Aches, pains, and soreness happen all over your body during pregnancy. You know you’re going through all these changes for the good of you and your child.

How can you help your feet stay comfortable, and especially so during those later months of pregnancy?

Here’s what to do:

1. How to Handle Edema, The Collection of Fluid Throughout Your Body (And Feet)

Table salt is the most common cause of water retention that you can also control. So during your pregnancy, lay off the salty foods. Deli meat, crackers, and chips are some of the most common sources of high amounts of salt.

Having a healthy amount of potassium in your body helps balance the amount of water in your body. Bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, honeydew, apricots, and grapefruit are all high in potassium.

Gentle exercise can help pump the water in your feet throughout your body and back toward your heart. Swimming can be a good way to reduce edema.

You can also sit on a floor or chair with your feet flat on the floor. Then point one leg straight out. Point your toe straight outward and then flex it to a straight upward position. You can also begin in the same position, pull one leg into your chest and hold it there with your arms. Then, use your toes to write out your ABCs in the air.

You should also stay well-hydrated. This sounds odd at first. However, when your body has plenty of water, your kidneys actually work to get rid of the water they don’t need, which can lead to a reduction in your edema.

2. For Flat Feet (Over-Pronation)

As you gain weight during pregnancy, it puts more pressure on the tendons and ligaments in your legs. This leads to the arch in your foot flattening out.

This can cause pain throughout the bottom of your foot. And it also reduces your balance, increasing the likelihood you’ll fall. If you already have heel spurs and bunions, you’ll feel additional pain in them as well.

Improving the fit and comfort of your footwear helps. You might buy new shoes. You might also go with custom orthotics, which are designed to fit the contours of your feet more closely than any footwear widely available shoe in stores.

Never feel guilty for giving yourself rest. Apply ice to your feet when you do rest.

Do simple arch-strengthening exercises like picking up marbles or a handkerchief with your toes.

Stretch your plantar fascia (the long ligament that runs under your foot from your heel to your toe) by rolling a golf ball under your foot for 2 minutes at a time.

You might also wear comfortable ankle braces (not the cheap ones you get at common department stores).

Pregnancy has its pain and challenges. But remember the wonderful outcome of it all. And use these strategies to keep your fleet as comfortable as possible until your child arrives.