raspberry leaf tea! good or bad idea? contactions too painful?

[steph1512]

hi just wonderd if anyone has heard if taking raspberry leaf tea is not such a good idea?
its suppose to tone uterus therefore causing stronger contractions and a supposedly easier labour?
i am expecting my third baby, first time round i drank the tea daily from 37wk i think n had a 3.5hr labour which dont get me wrong was painful but u felt overall a positive experience with no complications and did have afterpains which were controlled by paracetomol and ibrufen.

2nd labour i went mad on the tea starting at similar time but drank loads thinking i had a really good labour first time round and the tea may ahve been why...i had a very intense n fairly quick labour 1hr40 the contractions were agony and i have to say it seemed such a painful labour n has made me very nervous about my new arrival due 1st april i also had very intense afterpains straight away for couple of day midwife said my uterus was back down to usual day5post labour an hr after delivery and completely back to normal following day!!

wondering whether to take the tea this time or does it make labour too intense or just the way my labours were meant to be!!?

any experiences or knowledge much appreciated

ps forgot to say my friend who has a relative in scotland who has just had a baby ssaid her midwifes say raspberry leaf tea is eevil!!

Hi Steph, I dont know from experience as i am only TTC but last night i went to see my friend who has a 10Day old girl and her midwife told her to drink Raspberry Leaf Tea but she only started drinking it when the contractions started and she said they changed. The contractions were longer but not stronger.

Hope this helps x

well i am sat here drinking a cup - so will be watching with interest! First labour 56hrs - no tea. Second...who knows - have been doing hypno birthing course and downing this tea like nobodies business.

lots of friends have recommended it though - dont know what to think really!

I had two easy labours/births and have never so much as smelled a cup of raspberry tea!

well i was just assumimg i would have it again until someone said bout the midwife saying it was evil giving very painful contractions so now im not so sure..i will prob end up having some but maybe not so much this time!

prob sounds silly but i almost think it could be a good thing to have a slightly longer but less intense labour!

most people i know say how much better labour was second time but i have to say i found it soo much more painful. or maybe i had forgotten def havent this time thou def not looking forward to it xx

I drank raspberry leaf tea regularly from week 37 and had a pretty easy labour (if there is such a thing). My contractions were only 8 minutes apart from the off before they became quicker and more intense and I gave birth 14 hours later and only pushed for 50 minutes (the tea apparently makes the second stage quicker).

I can?t say it was the tea that did it. I also stayed very active during the contractions. I found doing calf muscle stretches (my dh called it the chicken dance!) during contractions and bouncing on my birthing ball really helped and probably sped things up (gravity is a wonderful thing).

The only draw back I found was the fact that it tastse gack and I had to put ribena in it to have any real flavour.