Herbal teas while pregnant

[Octoberfest18]

Hi, So, I've just found out I'm pregnant and so have started cutting back on things that us prego ladies are meant to avoid. The hardest for me is definitely going to be tea! But, so far I'm managing to not have more than 2 small cups of regular tea a day which seems to be withing the limit. But, in order to keep me going I've switched to having a a couple of herbal teas each day. But I've just read in a couple of places that even non-caffeine herbal teas might be bad.

I've mostly been having chamomile or mint tea from Pukka Teas or Heath & Heather (both from Holland and Barret). There's no mention of caffeine in the ingredients, in fact, no mention of anything other than chamomile or mint leaves.

So what do people thing.... are these teas ok? I need to get my hot drink fix from somewhere!

The herbal teas you buy in supermarkets (for example Pukka and Twinings) are absolutely fine. If you buy any specialty herbal teas from health food shops, it would be wise to check with a GP or dietitian first because some of the herbs used in them shouldn't be consumed in the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Yes, they're fine. You would have to be taking herbs in medicinal quantities for there to be anything to be concerned about anyway. But chamomile and mint are perfectly safe in pregnancy anyway. There are things you should avoid, but they aren't anything you'd usually find in a tea (dong quai being one, others like blue and black cohosh, which usually you only find in specially prepared tinctures). You might want to avoid fennel tea as it is a laxative, or at least not in really high quantities (a cup a day, especially if you're constipated is probably fine, 5 cups probably not). But really most normal herbal teas you'd buy in a non-specialist shop are quite safe. Black and green tea and coffee in reasonable amounts are also fine. I drink a cup of coffee a day (sometimes two) and have in all my pregnancies, but also drink herbal teas from time to time.

My friend told me she cannot drink any herbal tea's - including Pukka Caffeine Free ones - now she's pregnant. Is she being ridiculous then?!

Bring For some people, some plants (such as licorice root) cause side effects, or she might just not like the taste of herbal teas.

I think you are fine to drink any kind of herbal tea that you buy in a supermarket. The only one that I know you need to avoid is raspberry leaf, which brings on contractions.

I drank more than two cups of normal tea in pregnancy too - I'm pretty sure that this was considered OK when I was pregnant a couple of years ago

Thanks all. I certainly couldn't see why simple herb teas might be an issue, but there doe seem to be some warnings out about it. The 'Ovia' pregnancy app for example warns against all herbal teas.

Green tea has caffeine in it too, in case you choose it.