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Im now 14 weeks pregnant and have started to get leg cramps in bed which are keeping me awake, they are very painful and I know I had these with my other children but cant remember what I did to relieve it. Does anyone else suffer from this and have any tips I can try so I can get some sleep?
Generally, leg cramps can signify a lack of sodium. Do you reduce your salt intake when you're pregnant? That could be the problem.
Yep have some salt and maybe some milk before bed xo
I got leg cramps ridiculously early as well. They completely suck!
In pregnancy they say that it's more likely to be a lack of calcium rather than a lack of sodium. Magnesium doesn't hurt either.
The calcium/magnesium supplement we added to everything else I take helped for a bit, but I'm back to getting bad cramps again (it's such fun wandering the house at 4am trying to walk a cramp out of your calf!). The other thing I have found that helps is massaging your legs before bed (improve blood circulation) and sleeping with a pillow under your knees and/or lower legs when you are lying on your back.
I hope you find some relief soon, I know how horrible they can be.
BW
I'm getting cramps at night too... in my calves and my toes! Ouch!!!
I find the best way to relieve the ones in my calf muscles is to grab my toes (or get DH to do it :D ) and pull my foot up towards my knee. Does that make sense? It stretches the muscle out so it stops spasming.
HTH...
You might want to see a naturopath or care provider to talk about your diet and additional supplements. Cramps are usually linked to sodium deficiencies, and sodium is a big part of the plasma volume in our blood. Your blood volume is already increasing at a staggering amount, peaking to almost 50% more by 32 weeks.
At a similar stage, I was also getting leg cramps and finding myself breathless and faint, so I went to a naturopath who looked at my diet and prescribed additional supplements and within a week I felt so much better!
Hi
This was my only really negative pg symptom, for me it didn't start until sometime after 20 wks but they were horrid!! Waking me up, and frequent cramps during the day.
My ob recommended Blackmores' Bio-Magnesium tablets and after taking them for just a day my cramps stopped completely. I kept taking them until almost the end of the pg and never had another leg cramp.
Blackmore's Bio-Magnesium has kept me sane! Not a pregnancy symptom for me, but a sufferer of restless legs/night cramps. At my worst I wouldn't get more than 1/2 hour sleep in a block. I can SO relate to wandering around a dark house, so tired I could drop, to try to get my legs to settle.:
It was a nightduty nurse that put me onto the magnesium. She rustled some up from somewhere in the middle of the night and the relief was practically immediate. Some were ordered for me from pharmacy the next day & 15 months later I swear by them still. She laughed when I wanted to hug her the next night ... apparently I'm not the first and wont be the last to react this way ;)
The other thing that was recommended to me (and this is a bit out there :D ) was to put a bar of plain bath soap (not dove or one of the moisturising bars) between ur bottom sheet & the mattress down at your feet. I have never been able to find why this is supposed to help, but it did seem to give me some relief. Crazy I know!!
Bananas are anther possible treatment. Potassium deficiency can be a cause of muscle cramps and bananas are a great source of potassium.
HTH and you get some relief soon, I do feel your pain :hug:
I only had two leg cramps throughout my entire pregnancy. I believe this is because I was living on tums for indigestion and they contain calcium.
I would recommend eating a banana and drinking some milk before going to bed - they help my leg cramps.
I get them to sometimes. But I just push my heel down and that seems to ease the cramp. They only seem to last a few minutes but my calf can ache for days later. I have been taking Blackmores Calcium and Magnesium once a day, but I am considering increasing the dose to twice a day.
Good luck. Oh I also heard that heat bags can help...
Yes They are shocking!AND painful
IN my last pregnancy id wake up in complete shock, I didnt know what was happening!I would practise my labour breaths with every single cramp.
Ive only had one or 2 so far but I have heard that magnesium (that is a muscle relaxant) will help. I'm going to try the milk and banana trick!
I third the Blackmore's Bio-Magnesium! I got bad calf cramps with my first pregnancy and just started them again this time and they really make a difference. They are definitely worth a try.: