Pregnancy Tea
My husband and I made some appointments to tour birth centers in our area when we were talking about having a baby and during these tours the midwives had a tea they offered their clients. This tea is called pregnancy tea because this particular blend is consumed during pregnancy and postpartum to help the mother get added nutrients and help with breastfeeding. The blend of herbs is Raspberry Leaf, Alfalfa, Oatstraw and Nettle and each of these have amazing nutrients and benefits.
I bought these herbs in bulk and started drinking the tea at about 5 months before conceiving and plan on drinking it through pregnancy and during breastfeeding. I will add the recipe in at the end of the post so you can make your own, and you can add other herbs and flavors to the tea like lemon balm, lavender, rose hip, theere are premade blends that you can buy but it will be more expensive this way.
Raspberry Leaf is an amazing herb that women have used for ever to help with menstrual cramps, vomiting, and nausea which are some symptoms a lot of women have during their period and pregnancy. Raspberry leaf has polyphenols which help with stress and oxidation of the cells.
Raspberry leaf also contains fragarine which helps tighten the pelvic floor muscles which helps with cramping but also helps during pregnancy, combined with proper exercise and pelvic floor work helps because due to all the sitting we do in our modern sedentary lifestyles our pelvic floor muscles are weak and that can cause issues and pain and pain during labor. Strengthening those muscles will help with a quicker labor and with quicker postpartum recovery, the more muscle you have the quicker you recover from sickness, injury and even birth.
It contains potassium which helps with cardiovascular health and reducing blood pressure. It is an anti-inflammatory, and helps with sore muscles, bloating, constipation, headaches It also contains Vitamin C and Vitamin E which helps support the immune system and producing white blood cells and help inflammation and breakouts on your skin.
Raspberry leaf is great for fertility due to its ability to help balance out hormones in both men and women. Due to lifestyle and nutrition men have high levels of estrogen and many women have low levels of estrogen; this can lead trouble conceiving, balancing out both men and women’s hormones the ability to conceive becomes a lot better.
Nettle Leaf is an incredible herb that has been used for thousands of years for its healing properties, it contains lots of vitamins and minerals including Vitamins A, C, K and a variety of B vitamins. Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium. It also contains a few crucial fats and all the amino acids along with polyphenols.
These nutrients act as antioxidants which helps protect the cells from stress which causes damage to the cell which can lead to inflammation, disease and even cancer. Nettle leaf can also help lower blood pressure which is extremely important during pregnancy due to high blood pressure can lead to preeclampsia which can cause preterm births, nausea, dizziness and in extreme and rare cases death for the mother.
It helps with stabilizing blood sugar, helping with preventing gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes put babies at risk over being overweight at birth, a life long risk of being obese and disease and getting type 2 diabetes themselves. Nettle helps with liver health and also with reducing bleeding which is amazing during periods that are extremely heavy and during labor when some women hemorrhage.
Alfalfa leaf has a lot of beneficial nutrients like Silicon, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sodium, Iron, magnesium, Vitamin A, D, E and K. The Vitamin K is great for late pregnancy because it helps with lessen bleeding. It also has an array of essential amino acids which your body can’t make and need to get from food and also a good source of chlorophyll. Alfalfa helps ease morning sickness, increase milk supply during nursing, support healthy digestion, support the pituitary gland, and help remineralize teeth.
Oatstraw is an herb that is rich in calcium, help nourish the pancreas, liver and adrenals. It has potassium, iron, antioxidants, Vitamin A and C, the antioxidants help repair cells and fight aging. It helps with sexual health, bone density and Vitamin B complex that helps with your brain.
If you are fine with the bland kinda bitter taste of herb teas you will like this tea blend and its very calming, if you don’t like that taste than you can add lemon balm to it or even a squeeze of lemon to the tea to add more flavor.
You can purchase your herbs in bulk from online stores like Mountain Rose Herbs where I got mine. I bought 1lb bag of Alfalfa and Oatstraw and 2lb bags of Raspberry Leaf and Nettle Leaf, which will last during pregnancy and during breastfeeding, you can also purchase them in smaller quantities and make small batches.
When you make a batch of the herb tea mixture is 2oz Nettle Leaf and Raspberry leaf and 1oz Oatstraw and Alfalfa, mix it all together and store in an air tight container. You can make this tea 1 quart at a time by bringing 1 quart of filtered water to a boil, add 1/4 cup of the tea mixture to a glass jar and pour the boiling water and let it steep for 8 hours. I like drinking 1 cup a day so this batch will last 3-4 days, I like drinking it cold over ice but you can also enjoy it at room temperature.
Thank you for following my journey, I appreciate you. Please leave a comment and share with your friends and family.
