Calf Cramps

sjamin9

I have been getting cramps in my calves, only at night, only one leg at a time. It happened only occasionally at first, but now it's pretty nightly. I looked it up in my pregnancy book to see if it could be related, and it says that it is, but the cause is unknown. It recommended stretching your toes and foot to your shin to get it to go away quickly, which has been helping. Anyone else getting this? Any way to prevent them? It's awful to wake up in the middle of the night to pee all the time, now that this is also waking me up, I was hoping to find a way to keep it from happening, lol. FX that someone has a good suggestion!

sbevmc09

You can help alleviate them by drinking lots of water and eating things high in potassium like bananas. 

hansonam446

Mine cramp up during the day mostly but it has happened at night. Usually it's caused from dehydration so I always try and drink a ton of water but honestly, because of pregnancy, even that may not help.

jjgal

I haven't had them yet this pregnancy, but last time I did.  I found that if I stepped with that foot flat on a hard surface it would go away quickly.  

sjamin9

I haven't had any problems during the day, thankfully. I'll try and up my water intake at night, thanks for the suggestion. I feel like all I do is drink water, but I try to taper off in the evenings so I'm not up so much to use the restroom. I guess I'll just have to deal so that I don't wake up from the pain instead

bearkatjen

sbevmc09:

You can help alleviate them by drinking lots of water and eating things high in potassium like bananas. 

This and I try to stretch my calves before bed, and avoid pointing my toes in bed. If I do get a Charlie Horse, I found putting weight on my leg is the best way to stop the spasm, so I either stand up real quick, not so easy in pregnancy, or I slam my foot down on the bed and try to put as weight as possible on it. 

sesigs

bearkatjen:

sbevmc09:

You can help alleviate them by drinking lots of water and eating things high in potassium like bananas. 

This and I try to stretch my calves before bed, and avoid pointing my toes in bed. If I do get a Charlie Horse, I found putting weight on my leg is the best way to stop the spasm, so I either stand up real quick, not so easy in pregnancy, or I slam my foot down on the bed and try to put as weight as possible on it. 

All of this. Getting a Charlie Horse is the worst. I've found avoiding pointing my toes helps them not happen!  

carteramariec

I started getting them last week pretty regularly. I read somewhere to drink more water, so I'm averaging 100 oz or so a day and I haven't had one since. Of course now I'm just waking up to go to the bathroom every hour, but it beats waking up with a calf cramp. Also, the stretching seemed to make it go away immediately when I did get them.