Red Raspberry Leaf Tea tribe - Page 94

[MovingMomma]

comadrona: It isn't that MDC isn't the place to have a discussion about the merits of RRL, but, as I understand the forum guidelines, "tribes" are for support & not for debate.  You can read the guidelines for tribes here, and the guidelines for the pregnancy forum here.  Your topic might be better received in the general pregnancy forum.  What you are doing here is essentially walking into a room with tens (hundreds?) of women who have examined the available evidence about RRL and saying, "You are wong.  There is no evidence to support what you are doing.  Furthermore, you clearly don't trust your bodies &/or birth."  

[Tumble Bumbles]

Agreed.

Originally Posted by MovingMomma 

comadrona: It isn't that MDC isn't the place to have a discussion about the merits of RRL, but, as I understand the forum guidelines, "tribes" are for support & not for debate.  You can read the guidelines for tribes here, and the guidelines for the pregnancy forum here.  Your topic might be better received in the general pregnancy forum.  What you are doing here is essentially walking into a room with tens (hundreds?) of women who have examined the available evidence about RRL and saying, "You are wong.  There is no evidence to support what you are doing.  Furthermore, you clearly don't trust your bodies &/or birth."  

[MamaMonica]

A discussion of the merits of RRL tea would be better as a new thread in the I'm Pregnant forum. However, discussion is OK on tribe threads outside of FYT as long as it's done respectfully. In this situation, it makes sense to start a new thread discussing the merits/non merits of RRL tea to keep this one from venturing off topic. Thanks for your understanding.

[Sarah Potter]

Thank you for replying!

I actually stopped taking the concoction shortly after I ovulated. Something must have worked  because I'm pregnant after only 2 tries! Yippee! Last time it took 6 months to concieve. I just went to a local herb shop and picked up raspberry leaf, nettles, and oatstraw. I'll start taking the one cup a day until the second trimester serving soon. I'm so excited I have this community of awesome women to relate to.

P.S. I read this entire thread! So interesting and encouraging! Can't wait to experience a homebirth this time around

[ibusymomto5]

I'm 33 weeks and have been drinking Yogi Organic RRL tea bags for a little over a week. I drank RRL sporadically in most of my previous pregnancies and have had good labors with short pushing phases each time. Don't know if the RRL contributed or not, but I've never had ill effects from it.

This pregnancy I've slacked majorly with my prenatal vitamins and up till a week ago hadn't had any RRL tea either. I'm a runner and had been getting round ligament cramping a little ways into my runs lately. I was thinking I would probably have to give up running soon, but after I started drinking the RRL it's been much better. I don't think it's a coincidence. I'm definitely continuing with it the rest of the pregnancy! I think my body might be craving the vitamins from the tea.

I'm switching to loose leaf, so I can do a custom mix and save some money over the bags. I'm going to try this recipe that was posted earlier in the thread:

Equal parts RRL & Nettles, 1/2 part Oatstraw, 1/4 part Alfalfa. Mix well and brew 4 heaping TBSP in 1 Quart water. Drink up to 1 Quart a day.

I like mine icy, icy cold, so I make it up after supper and let steep on the counter till bedtime and then stick in the fridge. The next day it's nice and cold and I can drink it throughout the day. I also like it unsweetened.


ETA - Well, shortly after posting this I had a prenatal appt and mentioned to my mw about drinking the RRL tea, and she cautioned me against drinking more than a cup a day due to my history of fast labors. I don't know that I fully believe that a quart a day would do any harm, but I'm going to err on the side of caution and stick with a cup a day. I did notice in addition to the ligament pain relief that I also had a sharp increase in BH just in that week after starting the RRL tea. So, maybe I'm sensitive to it, and a cup a day is plenty for me. She did say the other herbs would be good, but again in moderation. So, I think I'm going to stick with the tea bags and maybe try a pregnancy blend in addition to the plain RRL. I'm also going to make an extra effort to really watch my diet these last few weeks and get in lots of protein, fresh fruits and veggies, and water.
Edited by ibusymomto5 - 3/14/11 at 11:45am

[julietea8]

I take the Maia Midwifery tea with RRL and nettle. They recommend a fairly strong brew everyday of preconception and pregnancy (small hand full of the herbs in a quart of boiling water), and they suggest drinking it either cold or hot with no difference in efficacy.

[Beauchamp]

If you drink loose tea......what does it look like?? Just curious because mine (Starwest Botanicals organic) seems to have a lot of stems/stick pieces in it. Is that normal, or lower quality...should it be all leaves and no stem pieces? When I drank TM brand in bags it looked like little green granules.

Anyone?

[nadia105]

Mine looks like crumbled leaves and there are some twigs in there too -- it's from Rose Mountain Herbs.

[honeybaked]

It's been  years since my homebirths, but I used lots of RRL and had good labors.  I did have a condition called boggy uterus that caused me hemmoraghing troubles in my  first two.  On the third I had one of the Raven Lang Midwives who recommended an herb called Black Haw as a uterine toner.  Not a pleasant tasting tea like RRL but I took the tea three times a day.  On the third birth I had very large baby but no post partum bleeding. None.  Same for the 4th baby.  On the 5th baby I lived far in the country (no internet then) and couldn't get any.  On that 5th delivery without it, I hemoraghed post partum and nearly bled out. This was in the Aids scare days and they didn't do transfusions if at all possible.  That kind of sold me on it's efficacy.  I was told it is great for pre pregnancy as a uterine toner and during pregnancy to prevent miscarriage.  Now adays, I'm going through menopause and was having terrible excessive bleeding. I was not really happy with the progesterine therapy, and remembering how well Black Haw worked back then, I went online and ordered the Tincture.  I went from months of non stop extremely heavy bleeding to none at all.  When I stopped for a while it came back.  I took some more.  I haven't taken any for months, but if I have a recurrence I plan to take this again as it really works.  I am NOT saying anybody should take this without consulting their pregnancy or medical provider or conducting their own research, but I'm sharing my story about it.  I'm a huge believer in Black Haw.

[Beauchamp]

Originally Posted by nadia105 

Mine looks like crumbled leaves and there are some twigs in there too -- it's from Rose Mountain Herbs.

Thanks! I tried to order from MRH for months and they were always sold out, so I went with Starwest Botanicals instead because it was available. Good to know that the "twigs" are normal.

[polia]

Hi everybody.I am new to the group.I found it through an ICAN provider.I am interesting to know if the RRL tea helps after a c-section with any strength,especially if you plan a Vbac in the future or any other tea

Tx.

[lithigin]

Last night I dreamt that I pushed DD out in a single push. Guess my subconscious thinks the RRL regimen is working! I'm up to the 3rd tri and am doing a bit pot of tea every few nights: my 2 Qt pitcher + 1.5 cups water, boil, then add a heaping 1/2 cup of RRL and a heaping Tbsp or two of nettles, plus some peppermint for flavor. By the time I strain it, it's usually just over 8 cups of yield, which is a few days' worth.

[Buddhamom]

I had been drinking the pregnancy tea which was fine and yesterday went to straight RRL tea which has a higher percent and noticed a huge difference in my BH so I stopped and they went back to normal today.  Coincidence?

[nadia105]

Originally Posted by Buddhamom 

I had been drinking the pregnancy tea which was fine and yesterday went to straight RRL tea which has a higher percent and noticed a huge difference in my BH so I stopped and they went back to normal today.  Coincidence?

I noticed a lot of BH after I drank my RRL for the first few weeks I did it (I didn't get around to starting until 34 weeks or so), but I don't have so much of a reaction to it now (39 weeks), maybe you just need to build up to it? 

[Buddhamom]

I thought that was what I was doing with the pregnancy tea.  It is like 300+ mg and my RRL straight is 1800+mg.  Hmm, I think I will wait until 34 weeks for the RRL alone and stick with the pregnancy tea for now.  Could just be reacting because I am an older Mama (40) with a seasoned uterus

[herbsgirl]

Well, Im gonna try Red Raspberry infusions with Nettle and Oatstraw and see if my weak uterus will strengthen up. I had persistant Uterine Atony (up to 48 hours or so) after birth and was on Methergine around the clock just about for 4 days or so or more, to keep my uteurs clamped down

. So I have a boggy uterus, but I read that the UTERUS is a MUSCLE and it can be healed  and work like any other muscle!!!

There was a mom on another forum who had a friend use this recipe         1/3 cup Red Raspberry

                                                                                                                        1/3 cup Nettles

                                                                                                                         2 T. Rotating herb

                                                                                                                                                             to  1 Quart of boiling water

She  drank one to Two Quarts of the above recipe daily and she had NO Bleeding at birth!!!!!!!!!!!! The midwife hadnt seen it before and attributed it to the Red Raspberry Leaf.  Then she used the same recipe for her self during her pregnancy and drank 1 qt. daily and had a 4.5 hour labor non-stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Amazing!

I am going to try this recipe with those results!  The way I understand it was almost the whole pregnancy DAILY, so I am planning on starting this  very gradually now and hoping to use it Pre-conception for a few years to Tone and Strengthen my Uterus.  TONIC herbs work over long periods of time and build up the Organ, like exercising, over and over again! Then I hope to get pregnant in about 2 years God Willing after building up and strengthening my body!

Then I hope to drink one quart of this recipe daily in Pregnancy, and possibly up to two Quarts towards the last month!!!!

[sharita]

I have a wonderful tasteing pregnancy blend from etsy by a lady that makes her own blends.  Its main ingredient is RRL but also nettle, oatstraw, rosepetals, and a few other things I am not sure of.  Very nice tasteting as I cannot palate RRL by itself. 

Link to her etsy shop incase anyone is interested:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64313289/organic-pregnancy-blend-for-pregnant 

Mine is lasting a lot longer than I thought so I am doubling up on my strength of it since I am starting so late and dont remember to drink it everyday.  I also plan to drink the strong labor infusion at the onset of labor mentioned inthe first post.  Anything to help my poor boggy uterus.

[EnchantedMamma]

Back with an update!

First of all, I should say that I bought one pound from Amazon.com; the brand was Frontier and I was happy with the quality/freshness.

I think I drank about 3/4 or more of that pound throughout my pregnancy. I was not 100% consistent with drinking it daily, but had some just about every week.

I did not make/take the labor infusion.

I typically brewed mine pretty strong.

My 1st labor (w/out RRL) was 12 hrs. I had some hemmorhaging last time. I don't really recall how quickly my uterus shrunk down. I did have lots of Braxton Hicks and I think some prodromal labor. Castor oil at 39 weeks kicked off my labor and DS was born the next morning.

This time I had LOTS of strong BH and prodromal labor. I tried castor oil several times, and accupuncture, and finally the Cohosh routine (herbal tincture). It may have been the Cohoshes that finally did it as I went into labor at 1:50 pm and had DD at 3:30 pm! Yup, 1.5 hrs long from first contraction/pain to having babe in arms. (ETA: I could not coax DD out till she hit 41 weeks!)

I did have some bleeding and on/off bogginess, so we did some massage and I chose to get a shot of pitocin. By that evening (after some nursing) it was fine.

By my checkup the next day I was at 'two below' (2 w post partum) and am still 2 below at my one week checkup.

I would guess that RRL played a big role in my having a nicely toned uterus. I did feel that I did better with pushing - and by that I mean that I felt my uterus pushing efficiently. *I* was still a whiny crybaby and I myself did not do the best job of pushing ever. :) But when baby was crowning and I let my uterus do its work I could really feel it getting down to business!

If I were planning another pregnancy I would definitely do it again. I highly recommend using a French (Coffee) Press as it eliminates all the straining hassle. It's also great for brewing sitz bath herbs ;)

[herbsgirl]

Originally Posted by sharita 

I have a wonderful tasteing pregnancy blend from etsy by a lady that makes her own blends.  Its main ingredient is RRL but also nettle, oatstraw, rosepetals, and a few other things I am not sure of.  Very nice tasteting as I cannot palate RRL by itself. 

Link to her etsy shop incase anyone is interested:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64313289/organic-pregnancy-blend-for-pregnant 

Mine is lasting a lot longer than I thought so I am doubling up on my strength of it since I am starting so late and dont remember to drink it everyday.  I also plan to drink the strong labor infusion at the onset of labor mentioned inthe first post.  Anything to help my poor boggy uterus.

Sharita- I am looking forward to your update on the Red Raspberry tea!  I had problems with a boggy uterus after birth. Mine was boggy  for up to 36 hours+ after birth. I had to be on Methergine for 3-4 days or so.   I am hoping Red Raspberry can help to strengthen and tone my uterus enough to have another child, and maybe more children. I have 4.

[millieme]

Hi! I'm 35 wks along with my second baby, I just started drinking RRL tea a couple of weeks ago after my SIL reminded me about it. I didn't try it at all with my first, so I'm eager to see if there is a difference in my labor this time.

I bought the TM bags as I need the convenience of not having to strain loose leaves. I have tried the normal 15 min steeping time recommended on the box as well as the overnight infusion. I found that the overnight tea gives me strong BH contractions that are painful enough to wake me up at night. Like intense menstrual cramps, and without much of a break between contractions. After a couple of days of this I decided to stick with the 15 min steep for now, and maybe try the overnight infusion around 37 or 38 wks. I try to get at least 2 cups a day but it isn't always possible to do so if I'm making fresh tea...my 2 1/2 year old has me on the go pretty much constantly! It is a lot easier if I can make up a batch in the evening and have it ready to go in the fridge.

I have to mention, while I don't think the tea tastes bad hot, it is sooo much better cold. I sometimes mix it with lemonade and it tastes just like lemon ice tea...really yummy and refreshing.