Restless leg syndrome in pregnancy

[ElderMillennial]

Any tips on dealing with this?

I've read different things about diet and activity throughout the day having impact but does anyone have any ways to deal with restless legs when you just can't get comfortable at night?

Banana before bed....

Oh really? I will try that tomorrow!

Heat, I've found if my legs are restless before bed a bath settles them. I've had one night of being so irritable and restless I got in the bath at 3am and it was instant relief. Some people recommend gentle exercise like simply walking round the house for a minute but I didn't find that helped me

I suffered terribly with this in both pregnancies and started dreading trying to get to sleep at night. What really helped was a proper bedtime routine- bath, vigorous leg/foot massage and a magnesium spray. Just bought it from Amazon but it really helped. It can sting a bit the first few times you use it but they do a sensitive one which was a bit better. The brand was 'better you' I think. I also used to play a guided meditation to help me properly relax and take my mind of it.

Hope you manage to get it sorted.

Magnesium spray

Ooh also, get an empty deodorant/hairspray can and roll it on the floor with your foot- keep the cab in the arch of your foot and apply a good bit of pressure. This helped when the restless feeling migrated to my foot.

Tonic water. The quinine will help
Add ice and a slice and you can pretend it's a g&t

Feet being as cool as possible helped me, used to sit with them in a bowl of cold water, then stick them out of the quilt with the fan on me. Staying hydrated is key too

@ElderMillennial eating a banana before bed for potassium can help. What worked for me was tonic water with Quin. A glass of that before bed helped. Has to have quin that's the key ingredient. You can mix the tonic with squash if you like.

I second magnesium spray!

Thanks everyone.

I have an Ocado shop coming and they have the Better You products one buy one get one half price so I'm ordering the magnesium oil in sensitive and the magnesium lotion.

I thought tonic water was not recommended in pregnancy but I feel like I've read conflicting info on that.

Mostly, just walking around for a bit doesn't help, but strangely it did the other night after I first posted this!

I'll try the other things mentioned too.

Hey @ElderMillennial no fun tips here (except the peppermint leg spray from the body shop helps mine sometimes) I read to find help for myself,
But is your name a reference to the comedian Iliza?

@Waitingforbabypage Yes Are you a fan? Most of my friends have never heard of her!

I hope you find some relief. I will update if I find anything that helps. My magnesium spray and lotion should arrive in a couple of days.

@ElderMillennial I am! Absolutely love her, seeing her in London in November (all being well with the world/covid situ)

@Waitingforbabypage That's exciting! I love her specials and podcast. I saw her twice in 2018 when she was doing shows more local to me but she seems to be only doing London this time.

Nurse advised me to eat a yoghurt at bedtime when I was walking the corridors in the maternity hospital for the week.

And did it work @Plinkplonk1234?

I've suffered since my teens but worse in pregnancy. If you use Facebook there is a few good support groups for tips and ideas. I found a bath helped before bed during pregnancy, tonic water helps and my legs being tired eases it. I think it's a lot of trial and error unfortunately

I read somewhere that restless legs can be due to low salt, oddly my 1st pregnancy I didn't suffer but 1 of my 2 cravings were salt when I hated salt before, 2nd pregnancy I didn't crave salt and hated it again but had awful restless legs

Iron tablets helped me but I was anemic in both pregnancies

You need quinine. I used to drink a Schweppes tonic every night but I've a feeling they don't put quinine in it any more.

Yes it definitely helped but wasn't taking any chances I continued the walking as well.