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My doctor had me on 4mg of folic acid since my sister had a cleft lip. He says it's the new recommendation and since it's water soluble, you just pee out what you don't need.
Green tea is great for your cervical fluid. I just take my folic acid in the morning and take my tea in the evening.
@MapleBecky: Thanks for that! I've been taking my multivitamin (which has the folic acid) in the morning and drinking the green tea in the evening. Hopefully that minimises the impact of the tea. I also think I'll go out and buy an additional folic acid supplement to add to my multivitamin. I've been sitting on the fence about that but think I would rather have a bit too much rather than too little.
@Ree723: I would consult your doctor. I’m nowhere near trying to conceive but I do drink a lot of green tea and I know the one I drink has a warning label that says “Warning: Do not use during pregnancy or while nursing. Consult your physician before use in the presence of hypertension or high blood pressure.”
I’ve heard that Raspberry Leaf tea is really good for women’s reproductive health but I have not used it myself.
I did a lot of research on this when I was TTC as I drink a lot of green tea... basically it can help you conceive (good for CM) but then can block the uptake of folic acid. I stopped drinking green tea as soon as we hit the two week wait, then didn't have any again until after the first trimester. I had it once in awhile after that. HTH :)
I was so upset when I read that in WTEBYE!! So I did the same as Tiramisu. I'd been on pre-natals since we got married, and I love, love love green tea. At TWW I stopped drinking it, and after the BFP, I've treated it like alcohol- very, very limited quantities. I'll have a small glass occasionally. The thing that has helped me cope (I miss it more than wine and beer some days) is a chunk of lemon in cold water, refreshing, improves the taste of boring water, and low in calories.
@tiramisu: and @lemondrop: Great idea ladies! DH and I aren't quite TTC just yet (we're starting in Oct) so I think I will just try and alternate days of green tea and peppermint tea until I actually start trying, then I'll do the TWW abstaining like you girls did. I definitely want the fertility benefits of it but I also want the benefits of my folic acid!
@noenyu: I've heard that as well about raspberry leaf tea, but I think it's not until second or third trimester that you're meant to take it. I think I read that it can cause your cervix to open, which is definitely not a good thing early on, but I think it's highly recommended towards the end of pregnancy to get things moving.
My take on green tea (I am also an avid drinker) is this - drink 1-2 cups a day, at a different time of day than you take your PNV, and only drink it CD1-O. Drinking green tea after O has been shown to cause uterine contractions that *could* effect implanation, so I figure better be safe than sorry. Drinking green tea CD1-O is great, though - can help rid your body of bacteria and other things that can effect O or implantation, and really gears up the CM.
A word on WTEBYE - take it with a grain of salt. Same with WTEWYE. My doctor has warned me against those books because they contain a lot of misleading information and are filled with pregnancy scare tactics. My doctor's point was that pregnancy is not an illness, but those books treat you like you are sick.
@noenyu: RRL tea is supposed to be amazing for toning the uterus (which aids a smooth labor and can help prevent herromaging) in the second and third trimesters!
Yeah, I'm an avid green tea drinker as well. I started drinking tea as a sub for coffee, ended up loving it so much that it's all I drink caffeine wise other than Diet Coke. I usually drink 2 cups of green tea in the morning, then take the prenatal later in the day. For awhile, I've been taking my prenatals at work after the tea. Now, I'm thinking that I can leave them at home and take them after work, thus after my green tea consumption. I really did focus the CM difference after going off birth control. Wow, green tea really helps it. I'm going to take @lemondrop: advice on how to drink it up until the TWW, treating it like alcohol. I haven't had my tea yet today and will take my vitamins later in the day.
I was in a similar situation and took extra folic acid to be on the safe side. It's hard to take too much of that stuff as it's water soluble!
The bottom line is that stressing out over green tea will probably reduce your fertility because stressing out over anything will!
If you'd like a good replacement, I highly recommend red tea which is supposed to have all the antioxidant goodness without the folic acid worries.
@ginnyc: That is if you like Rooibas tea which I hate. I'm a big tea drinker and won't touch that stuff. Right now, I'm in the TTW. I've done one 10oz. cup of black tea a day or a can of soda (since our coffeemaker/hot water source is busted on my floor).
So, I've heard that green tea is really only detrimental during the TWW, and even then only in large quantities.
This cycle, I tried 2-3 cups a day from CD1 - Ovulation, and was pretty amazed at the difference in my CM. I don't get a lot to start with, so green tea made me feel pretty normal. Now that I'm post-O, I've cut it out, for the caffeine and the folic acid interference, just in case.
I do still have about a cup of something caffeinated a day...or else my 5am bakery shifts wouldn't be happening.
@redsmarties: I think that green tea has helped my CM more than Mucinex. Mucinex seems to be worse for mine. For me, it's all about green tea before and during ovulation. I actually like having one cup of black tea a day since I practically cut myself off of it for awhile. I love my Earl Grey tea in the morning. If I wasn't controlling my caffeine, I would be drinking at least two to three cups a day.
Well, I am like the founder of SGTA (Starbucks Green Tea Anonymous), and while the caffeine is low enough that you can remain in the TTC recommended daily caffeine guidelines, my fertility acupuncturist told me that he doesn't want me to drink it in the 2ww,not bc of caffeine, but because something in it (I forget what) helps with immunity, and when there's a fertilized egg/blastocyte hanging around in there, the green tea might assist in the immune system attacking the blastocyte as a foreign body/germ.
Freaked me out.
He said go to all out with it until O, and then quit it. Even the decaf green tea, since it's truly all about the antioxidants that can ramp up immunity,not the caffeine.
Fluoride in the green tea is also bad for your thyroid! I have to stay away from it since I have thyroid levels off, and that can contribute to fertility probs. Boo, because I live minted green tea.
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Hi ladies, I'm an avid green tea drinker - not copious quantities, just one per day, but nearly every day. I always assumed this would be great for when DH and I start TTC in the next couple of months as it's full of antioxidants and other yummy goodness, right? Right.
Well, then I start reading What to Expect Before You're Expecting last night and realise that green tea is on the no-no list as it impairs the body's ability to absorb folic acid. Yikes! Somewhat of an important vitamin for the body to be absorbing there!
Now of course I have googled this and find nothing but conflicting information. The general consensus seems to be that if you drink significant quantities (3 or 4 cups per day), it can have a detrimental effect. I can't find any definitive information from a reputable source (other than WTEBYE) that says no, don't drink this at all - the American Pregnancy website says it's fine, although it can affect folic acid.
On the flipside, I've seen a lot of sites saying that green tea increases your chance of getting pregnant as it increases CM, and some other reasons I can't remember.
So my question is this - would taking additional folic acid (I'm only taking 400 mcg now) help negate the green tea effect and allow me to keep drinking one glass per day, or should it be scrapped altogether? Any other green tea drinkers out there who have come across this? Thanks ladies! :-)