Echinacea Elder tea?

[G Love]

Hi all,

This is my first post, although I've found these boards extremely helpful over hte last eight months of my daughter's life.

Zora started daycare recently and we've both been sick non stop since she started. I really want to do some preventive maintenance, and something that has worked well for me in the past has been to drink copious amounts of Traditional Medicinal's brand Echinacea Elder tea. Only after I bought it and got it home from the store did I see that it has a warning "Do not use if pregnant or breast-feeding unless directed otherwise by your doctor."

Most teas have the "consult your doctor or midwife" warning which I usually ignore. But this specifically says "do not use."

Here are the ingredients:
Organic echinacea purpurea, organic black elder flower, organic ginger rhizome, organic German chamomile flower, organic yarrow flower, organic peppermint leaf, black elder fruit dry concentrate, echinacea purpurea root dry native extract.

Any ideas why it would be a problem to drink this tea while breastfeeding?

Thanks!

[Heba]

Kellymom's the best source of info I know of: http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/index.html

The only two herbs of potential concern that I can see in that list are peppermint and yarrow, both of which may adversely affect supply. Neither should cause any harm to the nursing child, though.

[sunnygir1]

I am familiar with all of those herbs, and in that form, I wouldn't be concerned about any of them. I drink that tea while pregnant and breastfeeding. I love it.

I wouldn't use a strong infusion of yarrow without consulting an herbalist, but that tea doesn't have that much yarrow in it.

[naturalmom08]

I don't think you probably have anything to be concerned about. If you really want to be sure you can always call your pediatrician and read off the ingredients to them. I have found echinacea in pill form to be a lifesaver for me personally (along with some vitamin C). Echinacea is also safe for infants...in children's form of course. My naturopath recommended echinacea drops for my dd when she was an infant, and I've found them to be very effective to lessen the severity of her colds. So you can feel pretty safe about echinacea and vitamin C both.