Raspberry Leaf??

[batman]

hello
I've been advised to use Raspberry Leaf on my pregnant mare as she can be nervous, which will help her during labour. What are your views on this? I also can not seem to find this anywhere, does anyone know where i can get this from?

 

[RedDevil]

You can get capsules from health food shop or boots. Said to ease contractions, I drank the tea with my first born, but it didn't help!

 

[the watcher]

Any health shop, but be sure to give it only when delivery is imminent otherwise it can cause problems (personally I would be very wary of giving it to horses)

 

[Happytohack]

You can get them from Feedmark, here is the link
Make sure you follow the feeding instructions though, as they should only be fed in very late pregnancy.

 

[Halfpass]

Thats strange we advise to use it for women towards the end of the pregnancy. We advise to use it from 36 onwards to help tone the uterus not for an sort of calming / nerves.
Its commonly believed that drinking raspberry leaf tea or taking raspberry leaf tablets will help to induce labour and as such this supplement is taken by many a pregnant woman keen to speed up their baby's arrival into the world. Unfortunately this is a misconception; raspberry leaf tea doesn't actually help to bring on labour at all. Having said this it is thought to have many other benefits for the birthing process and has been used as a labour-aid for hundreds of years.

The benefits

Raspberry leaf tea is nutrient rich and contains many of the vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy pregnancy including vitamins A, C, E and B, magnesium, calcium and iron. Consuming raspberry leaf tea not only helps mother and baby to get all the nutrients they need but can also help to replenish a new mothers stores after the birth.

Raspberry leaf tea also contains the alkaloid 'fragine' which is said to strengthen and tone the muscles of the uterus, helping them to contract more efficiently during labour. Research has found that taking raspberry leaf during the weeks prior to delivery helps to shorten the second stage of labour by making contractions more effective. Some studies have also found that it reduces the need for an assisted delivery (i.e. an emergency cesarean or use of forceps or ventouse).

Sipping raspberry leaf tea during and after the birth is also said to help the uterus contract back down to size, reduce after birth bleeding and help initiate the let down of breastmilk.

While there hasn't been a huge amount of research into this area, the general consensus does seem to be that drinking raspberry leaf tea during the latter stages of pregnancy can help to make for a 'better' labour with few side effects.

 

[alleycat]

Wouldn't risk it. If its strong enough to do anything at all, I think it may do harm; wasn't there a study on using a raspberry leaf supplement on bitches (?) which suggested that it was in some way having the a negative effect? Sure I read that somewhere. I'll try to find it.

 

[alleycat]

This site mentions it:

http://www.carelittle.com/dog-care/t-3104.html

OK this is dogs; but same principle, I think.

 

[Bedlam]

I think Dodson & Horrell do it - but I will echi everyone else - only in the later stages of pregnancy.

Call the D&H helpline...?

 

[Cop-Pop]

Using it in early to mid pregnancy can cause miscarriage.