Restless legs

[babydays123]

I'm coming up to 37 weeks and together with the heartburn, mid-night toilet trips restless legs are absolutely driving me mad at night.

Anyone have any tips for restless legs?

I'm currently just getting up, hanging out downstairs for a half hour or so and trying to go back to sleep again after that but thr fatigue is starting to kick in from the leg, heart burn and toilet wakes.

Part of me thinks it's good training for the baby's arrival, but then the other part is worried I'll go into labour after a particularly bad night and be exhausted before it even starts

I also experienced horrible restless legs throughout my pregnancy! 39 weeks now and I’ve found it much improved by using a massage gun, having a nice warm bath at night and not getting into bed until I am ready to sleep. When it was at its worst, it helped for DH to pin my legs down with his as I tried to get to sleep. Might be worth getting iron levels checked too!

You need iron!! Take some iron supplements and I got some iron infused water called Spatone (you can buy it in the supermarkets). Cures my restless legs in days

*cured

Yes definitely take iron. I've had a persistent problem with restless legs in this pregnancy and when it was at its worst I discovered I was very anaemic. My midwife said it is almost always a sign of anaemia in pregnancy so you should just take the iron even if you can't get a blood test. I don't really enjoy taking iron as even the most "gentle" formulation upsets my stomach but it is worth it for the improvement in my legs!

Thank you so much for the replies. I've got some iron supplements now so I'll try with those x

That is so interesting and helpful to know about the iron , mine have been driving me mad too.

Magnesium has always helped my restless legs. Plus for the extreme I haven't slept for so long cases (once kept awake so long by restless legs I started hallucinating!) Paracetamol usually helps. Weighted blanket sometimes helps. I've heard of warm bath before bed, but not really helped that much for me. I also find for whatever reason that making sure I get a bit of sunshine in the day, but not close to bedtime can help.

Also a kind of meditation as you fall asleep where you tense and relax various muscles in turn can help.

Probably more things I've tried but can't think of them right now. Number one for me has been to never skip my vitamins. A few days without vitamins almost guarantees an episode for me.

I agree about the magnesium. I had terrible RL in my first pregnancy but barely at all in my second when I was taking the magnesium for something else.

I also favoured a cold hot water bottle on the backs of my knees and the cooling gel you can get from the pound shop on my feet and calves.

Was coming on to say iron, I take spatone x2 a day and it sorts it within a day or so, have to keep it up though