Herbal teas?

[TigerJoy]

Hi there's really confusing advice on what's safe.

What herbal teas are ok? I'm feeling so nauseated and I really miss peppermint tea! Looks like chamomile, hibiscus, liquorice root are all out. I usually drink HUGE quantities but down to a couple of cups of rooibos a day.

I don't even know if I'm pregnant, I had an embryo transfer last week with a very poor quality embryo but obviously I want to give it the best chance.

Who told you taht can't drink chamomile or peppermint tea? And why? It's not true.

Nhs says limit herbal teas to 4 cups per day I think

I think peppermint and chamomile are ok? I have been drinking them throughout pregnancy- I think I read no more than two cups a day of any herbal tea recommended. And I know hibiscus is out and red raspberry leaf not recommended in first trimester

I think the advice is probably confusing because no one has actually studied the effects, but I'm sure most people carry on drinking them without a second thought.

I understand wanting to be cautious though, my pregnancy is ivf, finally caught on the third transfer and you just want to do everything you can. I feel like those of us that have had difficulties conceiving have read so much about what might help and what might hinder whereas most people just focus on NHS guidance on what is unsafe to consume and don't worry about anything else

Best wishes to you- I really hope this one sticks xx

So no cups of herbal tea full stop even if they're different? God.

I swear this is the hardest bit!!! Ok you've done IVF, not the hardest but still...I might just have to switch to decaf regular tea and coffee, i can have a few cups of those, can't I?
Thanks for responding and fingers crossed for you xxx

NHS says:

Herbal teas
You should drink no more than 4 cups of herbal tea a day.

It doesn't specify any you should avoid totally

Think roobios tea is naturally caffeine free. A lot of people drink that during pregnancy

Somewhere (but don't remember where sorry), I read limit it to two cups of herbal tea a day, but I assume that means of the same type. So I think two cups of peppermint and two cups of chamomile would be fine.

I limited caffeine to one cup of regular tea a day, but I'm someone who is particularly sensitive to caffeine, so I just felt I wanted to be on the safe side. And I usually had either a chamomile or a peppermint every day, sometimes both. And I tried ginger and lemon as it is recommended for nausea in the first trimester, but I didn't like it at all.

I'm pretty sure most people just cut down on caffeine and don't worry about the rest and are fine, but as there are not many large scale studies on herbal teas, no one can say for sure how 'safe' they are, which is why you get all this conflicting info on line. But that goes for just about anything you could possibly consume.

I would just go ahead and follow the NHS guidance, but maybe look up individual teas before you drink them as I do know of a couple that most sources suggest avoiding

Congrats on your pregnancy.

I'm in France where they are very hot on toxoplasmosis and test us once a month, and also say we can't have things like undercooked eggs which are allowed in the UK.

The reality is that apart from alcohol consumption and taking certain drugs or medication which are known to be unsafe during pregnancy, there's very little you can do to harm your baby.

My doctor has loads of IVF and recurrent miscarriage patients. Other than a quick chat about toxoplasmosis, where he confirmed that the risk of getting it is very small indeed but the consequences of getting it during pregnancy are serious, we've never discussed food and drink. I do know he recommends that pregnant women drink no more than three cups of coffee a day, or one if they've had recurrent miscarriages. He's never said anything about herbal tea.

Why does it say that though? There's no rational basis for it. There's no mechanism of harm even if you drink a bath full of mint tea everyday.

I've drunk mint tea by the bucket load in all 3 of my pregnancies and never been told anything about not drinking it out in what quantities! Even told my midwife who just laughed and said 'at least you'll always have nice breath!' 😂
Raspberry leaf tea is the only one I was told to avoid until later in pregnancy as it can cause contractions.