Causes of calf cramps in pregnant women

Pregnant women will suffer from calf cramps. During the pregnancy period, pregnant women will experience a lot of physical discomfort. If they walk for a long time, it is very likely to cause calf cramps. At this time, our expectant fathers must take better care of our expectant mothers. They should often massage the legs of our expectant mothers to promote blood circulation in the legs and avoid calf cramps in pregnant women. At the same time, they should also pay attention to rest more to avoid compression of the calves.

Calf cramps are a common problem for many expectant mothers, especially after five months of pregnancy. The symptoms mostly occur during sleep, and pregnant women often wake up in pain due to calf cramps, which affects the sleep quality of pregnant women. What's going on? In fact, it is normal for pregnant women to have leg cramps, and pregnant mothers do not need to be too nervous. Let’s talk about the causes and prevention methods of leg cramps in pregnant women. I hope it will be helpful to everyone.

Causes of leg cramps in pregnant women

1. After pregnancy, the weight of the pregnant woman will increase significantly, and the burden on her legs will increase, causing her leg muscles to be in a state of fatigue.

2. After pregnancy, the baby's nutritional needs increase, especially calcium absorption. Especially in the second and third trimesters, the daily calcium requirement increases to 1200 mg. If the diet does not contain enough calcium and vitamin D or there is a lack of sunlight, the calcium deficiency will be aggravated, thereby increasing the excitability of muscles and nerves. The blood calcium level at night is lower than during the day, so calf cramps often occur at night.

Six tips:

1. Eat more calcium-rich foods, dairy products and dark green vegetables.

2. Take calcium tablets, preferably oral calcium tablets containing vitamin D, such as Calcium D tablets. Of course, if necessary, you should ask your doctor to check before taking any supplements.

3. Pregnant women can avoid leg cramps by stretching and bending the soles of their feet upwards and pushing their heels outwards (rather than pointing them toward the toes). In some cases, you can also do this stretch when cramps first start, or try a gentle massage to relieve them.

4. Massage your feet before going to bed, or elevate your feet before sleeping. Do not wear high heels when walking during the day and do not stand for too long to prevent excessive fatigue of the leg muscles.

5. For obvious cramps, hold the back of the chair for support, stand up straight to stretch the muscles in the back of the leg, bend the hips slightly forward, straighten the knees, and breathe deeply and evenly. You can also lean against a wall with the soles of your feet on the floor, your arms straight, leaning forward slightly, and your palms against the wall.

6. When a pregnant woman has leg cramps when sleeping at night, she can also ask her husband to help with hot compresses and massage, which can effectively relieve the pain caused by leg cramps.

The above are some of our solutions to calf cramps in pregnant women. From the above, we can see that calf cramps are a common problem for many expectant mothers, so expectant mothers don’t have to worry too much. We should maintain a happy and relaxed mood, so that the baby born will be healthy and cute. Pregnant women also need to supplement more calcium!