Huge swollen ankles and feet after birth - what do I do?

[BarrelOfMonkeys]

My ankles and feet are three times their usual size five days after birth - they were fine in preg but now they have swelled up and are really uncomfortable. Any tips on how to get them down again, other than drinking lots of water? Should I put them up or keep moving? (They seem to be bigger in the evenings.) Thanks in advance.

put some towels under the end of your mattress to raise it so your ankles higher than your hips, that can help, keep them elevated as much as possible too

there is a lot of extra blood and fluid and stuff sloshing about post birth, it has to go somewhere !

keep drinking and weeing too

Thanks, I'll try that tonight!

Hiya,

Mine were huge while pregnant and I'd say took about 6 weeks at least to go down after the birth. I remember thinking I'd be stuck with these huge ankles for ever but I wasn't!

def keep them up. take it easy on the sofa with feet up on a couple of pillows.

mine were like this after both children and it took a while for them to go down

I had this with dd, I had swollen ankles during pregnancy but they swelled to ridiculous proportions after she was born. It settled down after a few days and iirc after two weeks I could wear my normal shoes for the first time in months!

Keep drinking loads of water and it will pass sooner rather than later.

It will go, and others have shared tips. I found aromatherapy massage helped, if you can get it!

keep them elevated as much as possible and get your DH to do a lymphatic drainage massage.

he starts by wiggling all your toes in turn, then strokes across the top of your foot from toes to ankle using the palms of his hands, then similarly up your shins from ankles to knees and then similarly on your calf. He should take all the weight of your leg in his other hand and you should keep your foot above your knee during the massage.

I hope that makes sense. My community MW did this for me after the birth of my DD and then told DH he needed to do it three times a day. It certainly made them more comfortable for a few hours afterwards but it still took nearly three weeks to get back to normal!

6 weeks! Blimey. I'll have to get DH on the case with the drainage massage, or I'll never leave the house again... no chance of getting shoes on at present!

Thanks for the tips - appreciate it.