raspberry leaf tea

[AmyP]

I keep reading about this stuff, what is it meant to do and when are you meant to drink it?

apparently it 'tones the cervix' which makes labour easier, and so you drink it at the end of your pregnancy just like any herbal tea - can buy it in teabags. NOT repeat NOT to be drunk before last 2 months. Some more info on raspberry tea

tones the uterus...thereby making contractions more effective and possibly shortening labour by making the contractions super efficient.

used it from 37 weeks or so....anecdotally it does seem to help... i drank it a lot....with a spoonful of honey in it as not a great tasting drink!!!

it does not induce labour!

i took the tablets (holland and barrett), and my contractions progressed fairly quickly!

my mum said she drank it from the beginning of her pregnancy as that is the advice they gave in the 70s but i think there is some concern that it isn't effective or 100% safe before 7 months? thats only what i was told anyway. i drank it quite a bit in my last months of pregnancy - i don;t knwo if it helped but i liked the taste!

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Apparently you'd have to drink gallons of the tea to have any real effect, tablets are much better. My SIL took them from about 34 wks and had a blissful 7hr labour, 1st pregnancy!

And, yes, you shouldn't take it (tea or tablets) until the last few weeks.

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I took the tablets and drunk the tea, made naff all difference and I ended up with an emergency c section. I ended up loving the taste of the tea which is weird because it is disgusting.

I hated the taste of the tea and took the tablets had a fantastic easy labour

eca a 7 hour pregnancy I WISH LOL

that is great for 1st time thou

i drank gallons of it in the last few weeks of pg but still ended up with a 27 hour labour and tearing quite badly (the 2 things i was thought i was warding against by drinking it) - but hey, it might have been worse without it! Think it at least made me feel like i was doing something proactive.. good luck!

I took capsules when expecting ds3

with ds1 I was induced, with ds2 I ahd a gentle but rather extended 44 hour labour, and I was anxious to rpevent it happening again, not least because it had stopped and started over several days (with two admissions / discharges) and also I could only get a babysitter for 24 hours as one sister and my parents were touring scotland together and the other was hreavily pg hersel.

Anyway oh boy did it work! Admitted at 11, with starting contractions at 8 and delivered by 3.30

I downed the remaining capsules in the car on the way to maternity LOL

I used the tincture with both my pregnancies - labour was 2.5 hours and 7 hours - got off really lightly but am pretty sure the tea was not a factor, more of a psycholoigcal crutch to get me through the last few weeks!

I drank it from 37 weeks and my Braxton Hicks contractions were really strong, so strong that each day I felt the baby getting lower and lower. The BH's were uncomfortable but not painful, anyway I had an excellent labour, waters broke, contractions started within 30 minutes and baby arrived 3.5 hours later no tears.

I drank loads of it from 34 weeks and took the tablets too. They didn't help my contractions (vomitting after each one) and I had an epidural (wonderful). I had a 24 hour labour and a 2nd degree tear. However... I would prob drink it like crazy again for fear of it being even worse without!!