Can babies have herbal tea?

The verdict

No. Not chamomile, not fennel, not rooibos, not the sachets sold as baby tea or colic tea, and not weak ordinary tea with milk in it.

The HSE puts it most plainly: tea and coffee are not suitable for babies, and this includes herbal, caffeinated and decaffeinated tea or coffee, because they may contain substances that interfere with your baby's growth and development. That sentence closes off the two escape routes people usually take, which are that herbal does not count and that decaf is fine.

Why herbal is not a free pass

Herbal preparations are pharmacologically active. That is the reason people give them. Chamomile, fennel, aniseed, lemon balm and star anise all contain compounds with real effects, and none of them has been characterised for safety in infants at any particular strength.

NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries, reviewing herbal supplements for infant crying, reports that a Cochrane systematic review found insufficient evidence to recommend herbal supplements as a treatment option, and that expert opinion notes the use of herbal supplements has been associated with adverse effects in infants including vomiting, sleepiness and constipation. It adds that these preparations have unproven safety and efficacy and an unknown dosing response.

That last phrase is the important one. Unknown dosing response means nobody can tell you how much is too much, because the studies that would establish it have not been done. A tea made from a sachet in a home kitchen has no standardised strength at all.

Star anise is the cautionary example

Chinese star anise is used in infant infusions in several countries. It is regularly adulterated with Japanese star anise, which is neurotoxic, and infants given such infusions have been reported with vomiting, jitteriness and seizures. This is not a theoretical contamination risk: it is the documented reason several health authorities warn against star anise preparations in babies.

The sugar problem

Most commercial baby teas and instant granules are mostly sugar or maltodextrin with a small flavouring component. The NHS says baby and herbal drinks usually contain sugars and are not recommended.

Given to a baby in a bottle or a valved beaker, a sweetened drink sits against the teeth for as long as the sucking lasts. NHS guidance on drinks makes exactly this point about teats: drinks flow very slowly through a teat, which means the sugary substance will be in contact with the teeth for longer. Early childhood tooth decay is common, painful and entirely preventable, and this is one of the routes into it.

Displacement, which is the quieter harm

Even a completely inert, unsweetened tea would still be a problem, because of what it takes the place of.

A baby's stomach is small. Every 60ml of tea is 60ml of breast milk or formula not taken, and milk in the first year is carrying the protein, fat, calcium and, in formula, the iron. Australian guidance makes the point directly: drinks other than water, breastmilk or formula in the first 12 months can stop a baby from getting enough essential nutrients.

There is a specific iron issue with tea as well. The tannins in tea, including many herbal infusions, bind non-haem iron in the gut and reduce how much is absorbed. In a group already at risk of iron deficiency in the second half of the first year, that is the last thing you want alongside a meal.

The caffeine question, which is not the main one

Ordinary black and green tea contain caffeine, and no authority has set a safe caffeine intake for infants. But note that the HSE excludes decaffeinated tea and coffee too. Removing the caffeine does not remove the tannins, the sugars, the displacement of milk, or the unknown quantities of other plant compounds.

So caffeine is a reason, not the reason. A caffeine-free herbal tea is still off the list.

What about teas given for colic or sleep

This is the real use case, and it deserves a direct answer rather than a dodge. A parent with a baby who screams every evening is not browsing the tea aisle for fun.

The NHS position on this whole category is that remedies for colic, including herbal supplements, are available from pharmacies and some shops but are not recommended and there is no evidence they help colic. Australian guidance says doctors do not recommend naturopathic or homeopathic mixtures to treat colic, because there is no evidence to say they work or are safe for young babies.

What does help is unglamorous: holding, motion, white noise, a dark quiet room, feeding responsively, and time. Colic peaks at around six weeks and settles by three to four months in almost every baby. If crying is accompanied by poor feeding, poor weight gain, fever, vomiting, blood in the stool or a baby who seems unwell rather than upset, that is not colic and needs assessing.

Where guidance differs

It does not. This is one of the few pages on this site with no country disagreement to arbitrate.

The UK, Ireland, the United States and Australia all restrict a baby under 12 months to breast milk or infant formula plus small amounts of water from around 6 months, and none of them lists tea of any kind as suitable. Ireland is the most explicit about herbal and decaffeinated versions; Australia is the most explicit that the rule holds at all ages.

If your baby has already had some

A few sips of a weak chamomile tea is very unlikely to have caused any harm, and nothing needs to be done or tested. Stop offering it and go back to milk and water.

Seek medical advice the same day if your baby has had a herbal preparation and is unusually sleepy, floppy, jittery, vomiting repeatedly, or having any movements that look like seizures. Take the packet with you. Say exactly what was given and how much, because with unstandardised herbal products the ingredient list is the only information a clinician has to work from.