Can you drink tea when pregnant?

• Share on Facebook Share disabled
• Share on Twitter Share disabled
• Share on Pinterest Share disabled
• Share on WhatsApp Share disabled

Charlotte Thomas

Social Editor

Find out if it's safe to drink tea during pregnancy, plus precautions to take to keep you and your baby healthy.

This page contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.

The official advice on drinking tea in pregnancy

Yes, you can drink tea during pregnancy, but you might need to drink less than normal or switch to decaf. This is because tea contains caffeine.

When you're pregnant, the NHS says you should limit the amount of caffeine you drink to around 200mg a day. Higher levels of caffeine can lead to low birthweight and have also been linked to miscarriage.

An average cup of standard tea has around 75mg of caffeine. You can find out the caffeine content of other popular drinks here.

The longer you brew your tea, the more caffeine it will have, so you could also consider taking the teabag out a bit earlier.

Decaf tea

Decaf tea has very little caffeine, but it's not usually completely caffeine free. The NHS doesn't suggest any limits to the amount of decaf tea you can have in pregnancy, but like everything, it's probably best to enjoy it in moderation.

Fruit and herbal teas

Play video

Pregnant?

Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be

Email address

Your due date

Are you the mum, dad, partner, grandparent, surrogate?

Mum Dad Partner Grandparent Surrogate

How many children do you have?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

I agree to Netmums processing my Sensitive Personal Data for the purpose of sending me Pregnancy Newsletters.

Please tick if you would like to receive news, offers and information from our trusted and carefully selected partners that we think you might like.

I have read and understood Netmums' Privacy Notice and Terms & Conditions

Sign up

Fruit and herbal teas don't usually contain caffeine, and are generally safe to drink in pregnancy. However, the NHS recommends limiting the amount you drink to no more than 4 cups of herbal tea per day.

This is because some herbal teas can contain ingredients that may affect your pregnancy if you drink lots and lots of them (for example, raspberry leaf is often used in herbal teas, and also associated with speeding up labour).

The ingredients are generally fine in smaller doses though, so if you're having a healthy pregnancy and you limit yourself to a few cups a day, you should be fine.

If you're having any complications with your pregnancy, it might be a good idea to check with your midwife before drinking herbal tea, just to be on the safe side.

Pregnancy-safe drink recipes

If you're cutting down on caffeine, why not try these pregnancy-safe drinks?

• Homemade hot chocolate
• Avocado and banana smoothie
• Elderflower fizz
• Berry spring cooler
• Summer sparkle mocktail

We like The Whole 9 Months, a week-by-week pregnancy nutrition guide, packed full of recipes and medical advice. See more details here at Amazon.

Take a look at

Foods to avoid in pregnancy: your definitive guide

Confused about what you can and can't eat during pregnancy? These are the foods and drinks you should avoid or cut down on to protect your baby.

View gallery

Looking for more pregnancy diet info? Check out our articles below, or swap tips with other mums-to-be in our forum.

Related stories

What to eat and drink during your pregnancy

CHAT: Pregnancy

Your complete A-Z of pregnancy food and drink safety

This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.