Preventing leg cramps - owwwwww!!

[spannermary]

So I am 30 weeks pregnant and woke up in agony in the middle of the night with the most excruciating leg cramps ever. It felt like a small rodent was trying to escape from inside my shin. I'm still feeling bruised and don't want it to happen again!

Anyone else get these? And any tips on how to avoid? I am generally pretty well hydrated and have a warm bath a few times a week but it still happened!

take magnesium in the evenings, drink a lot during the day, keep legs warm, wear flight socs.

that's about it :)

I don't know how to stop them happening but physio told me to pull my toes up toward my head to get rid of it once it started seems to work.

I suffered with them, too, but on the advice of a pregnant friend who got them, I drank coconut water. Vita Coco, I think it was called. It worked for both of us, I really liked the taste, too, although it is a bit pricey.

tonic water my sis in law had a glass before bed mixed with some juice as she wasnt keen on it by itself and she said it worked a treat!x

Great tips on here! I've suffered with them right the way through all three pregnancies (near the end of number 3 now). I find that the only thing to do is to point my toes upwards as far as they'll go. I now do this in my sleep (or, at least, I assume I do because I seem to wake up doing it sometimes!). Fortunately, the problem disappears immediately after giving birth I find.

Wow - thanks everyone. I have poured myself a no-gin g&t (a girl can dream, eh!), am lovely and warm and have resigned myself to wearing socks in bed. Ugh.

Now I just have to figure out how to point my toes upwards whilst lying on my left hand side!

Bananas have magnesium too. Don't sleep on your back.

you can also press your leg against the foot rest of the bed.

Magnesium tablets worked for me too.

I find I have to get out of bed and put all my weight on my foot. I think it's linked to doing lots of walking/standing during the day - although that might just be because I'm a teacher so I am on my feet a lot.

Also, you could try sitting with your legs out in front of you and circle your ankles a few times each way before bed. That's on my yoga DVD and I do seem to get less after doing it.

When I told my mum about these she raised an eyebrow and told me I was making it up because they apparently didn't get them in her day!

Got these soooooo badly with both pregnancies, I can totally relate to the feeling of bruising and the agony when the cramp sets in and your whole calf/foot/leg goes rigid. I got to the point where I was pretty good at anticipating when I was about to cramp and would jump out of bed as soon as I felt the first twitch and stretch the leg to prevent it. I never found a magic cure but they do go the moment you are no longer pregnant and are a dim memory now. I did find that coconut water helped as well though - basically because it's full of magnesium and potassium and helps keep you v hydrated, all of which helps. I also got my DH to massage legs every night before going to sleep. Not sure how much that actually helped but I told him it did because it was a lovely way to end the day!