Red Raspberry Leaf Tea tribe - Page 2

[Birth Junky]

Currently, I have been drinking the Traditional Medicinals Organic RRL tea, which you can find at a lot of grocery stores (although you will have better luck in a store with a "natural foods" section, like QFC or a larger Fred Meyers). It is tasty, and easy to make (bagged instead of loose).

I also have a bag of "New Mother Tea" that a friend of mine got me from The Herbalist here in Seattle; it is a (loose) blend of RRL, nettles, ginger root, fennel seed, peppermint leaf, chamomile flower, cinnamon bark, blessed thistle, calendula flower, catnip leaf, lavender flower, lemon balm, and hibiscus. It SOUNDS like a great blend, but every time I have made a pot of it, it comes out too bitter. Perhaps I am mixing it too strong . . .

I would like to start ordering my RRL tea in bulk, but haven't done it yet . . . there are a couple of websites that look good, including a mom here on MDC who sells a RRL tea blend (her name is Snowboard Mommy, but I haven't been able to search for her shop; if you roam the MDC pages long enough, you'll come across her banner ad at the top of the page!).

P.S. The quantities we are working with in this tribe are one cup per day (at least), and then a concentrated infusion when labor starts.

Welcome!

[mommy2madison03]

Thank you so much! I'll have a look around at the stores here. I guess I would be able to buy it at one of those health food stores too. I think it's called Apple Annies, anyways lol, thank you so much for the info! I can't wait to have my first cup! Maybe I WILL try the tea bags!

Just thought of another question. Could I use my tea maker to make a large pitcher of the tea or should I make it per cup by boiling the water? It wouldn't make a difference would it?

Thanks for the welcome!

[kgrfcharlton]

Wow! I'm so glad I found you guys! I am 33 weeks and have been drinking RRL tea throughout my pregnancy, but not every day! I will start faithfully drinking every day & I'm going to try the strong tea in labor! Since my DH doesn't "buy into" a lot of my natural information I give him, I may take it at home & have HIM deliver the baby!

Rachel
wife to Keith since 5/01, mother to Georgia since 4/04 & waiting on Christmas baby surprise!

[Birth Junky]

Originally Posted by mommy2madison03

Just thought of another question. Could I use my tea maker to make a large pitcher of the tea or should I make it per cup by boiling the water? It wouldn't make a difference would it?

Provided you let the tea steep long enough (the sources for RRL during pregnancy tend to recommend 15 minutes), there should be no problem with making up a large quantity in advance. In fact, my plan once I start buying in bulk is to start each day by making a large quantity of the infusion and drinking as much as I can during the day . . . but saving leftovers for the next morning. (One of the great things about RRL tea, too, is that it is just as tasty cold as it is hot!)

[mommy2madison03]

Thanks again! I want to make sure the tea is made just right so I'm not going to use the tea maker. I've found a few places that sell it over the net. Now I just need to compare prices.

[Silvercrest79]

Count me in..

My MW had me start drinking it at 16 wks. I will be having a HBA2C. I have a history of dehisence so she wanted me to start early to tone up my uterus as much as possible.

I drink 1 cup of the Traditional Medicinals RRL and 1 cup of the TM Female Toner (all my HFS had and I just ran out tho) so switching to the TM Pregnancy Tea.

I've never had real labor so I won't know if the RRL will make this labor faster. I'm : for a nice labor and short pushing stage. :

[Birth Junky]

Originally Posted by mommy2madison03

I've found a few places that sell it over the net. Now I just need to compare prices.

Make sure to come back and let us know what you find out!

[mommy2madison03]

Here are a few links for those of you looking for a place to buy the RRL Tea.

http://www.bulkherbstore.com/RRLC
http://www.redmoonherbs.com/dried_herbs.php
http://www.birthjunkie.com/tea_order_form.html

I believe the bulk herb store is the cheapest I've found so far.

Prices as follows: bulkherbstore $5.95 lb $5.50 s/h total: $11.45
redmoonherbs $20.00 lb $6.50 s/h total: $26.50
birthjunkie $8.00 lb $5.50 s/h total: $13.50

Now I don't know much about this tea (the form it comes in) to really decipher the prices. In some of the descriptions it says cut and others it says dried herbs. Is there a difference?

Oh and I'm in the United States so someone elses shipping charges may be different. Hope this helps!

[Birth Junky]

And at www.wildroots.com you can get 5 lbs of RRL for $23.40, plus $9.17 S&H. So, that works out to only $6.50 per pound WITH S&H . . . but of course, that is shipping to MY area (Western Washington); not sure if it would be more expensive to other areas (the company is in Ohio).

[NattylockedMama]

Hey now all you rrl tea drinkin' mamas I have not had much time to post over here latley. It's gettin' close to baby time for me I'm 34 and a half weeks today so I'm realy bizzy tryin' to get things ready for the baby
I have been drinkin' my rrl tea almost daily for the last 5 months. I was wondering about mixing it with other teas I don't mind the taste of it or anything it is just a little bland for me that's all. In the colder months I really like to make chi tea is this ok to drink while preggo anyone know? Could I mix the rrl tea with chi tea for some added flavor? My last question is could someone remind me again of the way your supposed to make the mixture to drink once labor has began? Thanks in advance and much love to all ya natural herb drinkin' mamas

[Birth Junky]

NattylockedMama:

I can't see how mixing the RRL tea with other teas would be a problem; it's always nice to have some variety!

The only issue with chai tea would be the caffeine (I don't know if you are trying to avoid caffeine or not) . . . if you are drinking only herbal teas, you can get South African Rooibos tea with chai spices added. It is caffeine free, but still has that lovely, spicy taste.

[Birth Junky]

P.s.

Instructions for the strong infusion to drink when labor is beginning:

On one ounce of raspberry leaves pour one pint of boiling water, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain, and when the time for delivery is approaching drink the whole as hot as possible.

[FreeSpiritMama]

I'm 17weeks pregnant and am waiting for my RRL & nettles to arrive in the mail I also drank the tea with my last pregnancy but only in the final trimester. I like the idea of the strong infusion for labour too

[txgal]

I am 18 weeks along, due first week of April and I just started drinking the tea. I use 3-4 tblsp. each of RRL, nettles and peppermint to a quart of water and drink 1 cup/day in the 1st trimester, 2 cups/day in the 2nd and 3 cups/day in the 3rd trimester. My midwife also suggest making ice chips out of the tea to suck on during labor. This will be the first time I have used it so we will see how it works. I am having a HBAC, so I hope it does something.

[nubianamy]

Thanks for those links, Ina! I ordered a pound each of nettle and RRL from the bulk herb store. I've been using bulk herbs from my coop and they were a lot more expensive (granted, they were organic!). I mix the two right now but will move to straight RRL, and HOT, during labor.

[mommy2madison03]

Maggi you are so welcome! I'm glad I could help!

[nubianamy]

Wow, that's a LOT of herbs I just got in the mail! =) Now that I see what a pound of herbs looks like, I wonder if I haven't been using enough in my infusions. I haven't been measuring, just doing small handfuls... but if I recall correctly, Susun Weed says 1oz. herbs per quart of water -- that means only 16 quarts of tea per pound of herbs!! I think that's way more than I've been using. What do you think?

[kellykins]

Hi guys!
Another March Mama to be reporting in! I remember reading the story of the rrl tea a while back.. Ive been drinking Traditional Medicinals Pregnancy Tea not-so-regularly for a few weeks now. I'm going to start drinking it every night (or morning if its chilly) from now until I am out, then I'm going to invest in some bulk rrl on its own and maybe a little peppermint to mix in. For the labor tea, could you mix in a tiny bit of peppermint and not effect the mix? I guess if its intended to be chugged down basically at that point, it doesn't really matter if it has that little "Extra something" eh. :P
Welp, I'm gonna sub to this thread now!!

What exactly is the mix for one glass of hot tea when making your own mix?

[hairpin]

Signing up! I've been drinking off and on when I remember. But now that I'm getting close to the 3rd trimester, I'm going to get serious. Anything I can do to help out the process and make things go smoother is fine by me!

And I find drinking tea to be very soothing anyways. It's always good to relax.

I'm heading over to the natural food store to go buy some in bulk now. The packets of pregnancy tea, seem rather expensive, especially when they recommend 3 a day!

That and some papaya enzymes. My heartburn is driving me nuts. :/

[Birth Junky]

I've been trying to find a good price on bulk RRL tea, and am planning on placing an order with Compleat Mother when I have some free funds.

And oh, that heartburn! I have been chewing papaya tablets for about a week now, and I'm so glad that they help; otherwise, I would be miserable!