Legs aching and cramping at night

[JustJane1234]

Hello wonderful ladies,

I'm currently 22+4 with boy-girl twins and have had 2 nights of very little sleep due to my legs aching and cramping. My legs ache through the day too, but it's worse at night. I can drift off with the aching, but then cramping comes on and wakes me up.

I eat well, drink lots of water and do light exercise (prenatal pilates, swimming twice a week, a short walk every day).

Has anyone else had this? Has anyone found anything that works?

Thanks in advance for any advice xxx

[JA-fnuk Partner]

This is quite common in pregnancy - restless leg syndrome - try to avoid too caffeine in the evening - have a relaxing routine before going to bed try a bath - massage your legs Speak to your Midwife she may be able to offer more advice

Take care

Janet-Partner

[Mary2022]

I am 19 weeks and I also have the restless leg syndrome. It usually happens at night in my case. Initially I thought I was luck of calcium, I took extra calcium but it is still not improved.

My midwife told me it is very common and advised me to excise and take warm bath in the evening. I walk half an hour per day and take shower in the evening. I still have the restless leg every day when I wake up from bed. However, it reduces to one time per day..

[soccerkt6]

Hey lovely, this is most commonly caused by a deficiency in electrolytes since needs increase during pregnancy. Try adding in supplemental magnesium and see if that helps. I take an extra 300 mg per day (in addition to what’s in my prenatal) and that keeps them at bay for me, but you could start with a smaller supplemental dose like 150 mg and see how you get on.

This is a really good article on electrolytes and pregnancy: lilynicholsrdn.com/electrol...

xx

[Mary2022 in reply to soccerkt6]

I take Pregnacare max, it includes magnesium 150mg. Good point, I will ask midwife next time to see whether I need more dose or not. I have the restless leg everyday when I wake up from bed.

[soccerkt6 in reply to Mary2022]

Yeah, my prenatal also contains 150 mg so with the extra magnesium I'm taking I'm actually getting 450 mg/day! The nice thing is that magnesium is very safe...if you take too much you'll know because it will cause loose stools and then you should just lower your dose back down. But you can safely experiment with finding the dose that's right for you.

[PenguinBlue]

hello, I have the cramping in my legs at the moment at night over the last week. I’m currently 30 weeks so hoping not long til I don’t have to deal with it as I find my legs are so sore after, like running a marathon!

For me, having a tonic water a day is helping - think it’s the quinine in it. The days I haven’t had it, I get the cramps so I’m going to try and keep it up even though I generally don’t like anything fizzy. The flavoured fever tree ones are nice and low cal / sugar 👌🏽

[Eloquentia]

Hi! I don't have it but we were told at our NCT class that a banana (due to the magnesium) and a tonic water can really help. I hope it gets better soon!