Your body from head to toe is changing rapidly, sometimes causing inconveniences. One of those common discomforts that many woman experience is swollen feet.

Swollen Feet

Swelling is a common part of pregnancy, it may cause any areas of your body. When fluid starts to form in your legs, ankles, feet, hands, and face, it's called edema. 

You may notice these changes from your second trimester, mostly when you are in the third trimester. Swelling usually happens in your leg part when the weight of the uterus and baby inside the womb puts more pressure on it. This pressure may decrease blood circulation, thereby increasing fluid level which causes swelling in your leg.

Even as your body produces hormonal differences, this may also build the fluid in your body.

Causes

Swelling is caused in the feet and ankles as the uterus expands with the fetus’s growth, putting pressure on the veins in the lower body.

Women who experience swollen feet during pregnancy may experience the following-

• looks puffy
• get worse as weather changes
• increases when standing for a long time
• reduces when lying or raising their feet
• may appear on both feet

Home Remedies

Follow these home remedies to reduce swelling in the feet during pregnancy-

• Don’t stand for a long time because this may increase pressure on your legs and feet
• Keep elevating your feet slightly to increase blood flow
• While sleeping raise your legs using any supportive pillows
• Do regular exercise keeping you active throughout the day
• Reduce intaking salt
• Stay hydrated and ensure drinking 8-10 glasses per day
• Avoiding caffeine as it is a kind of diuretic that promotes the production of urine more
• Wear loose and comfortable clothes
• Avoid wearing tight socks and shoes
• Avoid sitting for long placing your legs down
• Sleeping on your left side may help increase blood flow to the heart
• Massage to improve circulation
• Try to stay cool

Exercises

During pregnancy, doing exercise for the foot helps to improve circulation.

Pregnant women can do foot exercises like knee lifts, raising one foot off the floor and stretching it up and down 30 times, and continue the repetitions alternatively.

Another exercise says, to raise one foot from the floor and rotate it clockwise and then anticlockwise 10 times. Continue the repetitions alternatively.

Related: What Happens in Your Body During the Second Trimester?