am I ok drinking herbal tea? miscarriage risk?

[Monkeybrain10]

Hi all. I had a miscarriage a few months ago but am now pg again (6wks) I am desperate to get it right and make sure I don't cause any problems...so....I don't drink tea or coffee but do drink herbal tea...usually mint tea and I have just started drinking ginger tea as have been feeling nauseous most of the time.
But now I've been reading about herbs and spices to avoid, which in terms of "remedies" seems to include ginger....so can i drink ginger tea or not? I also ate somelicorice earlier and it seems that is bad too!

I feel like everything except junk food is bad for baby?!! Help! :-)

Eeeek! Really?! I drink fruit & herbal tea ALL DAY LONG. I have eased off the licorice tea since my BFP but still drink peppermint/ nettle etc... Hope it's ok. MW didn't mention it!

I think the only one you should avoid is Raspberry Leaf. Stick to the more usual kinds of herbal tea and you'll be fine.

I emailed pukka teas when I was pg about this and paranoid and they said herbal teas are fine apart from raspberry leaf.

Thanks. I am just a bit overwhelmed by the fact that virtually everything which we'd normally consider good for u, seems to be risky. Even garlic??! It seems ridiculous and I have no intention of living off mcdonalds and drinking coca cola all day long but it seems like they're ok whilst proper food isn't. I've also asked a question re natural skin products as they contain essential oils.....again it seems that maybe I should revert to the world of nasty chemicals instead!
I am just so confused by all this :-s

Isn't it ok to drink raspberry leaf tea towards the end of pregnancy? As in the last few weeks?

The last couple weeks is fine. They say don't drink it before as it can bring on labour.

If you are interested in something that puts a lot of fears to rest read Expecting Better by Emily Oster. It explains the lack of evidence behind a lot of the warnings.... Even things like caffeine don't really have good science behind them.... Generally everything in moderation is a fine rule in pregnancy as well as life.

Hey Monkey,
I also freaked out over online lists of herbs/ spices to avoid. I eventually decided to avoid sage, parsley and basil where possible, but not to freak out about it. Most women aren't even aware of those restrictions and they're fine! (And I must point out that one of my early cravings was basil pesto and we're totally fine). I often cook with garlic.
Similarly, I decided against drinking herbal teas because of online scares.

But you have to find a happy medium where you're comfortable.
And bear in mind that if there were much evidence behind any of this the NHS would be advising us to avoid them! (Though they do say to avoid herbal remedies, I think, which may include teas) Most of the online lists refer to the concentrated oil versions of these herbs, also.

I second the Emily Oster book recommendation. Though unfortunately she doesn't cover herbs :)

Hi Monkey.

I've read that you shouldn't drink too much strong peppermint tea as it acts as a uterine stimulant. I drank a lot in my last pregnancy and had a mc, so have avoided it this time around. Raspberry leaf tea is a definite no no, as is anything containing liquorice or fennel. If you've eaten some liquorice, i.e liquorice allsorts, don't worry. It's recommended that you don't have any more than 125 g a week as it can lead to stress hormones crossing the placenta if you regularly have more than this amount. I had major cravings for liquorice early on...

One tea I know that you can drink without any issues is Rooibos/redbush. As far as I know that's completely fine in pregnancy as are things like fruit teas.

You could always try Caro or Barley Cup, Hot Chocolate or Horlicks too! :-)

I can recommend the book 'what to eat when you're pregnant' by Rana Conway. It gives lots of good clear advice! :-)

I've heard the only one to really avoid is raspberry leaf - until you want to go into labour at the end I think (I might have got this mixed up, but I think you drink it when overdue and trying to get labour started!).

I am drinking far too much ordinary tea (3 cups a day), because I don't always have access to decaff - replacing with ordinary decaff when I can because I like the taste.

Have been happily drinking rooibos and also camomile. Had the occasional other herbal tea but can't remember which flavours.

Garlic?? good god what's wrong with garlic??

seriously, we might as we cryogenically freeze ourselves until week 40! if that's allowed!!

i'm off to mcdonalds to get a coke and a big mac!!

Basically you're told to avoid everything because many things haven't been tested on pg women because of ethical issues...truth is that medically, before 12 weeks there's still quite a bit that isn't understood.

If you're concerned just stick to decaff/redbush tea or hot ribena til after 12 wk scan then introduce herb teas again.
Personally I can't stand redbush now bcos I drank so much when I had terrible nausea so now just smelling it makes me barf!

Thanks everyone!

I think even with herbs you'd have to ingest so much of the stuff to actually have any effect... a bit of parsley sauce won't do anyone any harm!

BTW I drank raspberry leaf tea every day through my third trimester, DS came only 3 days early, and labour took forever a long time, so don't imagine it will instantly bring on the contractions maybe I just had a particularly feeble uterus

Also monkeybrain just realised I am in the same boat as you (MC in Aug) and 7 weeks today... is it me or does it seem an eternity til that first scan?

Mightilyoats...yes! I m/c 'd a few days b4 the last scan (which was probably a blessing in disguise) so waiting for this one is hard. I know so many people who have m/c'd then gone on to have healthy babies that I'm trying to be positive...but then again it never occurred to me that anything would go wrong last time! so I am just desperate not to cause any problems by eating the wrong thing, drinking the wrong thing etc etc. But then u hear of people who don't even know they're pregnant...so I guess they don't monitor what they're eating! And people who drink and smoke throughout seem to still do ok...so maybe I'm just being paranoid!
Glad to hear u r pg again too :-)

Yes I think you must have been a bit further along than me (I was 6 weeks and they couldn't find anything at the scan, so think it was blighted ovum/chromosomal issues). Had no symptoms particularly with the mc, and this pg I have had nausea, tiredness, PGP, sore boobs etc, so that is helping a bit, but if I could have a scan tomorrow just to check all was ok I would!

Try and relax as much as possible (I know its virtually impossible) as I think so much of mc in the first trimester is down to the baby not being viable more than environmental factors. Fingers crossed for healthy babies

I don't have more than two of any particular herbal tea each day just in case (silly probably!)so I mix it up between Rooibos, Peppermint and Mango.

Bear in mind that you would probably need TONS of these fresh herbs to actually have a reaction so a bit of dried steeped in a cup probably isn't a big deal.