Freelance contribution by: Jenny Silverstone
Should you think twice about making your favorite cup of tea while pregnant? There are many benefits to drinking tea while pregnant, such as: It can help keep you hydrated, it can combat morning sickness, and tea has vital antioxidants and nutrients which help support you and your growing baby.
To be clear, antioxidants are not unique to tea. They are available through many other foods, but tea is one way to get them into your body. The more antioxidants you have in your body, the better. But then you have the opposite spectrum – there are some teas to avoid, like the ones with a high caffeine content. A typical eight-ounce cup of real tea has anywhere between 20-48 milligrams of caffeine. The exact amount will depend on the type of tea, brewing method, and processing of the tea leaves; but it is considerably less than a cup of brewed coffee, which runs about 95-165 milligrams. But how much caffeine is too much?
You also have to be diligent in your research, because some teas will claim they will enhance your health in certain ways; however, most of the claims they make are not backed by thorough scientific research. Tea can be made from a nearly endless number of plants and they fall into one of two categories: Real Tea and Herbal Tea. There are lots of other options available on the market — many of which your girlfriends probably drank while they were expecting. However, the problem is the limited information available about their effects on the fetus. Because of this, our list of recommended teas is very short since we believe it’s best to err on the side of caution and stick with the basics. So which one is right for you? Read more about choosing to tea, or not to tea while pregnant, in this article by Mom Loves Best.
Jenny Silverstone is a professional writer, editor, and most importantly, the loving mother of two beautiful kids. Jenny’s goal at Mom Loves Best is to help the other moms like her who are struggling and trying to do their best but feel totally overwhelmed.
Photo “Glass Cup of tea with a piece of lemon in the hands of women surrounded by pills and medicines” is copyright under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License to the photographer Marco Verch and is being posted unaltered (source)
