Raspberry Leaf Tea in pregnancy
If you are pregnant, I am sure you have heard you should be drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea!
This blog post will tell you what the fuss is all about and WHY you might want to jump on the RLT train, or not!
Raspberry Leaf Tea has been used traditionally for thousands of years. It is commonly used by many western medical practitioners as a uterine tonic during pregnancy.
If you open a herbal book and look up Raspberry Leaf, there will be a thing or two about pregnancy on that page!
For best result, it is generally recommended to start drinking at least 8 weeks before due date. It’s not a “one cup and done” kind of deal.
I personally started at 36 weeks with my first baby and 35 with my second, after an OK from my midwife.
I drank 1 cup a day until 37 weeks, then increased by one cup a day until I had my babies.
So 5 cups a day at 40 weeks! (please note this is not a recommendation from me, just my personal experience. You will simply make the right decision for YOU together with your care provider)
Lets talk about the taste! Well it doesn’t taste like raspberries. Because it has no berries in it! It is the leaves from the raspberry plant. It taste like any herbal tea, similar to black tea but more grassy. I personally love a bit of honey in mine, steep it for a while, then enjoy it. Or to make it in to ice tea in the summer heat was the bomb!
Potential side effects can be: nausea, loose stools and increase in Braxton Hicks contractions. I experienced no side affects, but I did have some BH.
There are no known contraindications for raspberry leaf when used in the third trimester at an appropriate dose. Raspberry Leaf is a great option for most pregnant women.
It is important to note that you should always consult with a healthcare professional such as your doctor, midwife, naturopath or herbalist before using ANY herbs during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
But, how does it work??
From the book Wise Woman Herbal For The Childbearing Year by Susun Weed:
“Brewed as a tea or as an infusion, raspberry leaf is the best known, most widely used, and safest of all uterine and pregnancy tonic herbs. It contains fragrine, an alkaloid which gives tone to the muscles of the pelvic region, including the uterus itself.”
Aviva Romm says, in Botanical Medicine for Women's Health, 2010
Red Raspberry:
Red raspberry leaf is perhaps one of the most historically venerated herbal uterine tonics. It is used during pregnancy to strengthen the uterus, improve labor outcome, and prevent excessive bleeding after birth. Its use continues to be highly popular. One study indicates that approximately 63% of US midwives use this herb to stimulate labor.
Although it does not appear that raspberry leaf is very effective for labor stimulation or shortening the duration of labor, recent research has found that the consumption of raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy may in fact improve labor outcome and reduce the need for medical intervention at birth. The results of a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial consisting of 192 low-risk, nulliparous women who birthed their babies between May 1999 and February 2000 at a large tertiary-level hospital in Sydney, Australia found that raspberry leaf, taken in tablet form from 32 weeks’ gestation until labor, caused no adverse effects for mother or baby, and although it did not shorten labor, a lower rate of forceps deliveries between the treatment group and the control group (19.3% vs. 30.4%) was observed.
Another study consisted of 108 mothers; 57 (52.8%) consumed raspberry leaf products, whereas 51 (47.2%) were in the control group. The findings suggested that raspberry leaf can be taken safely during pregnancy to shorten labor with no expected side effects for women or their babies. The study also reported a decreased likelihood of pre- and postterm gestation, and fewer obstetric interventions, including decreased amniotomy, caesarean section, forceps delivery, and vacuum extraction in the group that had taken raspberry leaf when compared with the control group.
Herbalists and midwives consider raspberry leaf to be a gentle, effective nutritive medicament, and recommended it be taken in the form of an infusion, 1 to 3 cups daily. Of all the herbs that might be considered for labor preparation, raspberry leaf products appear to be the safest.
If you want to read more about the evidence of Raspberry Leaf tea in pregnancy (or the lack of) and its effectiveness, I recommend this blog post by Sara WickhamHERE
And if you want to try some for yourself, please check out my shop below!
MAMA SHOP - RASPBERRY LEAF TEA
Bulk is also available.
