Foot and leg cramps during pregnancy

[harrogatemum]

I am nearly 19 weeks pg with my third baby and am getting the WORST foot and leg cramps at night. It basically happens just before I fall asleep and its agony. Does anyone know of anything I can take to help this or to do to try and alleviate it (other than getting out of bed and walking around!?). Any advice would be great!

I'm 33 wks and get this a lot - I find just bending my foot upwards towards my shins to stretch the muscles at the back of my legs really helps though is painful for a moment. Saves getting out of bed anyway. Try doing it for a while before you get in bed as well.

a glass of tonic water before bed - the quininne (sp?) in it stops cramps - swore by this last time. hope it helps!

yep you need more calcuim harrogatemum

A good tip I was given was to avoid drinking coke as it had high levels of potassium which aggravated the cramps. Hope this helps!!

Bananas also have a high level of potassium. Or you can get a supplement I think from a health food shop (my dad did - not that he was ever pregnant )

Oh I had this so much with ds2 - it was agony. I was told to drink tonic water (something to do with the quinine?) and eat sardines (I guess that's calcium - potassium too maybe).

Buy magnesium supplement from the chemist and take one a day. Works perfectly. (Taking 2 by accident solves pregnancy complication problems I noticed!)

Sorry brain not engaged yet!! It is phosphoric acid in the coke that causes leg cramps not potassium!!