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Red raspberry tea, anyone?

1K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  Terrilein 
#1 ·
Is anyone drinking red raspberry leaf tea yet? When's the best time to start? I've heard conflicting messages, i.e. it's safe from the first trimester vs. only after 36 weeks, and everything in between.
 
#2 ·
There's a huge tribe about RRL here on MDC.
Last pg I started at around 35 wks. This time I'll start a bit sooner but not much. MAinly because I'm not keen on the taste!
I did have a fast labour for a 1st timer, 4 hrs, but who knows if the RRl did anything????
 
#3 ·
I'm not drinking it as much as I should. With DD I drank it from first trimester on. I would drink about a cup a day and if I missed it, no big deal. This time I have drank about 2 cups so far.
I definitely need to be making more of an effort. Labor with DD was so much smoother than with DS and I pushed her out with three contractions. Also I could feel my contractions and they were more productive. I would say as long as you are not having any premature labor go a head an drink it. I will be.
 
#4 ·
Me! I've been drinking it since about 15 weeks or so. The first couple cups gave me some crampy twinges so I eased off a bit but I think it was just my uterus getting used to it. I drink 2 large glasses a day now. I don't care for hot tea so much so make a huge pitcher and keep it in the fridge. It is so yummy mixed with a tiny bit of R.W. Knudsen's
Red Raspberry Spritzer (one can lasts me days). I do that for my glass at work during the day and in the evening I mix my glass of tea with an Emergen-C package along with some liquid Vitamin D. I wondered if I'd be able to keep up with it, but I find it is super easy to drink and I'll have no problem moving up to 3+ glasses a day in the third trimester.
 
#6 ·
I've been drinking it for a month now. I started at one cup per day, but am now up to 3 cups per day. I think I'll stay there until the 3rd trimester starts and then add another cup. I'll consider doing infusions at 36 weeks.
 
#7 ·
Ooo, I'm excited to start now! I browsed the RRL Tribe thread and read all kinds of wonderful stories about how women drank huge amounts when they reached term, and had wonderful, short labour, and easy recoveries. I hope we have the same experiences!


Do you ladies get the tea bags or loose leaves? I like hot tea (especially now, since it's so cold), and am wondering how strong to make the tea? Also, what's the difference between the tea and the infusion? I don't have the patience to read through 20 pages of the tribe posts, so a quick and dirty intro would be very much appreciated.
 
#8 ·
I have it in pill forfrom Natures Way. (basically capsules with leaves in them). With my last two pregnancys I took it from 26 weeks on. I will do the same this time as well. I don't like the flavvour of the tea at all and would have a hard time taking it like I should because of that.
 
#9 ·
I've been drinking a pregnancy tea with RRL, oatstraw, nettles, alfalfa, rose hips, and chamomile since 16 weeks. I love the taste. Sometimes I add a splash of pomegranate juice. Before that I was having a hard time drinking enough fluids because nothing tasted good to me except for lemon water. I could drink 4 cups a day of the pregnancy tea iced, but am sticking to 2 for now.
 
#10 ·
I'm drinking RRLT, alfalfa, rosehips, nettle and dandelion and have been since 16 weeks. I will increase the RRLT in the third trimester to a quart of cold infusion a day.
 
#11 ·
I was drinking it daily during my first trimester, then started puking it up every time, so I quit. I just started it again this week, and yesterday morning, I puked up the cup I drank! Lame! But today I had a cup, and it was fine. I think for me the reaction was from having it on an empty stomach. I'm aiming for a cup a day through the whole pregnancy. I don't think it will induce labor by itself unless you're ready to go into labor, kwim?

I like the taste all right, but sometimes I brew it along with a bag of fruit tea or add honey, which makes it much more palatable.
 
#13 ·
I'll start it in the 3rd trimester again this time--it gets pricey. I drank gallons of it in the last trimester with DD but all I got as a result was lots of prodomal labor. I eventually went to 42 weeks and had a looooooooooooooong labor, so I don't think the tea really did anything useful. However, I liked the tea, and on the off chance that it would have been WORSE sans tea :p :p :p :p I'll drink up again.
 
#14 ·
I find to drink a straight cup hot is pretty boring so I like to make a mix with RRL, nettle, and something tasty like black currant tea, then add some maple syrup or honey and drink it cold. mmm. I should definitely be drinking more though. I have been lazy.
 
#16 ·
I drank it last time and my labor was 6 hours from first contraction to birth. The problem is I did not particularly enjoy the speed, or the intense pain as a result of body going so fast. People seem to think fast labors are always awesome, but in my experience it was like being hit by a freight train and there was no warm up time to get used to the whole thing. I'm not sure if it was the tea or just the way my body works, but not sure if I will be drinking it this time around.
 
#17 ·
I make my RRL into a sweet tea, basically using this recipe, but reducing the sugar to just a little over 1/2 cup for the big pitcher. It is sooo yummy, tastes exactly like the sweet tea they sell at McDonalds.

I'm 20 weeks now, and drink about 2 cups a day. I did the same with my last pregnancy, and increased a little bit more in the 3rd trimester. I forgot how good the stuff tastes. It goes down so quickly though, I have to be sure to ration it.
 
#18 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by 3girls+1 View Post
I make my RRL into a sweet tea, basically using this recipe, but reducing the sugar to just a little over 1/2 cup for the big pitcher. It is sooo yummy, tastes exactly like the sweet tea they sell at McDonalds.

I'm 20 weeks now, and drink about 2 cups a day. I did the same with my last pregnancy, and increased a little bit more in the 3rd trimester. I forgot how good the stuff tastes. It goes down so quickly though, I have to be sure to ration it.
That's simliar to how i make mine. I use bulk leaf rather than bags so I use about 1/2 cups worth (I put it in muslin bags). I put about 1/4 cup of honey in a quart size glass jar then add the bags and fill with hot water and steep over night in the refrigerator. I drink the quart during the day. I am originally from Alabama so I love me so southern style sweet tea even though I don't actually drink it. You are right, the RRLT goes down quick! It will be a nice treat once summer gets here.
 
#19 ·
I found this old thread about red raspberry tea!

I've recently started drinking it every day. Should I be able to tell if it's doing something (more BH? more powerful BH?)? And if I can't tell if it's doing anything, should I be drinking more?

I bought about 3 lbs of loose leaf and I steep about half a cup of the leaves in a big jar with some nettle tea bags too. I drink about 2 cups a day I guess. Should I drink more?

When do you normally increase your intake coming up to labour and how much will you increase it to? Also, for drinking it during labour, are you supposed to make it super strong?

What's the difference between making tea and making an "infusion"?

How is everyone else doing on their RRL regimen?
 
#20 ·
I make a pot of tea every day - it makes about 4 cups. I'll be upping the amount or switching to an infusion after Week 36. As far as I understand it, an infusion is a very strong version of your regular tea, it just steeps for at least 30 minutes. Some moms from the rrlt thread in the I'm Pregnant forum have let the tea steep overnight even. They'll make huge batches, frigde it, and then drink it over a period of three days. After that it's a little dicey - the tea will eventually go bad.
If your not noticing anything with the quantity you're drinking then try drinking an extra cup or two. From the rrlt thread I gathered this much: generally, it's recommended to drink 1 cup in the first trimester - although most won't due to miscarriage worries - two cups in the second and three in the third trimester. And then right before birth - when active labor starts - you should down a pint (???) of a hot infusion. But a lot of the women in that thread couldn't keep the tea down. It seems that those who drank copious amounts and infusions from the 36th week had the best birth experiences anyways. So doing the last minute infusion was totally unnecessary in their cases.
 
#22 ·
Yeah, I thought about mixing the tea infusion with cranberry juice and making popcicles for the summer, too. But ice chips during labor? I can't remember even taking a sip of water when I was in labor with dd. I wasn't thirsty or hungry at all. But hey, who knows?
 
#23 ·
Yeah, I like ice chips especially for long labor. I'm not much for drinking either but its nice to have a little something to wet your mouth with if needed/wanted. Worse case scenario I will just use them as regular ice chips later.
 
#24 ·
I like the idea of RRL pops for labor...
I am drinking several glasses iced / day now. With my previous pregnancies I drank lots in my 3rd tri and my first labor was 6 hrs, 2nd was 4 hrs. My uterus is fairly irritable all on it's own and the RRL tea does give me bouts of contractions.
 
#25 ·
I've been drinking the Mama's Red Raspberry Brew blend from Bulk Herbs. I make it every couple of days and drink about 36 oz daily (cuz that's the size of my Nalgene bottle) with a little honey or agave. It doesn't "do" anything noticeable though ... (other then help keep me hydrated). Maybe there isn't enough raspberry in it? Hm. Or maybe my measurements of the blend to water is off. I steep it in 24 oz jars overnight and drink it cold.

Funny side note - DSD asked multiple times if it was just for pregnant ladies (she loves Raspberry tea) and I would tell her, no, it's for healthy woman parts but this wasn't "raspberry" tea. I finally let her try it. She made a face and hasn't asked again LOL
 
#26 ·
Neonalee


I know I should be drinking it... I drank it religiously with dd1, and only some with dd2. My second labour was super fast but I dunno... the strong early-labour like BH I have now, I dont really want them to get stronger or more frequent. Theyre distracting and I dont want another obstacle to focusing at work, or to getting my responsibilities done at home with the kids.

I kind of feel like I trust my body to do what it needs to do in labour. (Do I really need all that teaÉ) I think my body has the experience to tell me and show me that it knows how to do what it needs to do in labour. I *will* be inserting EPO capsules close to my due date to ripen my cervix so it opens easily -- did that the last two times and it seemed to help.

It seems like itès just ANOTHER thing to remember to do in my already crazy hectic busy life. OTOH maybe I should just suck it up and reluctantly drink it. Seeing this thread reminds me to do so.
 
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