Herbs for Pregnancy - Before
Women were the first progenitors of herbal medicine. This is understood historically, but also intuitively: many herbs that have nothing to do with women’s health have contraindications for pregnancy or menstruation, because women were the ones studying these herbs and actually utilizing them for health. Volumes could be written on herbs that were used traditionally to benefit fertility, ease pain during pregnancy, and help with recuperation following birth, but unfortunately today, there’s not a lot of clinical study on these herbs. There’re good reasons for this: it’s seen as unethical to try new therapies on pregnant women when you can’t be sure of the outcome, there’s not a ton of research on some of the more traditional herbs to begin with, and herbal remedies can sometimes have different effects on different people, thus making the outcomes a little more unpredictable. In my humble opinion, I find this reasoning to be a bit silly. Not because it’s not valid — it’s completely valid, and good, to want women and their babies to remain as safe as possible — but because it’s not actually followed in the medical world. I’ve read plenty of studies on pregnant women taking antidepressants, smoking/vaping, or taking other prescription medication with known side effects, because doctors wanted to observe the outcome for them and their baby…yikes! But this isn’t the post where we talk about my opinions on scientific integrity. There’re plenty of herbs with rigorous study and centuries of traditional use behind them that’re perfectly safe to take in order to increase the likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy. Those are what we’re here to discuss today! This is the first post in a series I’m simply calling “Herbs for Pregnancy”. Here, we’ll discuss herbs you can take to try to boost your chances of carrying a healthy little baby!
Supporting fertility - Before the Herbs
There’re many people peddling fertility teas, tinctures, pills, essential oil mixes, and more I’m sure, but what truly sets the stage for carrying a healthy baby is preparing the stage itself. The mama needs to create a healthy internal environment. Consider this: before you can plant something, you have to have applied some work to creating a space for that plant to grow; no one starts their garden by casually tossing carrot and strawberry seeds in their lawn. In a similar way, the mama needs to cultivate a proper environment for her baby to grow in. We know so much of what happens in our bodies is a result of the environment our bodies are in, so the first step in supporting fertility is putting yourself in the right environment: this includes what you’re eating, drinking, wearing, breathing, what chemicals you’re using to wash your clothes, dishes, countertops, body, hair, etc. It sounds like a lot to have to take into consideration, but it’s not a race to accomplish it all. You can drastically change the amount of toxins in your life by taking it one step at a time — direction is more important than speed. Eating protein-rich, organic foods, drinking clean water, washing your clothes with a natural detergent, and using natural soaps on your body are simple ways to eliminate potentially harmful chemicals from your body, and create a non-toxic space for your little one to grow in (bonus: removing certain chemicals from your food, air, water, or skin may be the solution to several health problems you might be facing!). A myriad of books have already been written about removing toxins from the body naturally, and the EWG has built a massive database for this, so I’ll save my fingers the time in typing out suggestions. However, a book I highly recommend to anyone even considering motherhood is “Nine Golden Months: The Essential Art of Nurturing the Mother-To-Be”, by Heng Ou, Marisa Belger, and Amely Greeven. It’s a wonderful book about deeply nourishing your physical body, and your mind, in preparation for a little one. I would recommend this to anyone with even the slightest inclination of having children, because it’s not just about preparing your body for a baby, it’s about the wonderful gift of womanhood and the incredible opportunity we have as women to bring life into the world. This book reminded me that pregnancy isn’t necessarily a goal, it’s a beautiful gift that should be cared for and appreciated long before the gift is realized.
After working on the physical side of creating a healthy environment for your little one, try to tend to your personal feelings towards pregnancy. Personally, I wasn’t able to get a baby cooking until I’d let go of the stress of getting pregnant. I wanted a baby so badly that I started to obsess over every little thing I did, and I would get so stressed out over nonsense. My lifestyle looked great in terms of toxins, but I was harboring a deeper toxin in my mind: the need to control everything. But then, I gave it to God and told Him I wasn’t going to try to control everything anymore, and that I would accept His timeline. After releasing that tightness, I got pregnant with my first little one — no herbs necessary!
One last disclaimer before we dive into herbs: there’re men and women who face complicated forms of infertility that could be due to genetics or physical complications internally. While a healthy diet and lifestyle can improve a lot, genetic or physical conditions should be addressed by a specialist, and not self-diagnosed or self-treated. Additionally, while herbal remedies can be a powerful ally for fertility and pregnancy, they need to be used properly for your specific symptom picture. You might really like the sound of a certain fertility herb, but it could actually be contraindicated for your root issue. Infertility might be the main problem you see, but the root cause could be hormonal, genetic, spiritual, physical, or even a combination of multiple things. If you’re interested in using herbs to support your fertility, consider reaching out to your local herbalist or naturopath for more information.
All right! This is a website dedicated to herbs, and I really want to talk about how cool some of these fertility herbs are! To reiterate: if you’re on your fertility journey, please start with a change in diet and lifestyle before turning to any herbal remedies, contact your doctor or naturopath if you suspect an underlying genetic or physical issue, and don’t take the first herb you see, since it could be contraindicated for your condition. With all that being said, let’s talk about some of my favorite herbs for supporting fertility!
Herbal Support
Maca Root - Lepidium meyenii
It kinda looks like fried chicken, but it’s maca root!I consider this an herb for men’s fertility first, but really it can be used to help men or women, since it works on multiple levels to promote fertility.
Maca root originates in the Andes mountains and has been used for centuries to promote fertility in both men and women. There’s a general lack of robust human studies on maca root, but it’s generally agreed that it increases spermatogenesis (1), can reduce damage to sperm (2), and can promote sexual desire (3), though the mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Interestingly, it has these effects without raising serum testosterone levels. It’s speculated that maca might have an antidepressant effect that has downstream effects on sexual desire and pleasure (5), but as I said, more studies need to be done to figure out the amazing mechanisms behind this herb. To be clear: we have a ton of animal data showing the wonderful effects of maca, and the majority of the data we have in human trials backs up it’s purported benefits, but the number of participants in most of the human trials I found was pretty low, so I’d rather not expound on data with such a limited sample size. Maca root doesn’t have any known side effects, and is really only contraindicated for people who’re already pretty stimulated — since it could overstimulate them — so my thoughts on why there aren’t a lot of human trials skew pretty negatively against big pharma, but it doesn’t matter either way, because ironically, I’d much rather dive into the traditional usage! A study with 16 participants can tell us a little but, but hundreds, if not thousands, of years of traditional usage can tell us a lot more.
Maca was domesticated somewhere between 1300-2000 years ago (3), but tradition says it’s been used for much longer than that (6). It grows in some of the harshest conditions that the Andes have: cold, barren, windy mountaintops. It’s sort of an herbal heuristic that the conditions under which an herb grows can tell you a lot about the herb itself: if it’s growing somewhere intense, it must have some pretty intense medicinal powers. The Quechua Indians mainly used maca for physical endurance, mental acuity, stamina, nutrition, and vitality, as well as for fertility (6). This makes perfect sense, since today we know that maca is loaded with several essential amino acids, iron, calcium, and other amazing phytochemicals that give it such a unique medicinal effects (4). Father Cabo was one of the first to write about its medicinal benefits in 1653, and cited it as a fertility herb. An old story goes that when the Spaniards first arrived they had trouble getting their livestock to breed in the high altitudes, so the Quechua Indians encouraged them to feed their livestock maca root. Suffice to say there were no bredding problems after that! Maca root is still used by Peruvians today to promote fertility in women, but it has many more uses than that: schoolchildren take it to enhance the odds of a good exam score, and it’s been used traditionally for stomach cancer, anemia, arthritis, rheumatism, osteoporosis, memory loss, alcoholism, and respiratory issues (6). What a powerhouse! No wonder it’s exploded on the global market. Its market value in 2024 was 680 million USD, and it's expected to reach 1.1 billion by 2033 (7)! That’s a lot of maca root.
I’ve experimented with maca root pills on myself and my husband — you can’t blame a girl for being curious after all the hype! — but we took it on and off, and we were also taking rhodiola, AG1, and I’m sure whatever other herbs I was testing in the background, haha, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness in the short term. Most of the human trials I read had people taking it as consistently as they could for 8-12 weeks, so if you decide to try it — first, let your doctor or naturopath know, and make sure it doesn’t conflict with any health conditions or medications you have — be aware that it’s not some form of herbal viagra. Maca likes to take things nice and slow, and really build up the momentum over a few days or weeks to really get you in the mood, hehe.
Chaste Berry - Vitex agnus-castus
Chaste berry, or Vitex, comes to mind especially for women’s fertility, and specifically within the context of hormonal imbalances. The medicinal part of the plant is its berries, but the flowers are so beautiful that I had to make them the main picture.
We’re switching gears from traditional useage and diving deep into the science here. There’s almost too much research on chaste berry! It’s has such beautiful and specific effects on women’s reproduction, especially during the luteal phase, so it makes sense that it would be heavily studied — in some of studies, chaste berry performed with the same efficacy as pharmaceuticals (specifically bromocriptine) with little to no side effects! But we need to be clear up front: this herb has some powerful effects on many systems of reproduction — from the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, all the way down to the ovaries — so don’t rush into using chaste berry unless it matches your specific symptom picture. Many women have used this herb to get pregnant and carry a healthy pregnancy, but that’s because it remedied the specific hormonal issues they were facing. If you’re not experiencing these hormonal issues, then chaste berry might not be for you. You can always talk to your doctor or naturopath about what’s best for you!
Traditionally, chaste berry been used for all manner of female hormone disorders. In terms of scientific study, it’s been best utilized for women suffering from hyperprolactinaemia, PMS, abnormal menstrual cycles, heightened testosterone, corpus luteum insufficiency, and generally any conditions worsened by an overproduction of prolactin (9, 10). Chaste berry works to inhibit prolactin by having various effects on dopamine receptors. I would really love to go on a long rant about the incredible interplay between dopamine and prolactin, but we’ll summarize it and say they inhibit each other, so more dopamine means less prolactin. Chaste berry binds to D2 dopamine receptors and certain opioid receptors (11, 12), which increases dopamine in the body. It also has downstream effects that reduce thyrotropin-releasing hormone-stimulated prolactin secretion, which further decreases the prevalence of prolactin in the body (13). But wait, why is prolactin so detrimental to maintaining a pregnancy? Isn’t prolactin vital to developing breastmilk in the third trimester? Yes, prolactin is a key part of bringing a little one into the world, but in the right amount at the right time. Chronically high prolactin levels reduce estrogen and progesterone, making it harder to ovulate, maintain a pregnancy, or have a regular cycle at all. Hyperprolactinaemia has been correlated with PMS and abnormal menstrual cycles, so if hyperprolactinaemia is your root issue, chaste berry could be a powerful ally for balancing your cycle in more ways than one. But chaste berry doesn’t stop at prolactin, it has effects on other key hormones as well. Via some complicated chemical cascades, chaste berry also helps up-regulate progesterone, the hormone that tells your uterus “hey! Don’t shed any of that blood yet!” (14). For those of you who might not know, babies work like this: mama develops a bunch of eggs in her ovaries, and then one egg (or more for some women!) is released in hopes of becoming a little person. The egg is released from a little shell called the “corpus luteum” — literally “yellow body” — before traveling through the fallopian tube on its big adventure. The corpus luteum stays behind and slowly releases tons of progesterone over the course of a about 2 weeks. If you do get pregnant, progesterone will continue to be released so your body doesn’t shed all that blood with baby nestled inside, but if you’re not pregnant after a few weeks, then the corpus lutem starts to release less progesterone as it decays. The fall in progesterone signals estrogen to rise, which tells your body to get rid of all that old blood. Now that we’re all on the same page, imagine a scenario in which a woman isn’t releasing enough progesterone. Her body will see progesterone lessening, which will tell estrogen to rise and shed her uterine lining earlier than it normally should. This means that even if she does get pregnant she can’t maintain the pregnancy because once her progesterone begins to fall, estrogen will start rising. Chaste berry can support a woman’s ability to sustain her pregnancy long enough for the other necessary hormones to rise and tell the body “hey girl! You’re actually pregnant! Don’t shed any blood for a few months”. Of course, it all comes back to the root cause: if your root issue is too much prolactin, then chaste berry could be a powerful ally for you! Otherwise, it might not be of great benefit.
Several studies have used chaste berry, or a combination of herbs and supplements including chaste berry, to increase the likelihood of pregnancy in women with hyperprolactinaemia. One study saw 33% of women get pregnant in the first five months of treatment with chaste berry alone (14). Another study found reduced prolactin levels, increased progesterone, and normalized cycle lengths after only three months of treatment with chaste berry exclusively, with no change in the placebo group, showing strong evidence for chaste berry as a powerful medicine — and two women in the study even got pregnant (15)! Though chaste berry on its own is quite powerful, I’d like to mention another study that used chaste berry in combination with other herbs and supplements to increase the likelihood of pregnancy. I found this study particularly fun because it split women into two groups: Group A got chaste berry, maca root (call back!), and active folate, while Group B got that same blend, plus “a gel capsule of vitamins, minerals, oligo-elements plus DHA and EPA omega 3 fatty acids”. Additionally, the study included the husbands, too, and they all received a “combination of grape seed extract, coenzyme Q10, Maca, zinc and selenium” in order to “support spermatogenesis and develop semen within normal values in terms of sperm count, morphology and motility” (16). It’s really funny to me that to properly assess the women in the study, they had to dose the men with herbs, too. In a fun twist, both Group A and Group B saw the same rate of pregnancy, showing that the herbs had a powerful effect with or without the additional supplementation. The study lasted one year, and by the end 37% of the women had become pregnant. Chaste berry has lots of traditional use behind it as well, but it’s truly a very well-researched herb that’s been used to great benefit by hundreds, if not thousands of women in clinical settings. However, nothing in life is without its potential drawbacks.
Chaste berry should not be used during pregnancy or lactation. There is a fantastic chemical cascade that occurs in a woman’s body when she becomes pregnant — all these hormone changes are what make the first trimester is such a doozie for so many women — and since chaste berry can have powerful hormonal effects, it should be stopped if you suspect you could be pregnant. You can quickly know if you’re pregnant by tracking your basal body temperature first thing in the morning (here’s a helpful link for understanding more about tracking your basal body temperature). I used this method for several months to track my cycle and better predict when I’d be ovulating, and it was very beneficial! If you’re not having sex, then chaste berry can be taken safely (at the right dosage) for as long as necessary. There’re little to no side effects, though if you feel any consistent headaches, nausea, or dizziness, or notice a sudden increase in acne, pain or irregularity in your menstrual cycle, rash, or have any sort of allergic reaction, stop taking it and reach out to your doctor or naturopath to let them know.
Shilajit - Asphaltum Punjabianum
Shilajit is a sort of tar that comes out of rocks in the Himalayas and other high-elevation mountain ranges, but don’t worry! Unlike some modern medications, it’s not actually an oil by-product. We’ll discuss this one in terms of men’s fertility, but it can be helpful to women in certain cases.
Shilajit is so cool. I like to think of it as an herbal remedy made from the earth itself. It’s main active constituents are fulvic acids (17), and high-quality extractions are standardized to have at least 50% fulvic acid, but shilajit also consists of “a complex mixture of organic humic substances, plant and microbial metabolites” (Khanna et. al., 2008). It’s got all manner of minerals, gums, resins, fatty acids, and other naturally occurring goodies (17). “Cool…” I hear you say, “so I’m supposed to eat… fatty mountain tar to increase my fertility?” Yes! Like maca root, shilajit has centuries of traditional usage behind it, and like chaste berry, it’s backed by a ton of science. Its been recently making it’s debut on the world stage as the newest fad for men’s health, but I’d like to give it a proper introduction (I have like 15 tabs of studies open right now, so I’m excited to get into this one!).
Shilajit goes by many names: mumie, moomiyo, shilajatu, shilaras, adrija, girija, brag-shun, brag-zhun, kao-tui, chao-tui, and more, though my favorites are the ones that roughly translate to “blood of the mountains” (Burmese translation) and “conqueror of mountains and destroyer of weakness” (Sanskrit translation) (19). Why can’t more herbs be named like this?! I have to remind my husband to take his fish oil supplements every day, but if I gave him a supplement called conqueror of mountains and destroyer of weakness, I don’t think he’d have trouble remembering to take it. Historically, men in these regions definitely had no trouble remembering to take it. It’s been a popular remedy for all manner of issues ranging from tumor suppression, bone fractures, and longevity, to diabetes, nerve disorders, UTIs, and more (19, 20), though today it’s most recognized for its effects on testosterone and spermatogenesis (though, it’s also a powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, chemoprotectant, and immunomodulator, among other things, but that’s for a different post). I’d to focus specifically on it’s ability to increase sperm count and testosterone levels.
A study done in 2010 found that when 28 men with clinically low sperm counts were given 100mg of shilajit twice a day for 60 days, their sperm counts, testosterone, and FSH levels all grew significantly (21). They saw other benefits besides these, too. It’s a small study, to be sure, but to go from clinically low sperm (the study defined them as infertile) to increasing their sperm count by 61.4% within three months is wild. Another study tested testosterone levels of 38 men treated with shilajit and found significant increases again (22). This study didn’t see an increase in FSH like the last one, but it saw increases in free testosterone, serum testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone, adding to the evidence that shilajit has effects on testosterone in men. Shilajit has more effects than just increasing the second ingredient of a baby. Many animal studies have used shilajit to improve energy, mitochondrial function, and ATP utilization. The coolest study I found on using shilajit for energy was done by measuring ATP concentrations in mice. The mice were required to swim around for 90 minutes a day and were either given nothing, shilajit, CoQ10, or shilajit and CoQ10, and the study found that after 7 days of treatment, the mice given shilajit had nearly double the ATP stores of the mice given nothing (23). But it gets so much cooler! The mice given CoQ10 were almost exactly on par with those given shilajit, and the mice given shilajit and CoQ10 had more ATP than any other group! This study showed that shilajit is having a positive effect on our mitochondria and our ability to utilize ATP. This could be due to shilajit’s amazing antioxidant effects, since mitochondria make a lot of ROS that need antioxidants to mop them away, but more study needs to be done to give a more meaningful answer chemically. We can conclude, though, that shilajit improves energy and helps us recover faster.
What does all of this mean for men? Well, it think it goes without saying that having higher testosterone can promote male fertility. Testosterone is what drives the making of millions of sperm every day. However, it’s a lesser known fact that men’s sperm can take up to 74 days to fully mature (24). If a man has chronically low testosterone it could mean that he’s making less sperm over time, and unfortunately most of those sperm will probably have some mild defect — only about 4% of sperm are considered perfectly healthy, and that’s actually the normal range (25) — so if he’s making less sperm, and possibly 96% of them aren’t great swimmers, it’ll be tough to get pregnant. Increasing the sperm count in men is a sure-fire way to increase the chance of a healthy sperm finding an egg, and increasing sperm count starts with increasing testosterone. However, we have to keep in mind that a man’s testosterone could be low for any number of reasons, ranging from genetic to emotional. That’s another reason I really like shilajit: it doesn’t just increase testosterone and peace out, it also increases energy levels, allowing men to feel more alert and capable of accomplishing their goals. It helps clear toxins out of their body as well, through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, so it can really help remove any physical, toxic load a man might be carrying. Even if taken outside of a desire to have kids, shilajit can be a great remedy for men in general, just be sure to talk to your doctor before taking it, and don’t combine it with prescription or OTC medications without checking with your doctor or naturopath first.
The only cautions on this herbs are to make sure you’re buying it from a reputable source. We love our mountain tar, but depending on where it’s coming from there could be higher levels of metals, or other unwanted chemicals in the final product. Of course, even in the raw product the levels of toxic chemicals are low, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Use a standardized extract from a reputable company with a good track record and many positive reviews. Otherwise, when used appropriately, there’re no known side effects to taking shilajit.
Raspberry Leaf (Rubus idaeus) & Hawthorn Berry (Crateagus monogyna)
Last, but certainly not least! This is a blend that I’ve used in the past to great effect when I was worried about my fertility. This is a blend for the trouble, stress, and anxiety women can feel over not being able to carry a baby they desperately want.
We’ve covered the physical side of fertility and pregnancy, but what about the emotional side? What happens when the bloodwork comes back great, the sperm count is high, egg health is good, your cycles are normal, but there’s still no baby? How do we deal with the stress, anxiety, confusion, and dejection that comes from that? I was in a similar place once. I was eating the best diet, working out exactly as I should, my bloodwork was amazing, my marriage was perfect, but it seemed like I just couldn’t get a baby cooking. I became more and more stressed, winding my mind around the possibility of infertility and causing myself so much hurt and strain. I finally ended up crying on the phone to a friend when she asked how I was doing, and she reminded me that God knows the desires of my heart, and this is something that I cannot control. She prayed for me and prayed that I would find the peace and strength to give this desire to God, who loves me and cares for me. I prayed about it, and gave it to God over the course of about a week. During that week, I also took hawthorn berry tincture to help facilitate the release of all my emotions, and I drank raspberry leaf tea to help me rebuild some nutrients and relax after all the stress. …I literally got pregnant that month! Looking back, I’m convinced that a baby could never have formed in such a state of stress, control, and lack of true love; when I opened my heart, trusted God, and let go of my anxiety, my little boy was able to start growing in an environment that was full of trust, love, and peace. I attribute my pregnancy to God first and always, but I know that hawthorn berry and raspberry leaf helped move my heart and mind to the right place. Sort of like how a nice long walk can clear your mind, or a glass of cold water can refresh you, this herbal blend helped me release what I couldn’t control, and through the removal of all that negative emotion I was able to make space to trust in the love of God.
But enough about me! Let’s talk about these herbs. Most pregnant women already know about drinking raspberry leaf tea for fertility, and drinking it during the third trimester for an easy labor. This is because raspberry leaves (not the berries), have wonderful effects on uterine tone. To put it simply: raspberry leaf strengthens the uterine lining. I talk more about raspberry’s effects on uterine tone and strength in “Herbs for Pregnancy - During”, so if you’re more interested in that you can check that post, but I’d rather discuss the more emotional/mental side of raspberry leaf. To set the stage: raspberry leaf is chock-full of vitamins and minerals: calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium are all present in abundance, and it also has high levels of polyphenols (5X more in the leaves than in the fruits!), which have incredible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits (26). These deeply nourishing constituents allow our bodies to rebuild and repair physically, but this has an emotional effect on us as well. The clearance of toxins and increase in vital nutrients tells our body we are in a place that is safe and abundant, and when we feel that physically, it translates into a calmer mind. If you’ve ever taken a yoga class or done breathing exercises, you can understand the mechanisms behind this mental shift: physically slowing down and intentionally engaging our bodies in something beneficial allows our minds to rest as well. I used raspberry leaf to help me achieve this state of calm, especially since the state of stress was arising from an empty uterus. I’d recommend other herbs for other areas of stress, but since the stress of not being pregnant often comes from an area that raspberry specializes in strengthening, and it’s deeply nutritive, I found it to be the perfect remedy. I also stored a lot of sadness and negative emotions in my heart, which is why I chose to use hawthorn berry tincture as well.
Hawthorn berries are such a sweet addition to any remedy dealing with the heart. It’s so gentle that nearly anyone can take it with no side effects for as long as they want. And the taste of the tea is simply wonderful: slightly sweet but also sort of rich, and it’s calming in a way that feels enriching — like reading a good book before bed and being so happy and excited, but also relaxed from your head to your toes. The tincture is also subtly sweet. Hawthorn is a premier remedy for virtually any physical ailment of the heart. Brachycardia? Tachycardia? Myocardial weakness? Angina? Inflammatory heart disease? Cardiac edema? You can take hawthorn. But hawthorn berry goes beyond clearing the physical structures of the heart. It removes stagnation emotionally, as well, allowing trapped emotions to flow out. Traditional Chinese medicine uses hawthorn berries to treat heart yin deficiency (27). Yin is the constructive force within us: it’s about completion, consolidation, and impending organization. Hawthorn berries work to free stagnation from our hearts physically and emotionally to bring back the sense of being completed and organized. It’s been used traditionally for anxiety, heart palpitations, and insomnia, as well as all the ailments listed above (27). Many of my friends have used hawthorn to help them process the grief of losing a loved one, or losing an opportunity they’d thought was assured. Since hawthorn is so safe, I would recommend it to anyone going through heartbreak and sadness. Of course, if you experience any adverse reactions stop taking it, but otherwise I believe it would help the vast majority of men or women facing what feels like the loss of a child, and the loss of a future, during a season of infertility.
These two herbs don’t necessarily have to be combined, but I think it’d be nice to take them together. If you want to have a hawthorn berry tea — which I’d highly recommend! — you’ll need to slowly decoct the berries in simmering water for an hour or two. If you want raspberry leaf tea, you only need to steep the leaves in hot water for 10-15 minutes. You can combine the two teas into one after they’ve finished their separate extractions, but please don’t try to decoct raspberry leaves with hawthorn berries, or steep hawthorn berries with raspberry leaves. You can always drink some raspberry leaf tea and add some hawthorn berry tincture into the tea, or take hawthorn berry tincture separately. I took the tincture separately because it’s easier and tastes great, but if I wasn’t so scatterbrained I’m sure the tea would be my favorite.
Final Thoughts
There’re scores of herbs that’re purported to promote fertility, and they very well might work far better than the ones I’ve included here. Whatever you choose to take, be sure to consult with an herbalist or naturopath before diving into any fertility remedies. As I said before, the problem could be stress, dietary imbalance, maybe a build-up of toxicity in the body, or something else entirely that doesn’t necessarily need herbal intervention. However, if you’re desperate for herbs, some good herbs for cleansing and supporting the body are nettle leaf (Urtica dioica), red clover flowers (Trifolium pratense), a tincture of milky oats (Avena sativa), raspberry leaf (Rubus idaeus), and a large host of mushrooms (reishi, cordyseps, tremella, etc.). These are rich in nutrients, have little-to-no contraindications, and can be used to generally promote the health the future mom and dad. Mixing these herbs with calming helpers like chamomile, lavender, cat nip, or other herbs you find relaxing, could be beneficial in building a healthy mindset as well! Again, everyone’s journey into parenthood is different, so take a breath, remember to breathe, and be grateful for the journey!
Sources:
(1) Gonzales GF, Ruiz A, Gonzales C, Villegas L, Cordova A. Effect of Lepidium meyenii (maca) roots on spermatogenesis of male rats. Asian J Androl. 2001 Sep;3(3):231-3. PMID: 11561196.
(2) Bustos-Obregon E, Yucra S, Gonzales GF. Lepidium meyenii (Maca) reduces spermatogenic damage induced by a single dose of malathion in mice. Asian J Androl. 2005 Mar;7(1):71-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7262.2005.00006.x. PMID: 15685355.
(3) Gonzales GF, Córdova A, Vega K, Chung A, Villena A, Góñez C, Castillo S. Effect of Lepidium meyenii (MACA) on sexual desire and its absent relationship with serum testosterone levels in adult healthy men. Andrologia. 2002 Dec;34(6):367-72. doi: 10.1046/j.1439-0272.2002.00519.x. PMID: 12472620.
(4) Gonzales G. F. (2012). Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacology of Lepidium meyenii (Maca), a Plant from the Peruvian Highlands. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2012, 193496. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/193496
(5) Dording, C. M., Fisher, L., Papakostas, G., Farabaugh, A., Sonawalla, S., Fava, M., & Mischoulon, D. (2008). A double-blind, randomized, pilot dose-finding study of maca root (L. meyenii) for the management of SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction. CNS neuroscience & therapeutics, 14(3), 182–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-5949.2008.00052.x
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