Swollen leg after pregnancy

What Is It and What To Do

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Regardless of whether your delivery was complicated or easy, your body has been through trauma just the same. Postpartum swelling is just one of the several things you may have to deal with. But this is time for your body to recover. Try not to get frustrated. The best thing you can do for it is rest, eat well, and give yourself a break.

Postpartum Swelling: What Is It?

Swelling is very common during the postpartum period. It usually gets worse during the first postpartum week. However, it gradually improves with time. Most of what causes swelling is an accumulation of fluid in some parts of your body. By keeping yourself hydrated, your body will have an easier time releasing extra fluid causing the swelling.

‌It is also important for you to walk and move around after delivery to prevent complications that lead to swelling in the legs. But try not to overdo your activity. Talk to your doctor about creating a postpartum workout plan that fits your needs.

Types of Postpartum Swelling

The type of swelling depends on what causes it and where in your body it is located.

Breast engorgement. This happens when your breasts swell because they are full of milk. It most commonly happens a few days after delivery. Your breasts may also feel tender and sore. The discomfort will go away once you start breastfeeding regularly.

‌Hemorrhoids. You may develop painful swelling of a vein in the rectum during your pregnancy. If not, you may get them from the strain and pushing during delivery. Hemorrhoids are painful and may bleed after a bowel movement. Sometimes they itch too. Applying cold witch hazel may help relieve hemorrhoid pain. They should shrink over time, but if they don’t, contact your doctor.

‌What to do about hemorrhoids:

Soak in a warm bath
Ask your doctor about using an over-the-counter spray or cream for pain
Eat fiber-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread and cereals
Drink lots of water
Try not to strain when you’re pooping

Water retention. Also known as postpartum edema (swelling). After giving birth, your body will continue to hold on to water because of an increase in progesterone. You may notice the swelling in your hands, arms, feet, ankles, and legs. Edema shouldn’t last much longer than a week after delivery. If it does or if it gets worse over time, consult your doctor.

‌Signs of edema include:

Swelling or puffiness of the tissue directly under your skin, especially in your legs or arms
Stretched or shiny skin
Skin that retains a dimple (pits), after being pressed for several seconds
Increased abdominal size

‌See your doctor immediately if you have shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chest pain, as these can be signs of pulmonary edema, which requires urgent treatment.

‌Deep vein thrombosis. Is your swelling accompanied by pain, redness, warmth, or tenderness in your legs, especially in your calves? It could be a sign of deep vein thrombosis. This is when a blood clot forms deep in your body, usually in the lower leg or thigh.

How to Ease Postpartum Swelling

It is normal for postpartum women to have swelling, especially in their legs and feet. It is usually your body’s way of getting rid of some of the excess fluid accumulated during pregnancy. Swelling may take up to two weeks to resolve. Call your doctor if one leg is much more swollen than the other. Also, get medical attention if you have pain in your leg when walking or if there is a red hot area in one leg.

‌What you can do to help bring the swelling down:

Eat potassium-rich foods like bananas, potatoes, avocados, and spinach
Reduce your caffeine intake — caffeine makes your body retain water and increases swelling
Keep your feet elevated
Wear comfortable shoes
Wear compression socks
Drink water
Avoid salty foods as sodium makes you retain more water
Go for a daily walk to increase your circulation
Wear loose-fitting clothes
Get a massage

Causes and 10 natural treatments

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1. Drink water

It may be counterintuitive, but staying hydrated can help with losing water weight. This is because dehydration makes the body hold on to extra water.

Water also helps to push waste products through the kidneys, which can keep the body’s systems healthy and speed up recovery after pregnancy.

2. Elevate your feet

To reduce swelling in the legs and improve circulation, spend some time with the legs elevated above the level of the heart. This encourages the water to flow throughout the body.

Fluids naturally rush to the feet when a person stands, so elevating the feet can reduce swelling temporarily.

Also, avoid cutting off blood flow to the legs, which can happen when a person crosses their legs or sits in restrictive positions.

3. Do light exercise

Many people find that light exercise can reduce swelling and related symptoms. Moving around helps blood and water to circulate and prevents it from pooling.

However, people should always listen to their bodies and avoid movements that cause pain.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends activities such as:

walking
gentle yoga
swimming
aquanatal classes
Pilates

4. Wear compression stockings

Authors of a 2017 study found that wearing compression stockings helped to reduce swelling in the 24-hour period after giving birth. However, they noted that further research was necessary.

Compression stockings help to increase blood flow by reducing the size of blood vessels in the legs. This encourages the vessels to circulate more blood in a shorter amount of time.

A range of compression stockings is available for purchase online.

5. Wear loose-fitting clothes

Tight-fitting clothing can cut off circulation to various parts of the body. This can stop the body from shedding water weight and encourage the fluid to pool.

Wearing loose-fitting clothing can help to prevent these issues.

6. Avoid salt

The body needs to maintain a balance of sodium and water. If people eat too much sodium, or salt, they will retain more water.

Common sources of sodium include table salt and processed foods, such as cakes, chips, prepackaged meals, and soft drinks.

The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that people eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day.

Checking the sodium contents on food packaging can help a person to keep their salt intake within a healthful range and reduce water retention.

7. Eat potassium-rich foods

Sodium and potassium work together, and the body requires a balance. Consuming more potassium naturally lowers the amount of sodium in the body.

Foods rich in potassium include:

apricots
bananas
avocados
spinach
baked beans
lentils
yogurt
peanut butter

8.

Drink less caffeine

Coffee and other caffeinated products can make the body lose water, increasing the risk of dehydration. The body may respond by retaining fluids.

Replace caffeinated drinks with herbal teas or water to stay hydrated and reduce postpartum swelling.

9. Use a foam roller

Foam rollers can improve circulation and reduce the buildup of water in the body.

Using a foam roller on the legs, for example, can help to speed up blood flow by encouraging the blood to move through the veins at a quicker pace.

A healthcare provider can help to advise about the effectiveness of a foam roller for postpartum swelling. The rollers are available for purchase at athletic stores or online.

10. Improve circulation with a postpartum massage

The American Pregnancy Association recommend a postpartum massage for relaxation, pain relief, and reduced swelling. Massage can promote circulation and help the body to lose excess water weight.

Postpartum massage can also help to rebalance hormone levels and regulate levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, according to the organization.

When choosing a massage therapist or acupuncturist, find someone who is certified and who specializes in or is familiar with treating postpartum clients.

People should see a doctor if:

swelling comes on suddenly
pressing down on a swollen area leaves an indentation in the skin, which is known as pitted edema
there is pain, redness, irritation, or increased swelling in one leg, which can point to a blood clot
a woman has a continuous or recurring headache, vomiting, blurred vision, or sensitivity to light, which are symptoms of preeclampsia
there is chest pain or trouble breathing, which can signal a potentially severe heart complication called peripartum cardiomyopathy

Postpartum swelling is common. There are several natural ways to reduce this swelling more quickly, involving massage, changes to the diet, and light exercise.

These remedies can also improve a woman’s physical and mental health after pregnancy.

Edema after childbirth: causes and treatment

Pregnancy is the most important period in a woman's life, when the body undergoes significant changes.

And many young mothers dream of getting back in shape after childbirth as soon as possible. This is often interfered with by edema, which begins in the second half of pregnancy and does not go away after the birth of the baby. Why do legs swell after childbirth and how to deal with swelling? We are looking for answers to these questions.

Kidney function

Violation of the normal functioning of the kidneys, which begins during the bearing of the baby, may be one of the reasons why, after childbirth, women complain of swelling in the legs. During pregnancy, the volume of blood circulating in the body increases by about 30%. The load on the excretory system increases markedly, which can lead to malfunctions in its work.

After the birth of a child, when the kidneys no longer have to work so intensively, their normal functioning is restored. However, this process is gradual, and therefore, edema may persist for some time after childbirth.

Please note that with kidney problems after childbirth, not only the legs swell. Usually women also complain of swelling of the fingers and face.

Hormonal imbalance

Preparation for pregnancy, the period of bearing a baby, childbirth, breastfeeding and further recovery are difficult for the female body with constant hormonal "shakes". An additional factor affecting the work of a woman's own endocrine system is the use of hormonal drugs, which are often prescribed during pregnancy. These changes do not always go smoothly - the imbalance of hormones that occurs during this period can cause edema.

The hormonal background affects the permeability of blood vessels. In particular, thyroid hormones play an important role here, as well as the ratio of sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone) and other body hormones.

Please note that hormonal imbalance may be accompanied by a general decrease in body tone. Women often complain of weakness, drowsiness, weight gain, leg fatigue, constipation. The presence of these symptoms in addition to edema suggests that the hormonal background of the young mother has not yet recovered.

Lifestyle

This factor cannot be discounted. Despite the fact that many young mothers are looking for the causes of swelling of the legs after childbirth in violation of the body, nutrition and the nature of the load are of great importance.

After becoming a mother, many women feel that they are “out of pregnancy restrictions”, especially if they are not breastfeeding.

Abuse of fried, salty, improper protein intake, an abundance of sweets in the diet, of course, contribute to postpartum edema.
On the other hand, some women, dreaming of quickly restoring a slender figure, sharply limit themselves in food. Starvation diets lead to metabolic disorders and the accumulation of fluid in the tissues (the so-called "hungry edema").

And finally, after the birth of the baby, you do not need to stop taking vitamins. After all, edema leads to a lack of sodium and potassium in the body, which are so easy to get by taking vitamin and mineral complexes.

We mentioned not only the diet, but also the level of activity. It's no secret that sometimes a young mother spends all day caring for her baby. This leads to the fact that her legs swell even after pregnancy. All the fault - excessive load and lack of normal blood circulation. During the daytime sleep of the child, the mother is also recommended to rest for at least 15-20 minutes, and the legs should be raised at this time.

Varicose veins

We have listed the common causes of swelling of the legs after childbirth, but did not mention one of the most common - varicose veins.
Approximately 25% of women experience vein pathology during pregnancy. This is facilitated by several factors that accompany pregnancy:

hormonal changes
weight gain
pressure of the enlarged uterus on the inferior vena cava and, as a result, a violation of blood circulation
increase in total blood volume during pregnancy

These factors together lead to an increase in the load on the veins, stretching of their walls and weakening of the valvular apparatus. As a result, the correct blood flow through the veins is disturbed, the blood stagnates, which further stretches the walls of the vessel. Varicose veins are progressing.

After childbirth, all factors contributing to the formation of varicose veins weaken or disappear. However, the peculiarity of the structure of the walls of the veins is such that they do not return to their original state: after all, they do not have muscle fibers that could provide this. That is why varicose veins must be treated, as well as regularly undergo relapse prevention.

Please note that the doctors of the Phlebology Center recommend that pregnant women regularly see a phlebologist to avoid swelling of the legs, including after childbirth. At the appointment, a suitable compression stocking is selected for the expectant mother, and recommendations are given directly for the period of childbirth. Indeed, at this time, the veins are under tremendous stress. It is also recommended that pregnant women wear a bandage, which reduces the pressure of the uterus on the vessels and also helps prevent the development of varicose veins.

Timely preventive measures taken will help a woman significantly reduce the likelihood of leg swelling after childbirth. The right lifestyle, attentive attitude to your health and regular consultations with your doctor will allow you to enjoy harmony with yourself and your child, without thinking about unpleasant swelling.

Edema after childbirth on the legs

The recovery period after childbirth lasts about a year: a woman gets used to a new stage in life, and her body gradually returns to shape. One of the common problems of this time is swelling after childbirth, which appear both on the body and on the face. Most often, fingers and toes swell, as well as lower legs. What are the causes of swelling after childbirth on the legs?

Why legs swell after childbirth

Edemas, depending on the area to which they extend, are divided into 4 degrees:

1st degree - on the shins;
2 degree - on the legs and stomach;
3 degree - on the legs, arms, face and abdomen;
4 degree - almost on the whole body.

Why do legs swell after childbirth? Fluid retention may be the only problem that worries a woman in the period after the birth of a baby. Doctors came to the conclusion that edema may appear due to:

Lack of sleep and disruption of the daily routine. With the advent of the baby, sleep becomes intermittent and short-lived, so fatigue accumulates day after day. Caring for a child requires strength and endurance, as a result, a woman is very tired and her legs swell.
Non-compliance with the diet. Lack of full meals, snacks on the go, night trips to the refrigerator lead to disturbances in the digestive system. A woman begins to gain weight, so the load on the musculoskeletal system increases.
Excess salt in the body. If a woman does not follow a diet after childbirth and includes in her diet everything that was forbidden during pregnancy (this applies to mothers of formula-fed babies), this may affect the removal of fluid from the body. Salt retains water, which is why swelling on the legs appears after childbirth.
Lack of vitamins and minerals. A deficiency of the components necessary for the body appears for various reasons, but almost always it leads to a deterioration in well-being and is manifested physiologically (this is not only swelling, but also weakness, loss of strength, dizziness, etc.).

If you adjust your diet, stick to a diet, avoid spicy, salty foods and make up for the deficiency of trace elements, swelling will go away on its own. It is also important to give yourself the opportunity to rest and find time for sleep even at a time when the baby is still quite small.

But the causes of swelling after childbirth on the legs can be more serious. These include:

Thrombosis. Blockage of the veins can lead to poor health and swelling. If you have a tendency to form blood clots, you need to regularly do a coagulogram (blood clotting test) and check the condition of blood vessels, veins and arteries.
Varicose veins. Appears due to excessive stress on the vessels and impaired blood flow. It becomes one of the main causes of swelling in the legs after childbirth.
Diseases of the cardiovascular system. If the heart muscle does not cope with its work, this leads to stagnation in the vessels. Along with swelling, heaviness in the legs appears. The situation is exacerbated by a sedentary lifestyle.
Problems in the work of the genitourinary system. During pregnancy, the load on the kidneys increases, and after childbirth, this can lead to severe swelling in the legs. After the birth of the baby, it is imperative to monitor the condition of the kidneys, take a general urine test and do an ultrasound.

Causes of swelling of the legs after the birth of a child

Edema in the legs after the birth of a child also appears due to an inactive lifestyle. The first 3-7 days a new mother usually spends in the hospital and spends most of the day in the ward. Due to poor health, bed rest can last even longer. After returning home, it is also not immediately possible to adjust your schedule. To reduce the likelihood of severe leg swelling after childbirth, follow these recommendations:

Walk your stroller for at least half an hour every day. Gradually increase the walking time, taking into account the recommendations of the pediatrician, the weather, the age of the baby and your well-being.
Eat right. To spend a minimum of time preparing food, use a slow cooker or pressure cooker. Simple and healthy dishes are prepared very quickly. The menu can include: seasonal vegetables and fruits, cereals, steamed meat, cottage cheese, kefir, fish. During pregnancy, you can make preparations in the form of dumplings, meatballs and other dishes that can be frozen. After the birth of a baby, such a supply of semi-finished products will be very useful.
Treat your skin with a contrast shower. Temperature changes help to relax the legs and help fight severe swelling after childbirth.
Rest when your baby is sleeping. Do not take on all household chores. A happy mother is a calm mother. Not all babies behave calmly in the first months after birth, so calculate your strength and put the need to rest in the first place.
Wear compression stockings after childbirth and avoid putting extra stress on your legs. For walking, choose comfortable shoes without heels and a narrow toe. It should not squeeze the leg, so as not to provoke the appearance of edema.
Massage your legs and hold them every evening for 10-15 minutes in a position above your head. This improves blood circulation and helps women cope with fluid retention in the body.

If you follow all the recommendations, physiological edema after childbirth will become less pronounced in 7-10 days, and will completely disappear in a month. If the problem persists, you need to see a doctor. Edema can also appear after surgery (caesarean section): during the operation, blood vessels are damaged, due to further compression of which blood stagnation in the legs is formed.