Swelling during Pregnancy

Swelling during Pregnancy




Swelling during pregnancy is quite common. In fact most if not all pregnant women will experience swelling during some part of their pregnancy. Some women tend to swell more than others. Swelling from water retention can contribute up to 25% of the weight gain during pregnancy. 


Swelling is basically a result of compromised circulation. Your enlarged uterus places pressure on the blood vessels in your pelvis and legs. That pressure slows your circulation down. That compromised circulation causes blood to pool and push fluid into your tissue, hence swelling.

Causes of Swelling During Pregnancy

Aside from the normal fluid retention, there are other causes of swelling during pregnancy that can result in too much fluid being retained. These causes include:

• Hot weather. It is important to stay out of the sun for longer than normal during the warmest days of your pregnancy.

• Spending long periods of time standing. The longer mom stands without sitting, the more fluid can retain in the ankles, feet and legs of the body. This can cause painful swelling during pregnancy.

• Long periods of activity without periods of rest. For every hour of activity, the expecting mother needs to rest for at least 15 minutes. During this time of rest, prevent swelling during pregnancy by propping the legs up.

• Lowered potassium levels. Diets low in potassium can cause the body to retain water. If the potassium levels remain low, this water retention can become dangerous and even life threatening. There are  natural sources of potassium that can be included in the diet safely to prevent this swelling during pregnancy from becoming a health concern. Foods high in potassium include avocado, milk and bananas.
• Increased caffeine consumption. Caffeine has recently been linked to pregnancy complications and should be avoided whenever possible. Highlevels of caffeine can also cause fluid retention in the body.

Tips to Reduce Swelling in Pregnancy

In most cases, swelling during pregnancy is normal. To minimize your edema, or swelling during pregnancy, you should avoid foods that are high in salt, or sodium. Salt-laced foods can make your swelling worse. Other steps that you can take to reduce swelling include:

• Exercising on a regular, if not daily, basis. (Unless your doctor has warned against it, light or moderate exercise during pregnancy is healthy, and it may ease many of your pregnancy aches and pains.)


• Don't stay standing for extended periods of time. If your job forces you to remain standing for a long time, you should stretch your legs when you can, and shift the weight between each leg.


• Consider wearing maternity support hose. While support hose isn't exactly stylish, it may help promote blood circulation in your lower extremities.


• When you are resting, you should always lay on your sides, left better than right. This may minimize swelling.

When Swelling is Not Normal

When swelling is sudden or extreme, or found in not only the legs and feet, but face and hands, it can be something serious. You should report this type of swelling to your midwife or doctor immediately. You should also report swelling that does not go away after many hours of rest. If you're at a higher risk for complications that include swelling like preecclampsia your practitioner should have explained what you are looking for and when it needs to be reported.

Whenever you're concerned about your swelling or other medical questions, never hesitate to talk to your doctor or midwife.