# Red Raspberry leaves?



## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

Went to link for 'pics of normal birth' in this section, and the author suggested giving the doe red raspberry leaves for a week or two before kidding to help tone the uterus. I had problems myself with not going into labor and it was suggested to drink red raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy and it did help (well kind of, until my huge baby didn't fit anyway  

1. has anyone done this?

2. Are they talking about dried leaves, or can i use leaves from my own raspberries - i don't use any chemicals on them, and the few times they have managed to get close to the bushes, they gobble them up.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Fresh leaves are fine...and I personally wouldn't use them unless the doe was at least on day 142


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## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

okay, thanks.


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## Polarhug (Jul 1, 2010)

I drank the tea on my 2nd pregnancy and it went SO much better than my 1st. Not sure if it was the tea though... kind of hard to say.


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## farmergal (Jun 19, 2009)

I give my does a 50/50 mixture of dried raspberry leaves and dried nettle. A pinch of each on top of their grain for the last month, and it seemed to work quite well for them -- 2 FFs kidded with twin doelings each with really only a few minutes of hard labor. I was about 15-20 mins away when one went into labor and she'd already delivered both kids by the time I got home... thank goodness for my DH midwife  

I did some research and from what I could tell, giving it to them for the last month of pregnancy is ok, but Liz might have different info than me... I think human women are supposed to have it for the last trimester, so the last month for goats would make sense?


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

I use pregnancy tonic, from Fias Co Molly's herbals, for all my does, and it's major ingredient is red raspberry leaves. I would think the fresh ones would be fine.

Jan


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Red Raspberry leaves can sometimes trigger labor, depends on the doe and how much she gets, thats why I had said it may be best to wait til they are close to the end of pregnancy, this way if you have one of those girls that would have the chance the leaves would trigger labor at least at that time the kids would be developed enough to survive.


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## farmergal (Jun 19, 2009)

Interesting. The main ingredient of Molly's Herbals Pregnancy Tonic is red raspberry leaves, and she recommends to give that daily for the last 5 weeks before the doe kids... I would think that, if you just gave it for the final few days, it wouldn't have any effect... because it's supposed to tone the uterus over a number of weeks... at least that's what I thought.

Do you know anyone who has had experience with red raspberry sending does into early labor? I am really interested to know more about this.


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## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

Yes i would be very interested too. Not sure if i want to chance it this late in the game. 

Another thing is that a teaspoon of dried leaves is more than a teaspoon of fresh so maybe fresh would be less potent (although i do have a dehydrator, and could make my own)


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## 7thundersranch (Dec 20, 2010)

I use this herb on ALL of my does that are in milk. It helps boost their milk production and I have noticed a HUGE difference in when I do give Red Raspberry and when I don't. I've also attended my friend's home births (human) and we always give them Red Raspberry before and after the baby is born.

I'm giving it to my pregnant does right now.


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