Whether you’re finding pregnancy a breeze or you’ve been in the morning sickness trenches the whole time, one thing is true for everybody that will experience labour: preparation is key to a calmer mind.
Thankfully, there is a lot you can do to prepare for the Big Day. Antenatal classes, birthing balls, and for some expectant parents, there’s tea.
Yes, a good old cuppa tea. Not quite the builders brew that us Brits drink 100 million cups of daily but instead, raspberry leaf tea. A fruity, tangy, concoction that has a wealth of health benefits.
Raspberry leaf tea, or ‘red raspberry leaf tea’ as some call it, is thought to strengthen the uterus wall, and potentially even speed up labour, according to the maternity experts at Bounty.
However, is this actually the case, and if so, when should expectant parents drink it?
When you should drink raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy
So, it seems that experts are divided on whether the tea actually speeds up labour, but what they do agree on is that it definitely shouldn’t be consumed before 36 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of intent.
Speaking to Mother & Baby, Laura Southern, a nutritional therapist from London Gynaecology said: “The general advice is to wait until around 36 weeks pregnant to start drinking the tea, or take the capsule alternative. This is because there is a worry about its impact in pregnancy.”
According to the experts, these impacts can include miscarriage.
If you are tempted to try some raspberry tea while you’re pregnant, confirm with your midwife that this is a safe choice for you.
Other teas that can help with pregnancy
Holland & Barrett recommend these alternative pregnancy teas:
- peppermint tea
- chamomile tea
- dandelion tea
- alfalfa tea
- oat straw tea
- nettle leaf tea
- slippery elm bark tea
- rooibos tea