Eight months down, one raspberry leaf tea decision to go!
Alex Drummond is officially nearing the finish line of her second pregnancy and, in the sweltering Dallas heat, she has started thinking about all those little rituals people swear by to induce labor. “I’m officially eight months pregnant today,” Alex said in a recent Instagram Story. “So I’m in the threshold where I could start, like, labor prep things, like drinking the raspberry leaf tea and whatnot.” Then she put the matter to her followers: “To raspberry leaf tea or to not raspberry leaf tea??”
Her hesitation mostly comes down to one thing: Her first labor went pretty darn smoothly without it. Alex explained that she didn’t try tea or any other so-called labor-inducing tricks while she was pregnant with Sofia because she had her heart set on making it past Christmas. She ultimately had to be induced because of her blood-pressure concerns, but once it was time to deliver, things moved quickly. “I only pushed for 10 minutes,” she said.
Naturally, that experience has Alex wondering whether she should simply leave well enough alone this time. “If I could just copy and paste my labor with Sofia I would do that 👌,” she wrote over a follow-up video. “But ya obviously never know.”
There is also the small matter of actually drinking the tea. “I tried that raspberry leaf tea and I don’t really like the taste of it,” Alex admitted. “And so I’m like, I feel like I don’t need it if I had an easy labor with Sofia.” Her final verdict—or lack of one—was wonderfully honest: “I don’t know if I should be doing the things or not.”
Raspberry leaf tea has long been used in hopes of preparing the uterus for labor, but the research behind it is limited. A systematic review found that the evidence supporting its effectiveness is weak, while the National Institutes of Health recommends discussing herbal supplements with a healthcare provider during pregnancy because many haven’t been thoroughly tested in pregnant women.
For now, Alex still has a little time to decide. Her baby boy is due September 21, and she has plenty of regular appointments as doctors continue monitoring her closely because of her blood-pressure history. Whether or not raspberry leaf tea joins the routine, though, it sounds like Alex’s real request is much simpler: Can she please get the same happy birth experience twice? 🤞
