the cramp. i swear this was a miracle to me in my first pregnancy. give a good strong flexed stretch and it should go right away. good luck!
Happen to me too! AWFUL!!! I had to pace up and down the halls at night. This worked pretty good. Right before bed I drank this organic mommy sleep time tea. I am not a tea fan...but it wasn't bad and really helped me relax at night and sleep better!! good luck!
I had the same thing when I was pregnant, both times. I had never done yoga before either, but started with a pregnancy routine. I loved it. It helped with so many other ailments too (heartburn, back pain, etc.). It was very easy, I had no issues at all. If you have concerns about starting a program, talk to your OB, he/she should be able to tell you what is safe for you.
I am 21 weeks along with number 2. I got leg cramps when I was pregnant with my son, and my doctor told me it was due to low electrolytes. So i drank alot of gatorade and that definitely helped. However there was so much sugar in the gatorade (and I discovered that I really really liked it) that I probably gained 5 pounds from that alone, because I drank it all the way through until labor.
This time when I started to get the cramps, i smartly googled 'electorlytes in food' and discovered that spinach and dark beans and whole grains (like oats and groats and bulgar and whole wheat) all contain lots of electrolytes. And i like that approach better, because it is all the stuff I should be eating anyway. Bananas also work because of all the potassium (but I detest bananas, so I am looking elsehwere). So far I am managing it pretty well.
Good luck!
I have had them with each pregnancy myself but my third was the worst so far. I had it so bad one night that I pulled a muscle or something because a week later I was still in pain so they sent me for a DVT sonogram to make sure it wasn't actually a blood clot.
In addition to drinking milk my doctor also told me to get calcium tablets. I highly suggest you get a specific brand and dose from your doctor. It should NOT be oyster shell based and there is one other one that is also a "from the sea" type of thing if I remember correctly. We had a substitute pharmacist that day and I had asked him for advice and he told me it didn't matter. My doctor did not agree because of the mercury so I was glad I double checked with him.
Hope you feel better!
Do leg stretches, especially beofre bed. It helped me alot.
I had this too, tried yoga (was great, didn't help leg cramps) but teacher said take calcium WITH magnesium (you can get them combined anywhere that sells vitamins) - this made them go away within a few days. good luck!