Thyme during pregnancy: useful properties and contraindications

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Every day there are more and more adherents of traditional medicine. This is due to the fact that in the life of a modern person there is too much "chemistry": in food, drinks, cosmetics and medicines. But some herbs and decoctions can be just as dangerous as medications. Therefore, while expecting a baby, you should be absolutely sure that thyme is not harmful during pregnancy.

Definition and description

In horticulture, thyme is better known as thyme. Verest, flypaw, chebarka - as soon as they do not call it among the people. However, the word "thyme" has taken root in colloquial speech so much that today only this name is on everyone's lips.

Contrary to popular belief, thyme is not an herb. It grows in small shrubs and shrubs. There are several hundred species of this plant in the world, and in Russia and the CIS countries there are about 170 of them. However, for medical purposescreeping thyme and related varieties are mainly used.

Since thyme is a shrub, its twigs covered with leaves are collected to harvest raw materials. They do this at the very peak of flowering, which occurs in June-July, when the maximum concentration of nutrients is reached in thyme.

Benefits of thyme during pregnancy

Most often, the plant is used as the main component or additive to herbal tea. Thyme leaves give it not only a special aroma, but also a number of useful properties for which it is so valued in folk medicine. Separately, the benefits of thyme during pregnancy are distinguished. This includes:

• Uterine stimulation to facilitate labor.
• Smoothing the symptoms of viral diseases, such as cough, runny nose, general weakness of the body. Thyme also has a mucolytic effect.
• In infectious diseases of the lower and upper respiratory tract, it is able to have an anti-inflammatory and calming effect.
• Thyme helps to normalize digestion.
• Has an antibacterial effect aimed at disinfecting the urinary tract with cystitis.
• Relieves pain and inflammation of the joints.
• Has an anthelmintic effect on the body.

Thyme during pregnancy is used not only for brewing tea, but also for baths and compresses. Especially valuable thyme essential oil is thymol. It is intended for external use: rubbing, lotions, preparation of ointments. Besides,thymol is widely used as a fragrance in cosmetics.

Destination

Tea with thyme during pregnancy is often prescribed by a gynecologist to combat pathological conditions that occur during this difficult period for the female body. Indeed, in some cases, thyme is a good alternative to drugs.

Thyme is assigned at:

• anemia;
• SARS, influenza and other viral diseases;
• sleep disorder;
• headache, nervousness;
• minor changes in blood pressure;
• exacerbation of gout, arthritis;
• skin rashes (dermatitis, urticaria, etc.);
• dysbacteriosis;
• helminthiases.

Especially often tea with thyme during pregnancy is prescribed for women who suffer from low blood pressure. However, with complex pathologies, thyme is used only as one of the elements of complex treatment.

Thyme: contraindications during pregnancy

Since thyme belongs to the list of medicinal plants, it has a number of contraindications for use. Therefore, before brewing infusions and teas, you need to consult a gynecologist and weigh the benefits and risks to which the body may be exposed.

Diseases in which thyme is contraindicated:

• diabetes;
• pyelonephritis;
• tuberculosis;
• arterial hypertension;
• exacerbation of diseases of internal organs;
• thyroid diseases;
• constipation.

Thyme herb during pregnancy has a different degree of danger depending on the age of the fetus. Therefore, it is best to consider the risk of thyme consumption by trimester.

Early pregnancy

The first 12 weeks are the hardest for a woman. It is during this period that the largest list of restrictions and contraindications falls, and thyme is no exception.

Thyme in the first days of pregnancy is dangerous because it can cause uterine contractions. Uterine hypertonicity is the most common cause of spontaneous miscarriages in the early stages. Therefore, in the first trimester of pregnancy, doctors recommend refusing to use thyme, and if there is evidence, then choosing the most gentle alternative, albeit not of plant origin.

Other dates

The safest position for the fetus is in the second trimester of pregnancy. At this time, some of the restrictions that were characteristic of the first 12 weeks are removed from the woman. Therefore, at a consultation with a gynecologist, she will most likely receive permission to use thyme.

However, this does not apply to everyone. You can definitely not count on the appointment of thyme for those women who have the general contraindications listed above. For example, arterial hypertension. If there are no contraindications, then no more than two cups of thyme tea per day are allowed.

Thyme during pregnancy in the 3rd trimester is again banned. The reason is the same - the risk of labor induction and prematurechildbirth. However, this property of thyme turns from harmful to useful at the 39-40th week of pregnancy, when additional preparation of the female body for childbirth becomes more than relevant.

Thyme drink recipe

In order for herbal tea to acquire the unique aroma of thyme, it must be properly prepared. Otherwise, you can completely spoil the first impression of this drink.

For cooking you need:

• 1 tsp black tea;
• 2 sprigs of thyme;
• 1 cup boiling water.

Black tea and thyme should be poured with hot water and be sure to let it brew for 10-15 minutes. Then you can add honey or sugar to it. The amount depends on individual preference.

The maximum daily dose of such a drink is 3 cups. In this case, you need to take breaks in use. You can drink thyme tea every 4 days.

Thyme baths

Thyme is added to a warm bath even when bathing newborns. The fact is that it has a disinfecting property, which is useful in the treatment and prevention of skin rashes. However, it is worth remembering that thyme greatly dries the skin, so after the herbal bath, be sure to apply a moisturizer.

To prepare a bath with thyme, you must first make a decoction of it. Standard recipe: 50 g dry thyme per liter of water. It is worth noting that there are packaged thyme leaves on sale. A decoction of them is much easier to prepare, because after brewing it does not need to be filtered.

Next, the decoction is added to the water. Baths with thyme are best taken locally, that is, separately for problem areas of the skin of the legs or arms. This recommendation is due to the fact that a strong decoction of thyme can enter the body through the skin and thus manifest its harmful properties.

Pain-relieving thyme compresses

The tea left from the preparation of the bath decoction does not have to be thrown away. It can be used repeatedly, especially if there are problems with joint pain. It is necessary to make a compress from waste raw materials, which will relieve inflammation and pain.

To do this, let the tea leaves cool, and then place it in a gauze or cotton cloth. The resulting compress is applied to the inflamed area at night. It is worth noting that even externally thyme is not recommended to be used for more than 3 days in a row.