Recipe for Anti bleed tea

2 Tablespoons Shepherd Purse
1 Tablespoon Fennel Seeds
1 broken Cinnamon stick

Put all herbs in a big pot. Boil water separately and pour boiling water (at least 5 cups) over the herbs. Let steep. (You may have to re warm but do that with least heat possible. Leaf and seed herbs are not boiled).

Get your big mug ready before the baby is born.
big tea mug
Put 2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey in the cup with a spoon. Have bendy straw ready. Put tea strainer (small strainer with a handle) over the top of the cup. As soon as the baby is born one attendant runs to get a cup of the tea and the straw. Make sure it’s warm but not hot enough to burn mother’s mouth with a swallow. Give it to her and say “This tea will help your placenta come out smoothly, all in one piece.” Say this only once. Keep offering the tea liberally.

The mother’s body needs warmth inside and out after the birth and women seem to love the taste of this tea plus the hydration.

We use this tea for primips. With multips we use a crampbark/cinnamon tea for helping to reduce the afterpains. Barks and roots are boiled so there is a different method for preparation.

RECIPE FOR MULTIP (second or more baby) TEA

recipe:
2 heaping tbsp cramp bark
1 cinnamon stick about 4″ long, broken in pieces

Place the ingredients in a pot with 2 litres of water and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer on a low boil for one hour. Barks need to be boiled in order to release their properties.

Strain the tea and drink like medicine whenever the cramps/after pains are bothersome. Remember, the cramping is stopping you from bleeding too heavily so it is a good and healthy thing your body is doing.

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Update August 13, 2014 Recently, I spoke to two different women, in two countries who didn’t know each other. They both brought up in the conversation how special it was that their caregiver (one a doula, the other a birth attendant) had given them a tea to drink right after they gave birth that tasted wonderful and was just the right temperature and sweetness. One of the women I was speaking to, who has had 5 births actually teared up and said “It was the nicest thing anyone ever did for me in my births —it was so tender and thoughtful of my doula”. Kudos to both those birth workers who have incorporated the making of tea into their care.

The tea preparation is part of the setup for the birth when the birthing woman is reaching the pushing stage: —sterilize instruments, make the post partum tea, prepare a waterproof bed for the mother and baby to lie down after the birth, find a placenta bowl, make sure the resuscitation bag is at hand. We leave a mug with sweetener, spoon, straw and strainer all ready on the counter beside the pot of tea. Then, as soon as baby is in the woman’s arms, one helper runs to the kitchen and pours the tea and brings it back. Without passing between the gaze of the woman/baby, the bendy straw is put near her mouth and she can take a big swallow. (best to pass it from behind her if she’s sitting in a water tub.) It’s not just the properties of the tea, it’s a warming, hydrating thing, too. In a pinch, you could just go in her cupboard and find some herbal tea bags and make up a warm cup of herbal tea for her.

19 thoughts on “Recipe for Anti bleed tea

  1. Multip Postpartum Tea

    2 heaping Tablespoons Cramp Bark
    1 broken 4 ” cinnamon stick

    Cover with 6 cups water in a metal pot and boil slowly on the stove for about an hour. Remove from heat. Sweeten with maple syrup or honey as for the other tea.

    This tea will warm the mother inside and the Cramp Bark is very effective for reducing the pain of the uterus contracting down (“after pains”).

  2. Thanks for sharing these. Would you recommend the Shepard’s Purse/Fennel brew for multips like me with a history of postpartum hemorrhage, to possibly help us not need pitocin injections?

  3. Tell me more about your history.
    I’ve just received a PDF of a study from Australia about midwifery and the third stage that i could send to you if you like. Very interesting reading.

    One multip that I worked with found that she didn’t bleed in the pregnancies that she did a brisk walk every day. There’s something about walking that is known to prevent bleeding after birth.

    How many babies have you had?

  4. I’ve had two babies, both in hospitals (and thinking I’ll go for home birth next time). My first was a pitocin induction with epidural at 39 w 3 d due to leaking amniotic fluid and hospital policies. Bleeding was unremarkable, but I was still on a pitocin drip during 3rd stage.

    My second was a spontaneous unmedicated hospital birth at 39 w 5 d. I had an IV for GBS antibitoics. My baby was taken to the warmer for oxygen and suctioning (which I think was necessary–I had requested delayed clamping, but he was purple). After the placenta came out, my OB and nurse found I was gushing during uterine massage and they weren’t feeling firmness in my uterus. They gave me pit in my IV. When they gave me back my baby and he latched on perfectly, but they found I was still bleeding more than they wanted to see, so they gave me IM methergine as well.

    I was found to have iron levels a little on the low side when my blood was drawn for the glucose screening during my 2nd pregnancy. I started taking floraix in addition to my prenatal vitamins, but I think it may have been little late for that to have an effect on my level at birth.

    The walking idea is interesting–I have not done daily walking in either of my pregnancies. I would like to read the study you mentioned if you don’t mind sending it.

    • Birth unplugged,

      I realize your post is a few years old but I just read it and need to clarify. You commented, “My baby was taken to the warmer for oxygen and suctioning (which I think was necessary – I had requested delayed cord clamping but he was purple).

      Purple is a normal colour for neonates to be. It is not a sign they need oxygen or suctioning. When the baby’s head is on the perineum, venous return is temporarily impeded and blood accumulates in the head causing a purplish hue.

      The womb is a low oxygen environment. This is why babies aren’t born pink but turn pink after adult circulation is well established.

      They take several minutes to transition from fetal circulation which bypasses the lungs, to extra-uterine or adult circulation which uses the lungs. This rerouting of the circulation requires the closing of shunts in the heart. The best way to fascilitate the closing of these shunts and the rerouting of the circulation to the lungs is to keep the cord attached. Giving oxygen to a newborn is useless until the adult circulation through the lungs is established because oxygen in the lungs won’t be transported to the rest of the body unless there is circulation through them.

      Keeping the cord attached ensures 1) that enough blood and pressure is in the babies circulation to close the shunts
      2) that the mother’s circulation continues to provide oxygen to the newborn until the extra-uterine circulation is established.

      When the cord is severed immediately this can cause hypovolemia or too little blood volume which then can cause persistent fetal circulation and/or organ damage. Luckily, in most babies this process is nearly complete before they cut the cord so they suffer few consequences but for those babies who were already hypovolemic because of cord compression, placental abruption etc. this is catastrophic.

      Babies who truley need oxygen are in more need of an attached cord.

      All babies should have their cords attached until it stops pulsating. When it stops pulsating it’s a sign that adult circulation is established and it can now be cut. Some babies need more time to transition especially if the’ve had a more difficult birth – their cords can pulsate for 20 minutes or more.

    • I don’t use the tinctures because the tea is so good tasting and the women find that it’s “exactly what they want” after the birth to warm their insides and refresh them. We don’t want “strong”, we want “warming and wet”. The baby really does the stimulation of natural oxytocin by being cute, soft, making little noises, pinching at the mother’s skin, smelling all baby, and probably a million unseen, uncategorized things to make the woman’s uterus contract well and have the placenta birth smoothly with minimal bleeding.

  5. Gloria, can this tea be made up ahead of time and then rewarmed in the hospital for
    after a hospital birth? Or does it need to be freshly prepared?

  6. Hi. Could you please clarify when shepherd’s purse is to be used. I am reading conflicting things. Some websites say it should only be given after the placenta has been delivered or it can cause problems. Is this true? I am trying to figure out what to take to help prevent PPH but I don’t want to end up with a retained placenta. My two previous births the midwives did active management although I was against it each time they always seem to find some ridiculous worry to justify injecting me with pitocin, although I was not hemorrhaging in any way and I didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter, they kept saying they felt it was necessary. All it did was make me shaky and I refuse to have it this time, to the point we may not call them until after the baby is born because they are so intrusive with the pushing stage as well as managing the placenta and nothing we say seems to change that. I just want to make sure I have the right herbs/tinctures on hand and know when and how to use them.

    Thanks

  7. Hi Gloria! I don’t have specific source for cramp bark but already planning to order shepherd’s purse for sitz baths, and already have fennel seed and cinnamon sticks. Would it be fine to use for multips? This is my second- had pretty straight forward homebirth last time. What am I missing out on by not using cramp bark? I have AfterEase tincture and already discussed trying placenta first before pit with my MW.

  8. Hi Gloria! I am wanting an unassisted home birth for my next baby. The main thing that makes my husband nervous about this is What If I hemmorhage. The midwife has pitocin just in case, I didnt need it or anything else for bleeding in my previous home births, but it’s always good to have that peace of mind. I’m wanting to know what you might recommend having on hand in case we do think I’m bleeding too much and we would like to give something. My midwife had a black cohosh tincture on hand, but after some reading I did on it I dont think this would be the right herb to use to prevent/treat hemmorhage anyway. There seems to be conflicing info, and people tend to assume that blue and black cohosh are related and that black is stronger, when in reality they are very different and not even related. Lol

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