If you’re actively trying to get pregnant or your period is late, chances are you’re thinking about taking a pregnancy test. But when is too early to take a test? And what kind should you take?
When trying to conceive her second, third, and fourth kids, writer and mom Virginia Duan bought both ovulation and pregnancy test strips in bulk.
“I had a schedule and a plan and I don’t believe in unnecessary sex,” Duan said. “Since pregnancy tests are expensive and I wanted to know ASAP, I bought the strips to test first thing in the morning every day once the window for testing appeared, which experts say is five to seven days before your period. Of course, I started like a week after sex because I could.”
When to take a pregnancy test
Whether you’re hoping for a negative or a positive test, it’s best not to test too early. "Although you might be eager to take a pregnancy test as soon as possible, it’s best to wait until the week after your missed period to get the most accurate result," medical advisor Anna Targonskay wrote on Flo. You need to give your body enough time to build enough human chorionic gonadotoprin (hCG) to have it register on a test.
If you’re not charting your cycle, and particularly if you have irregular periods, it may be a bit less simple. “If you have irregular periods, you may not know exactly when you ovulate — so you may not know when you conceived,” Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, OB-GYN with the Yale University School of Medicine, told Mom.com.
Types of pregnancy tests
According to Dr. Sears, there are really only two types of pregnancy tests: blood and urine.
The most common type of pregnancy test is the urine test. This is performed either at your doctor’s office or by using a store-bought kit (usually ranging from $1 to $20) to measure hCG in the urine. According to Dr. Minkin, the different commercially available tests differ in their sensitivity, or how low a level of hCG they can measure. “The most sensitive test available is the First Response home pregnancy test kit, which can detect the smallest level of hCG," she said. "It can detect a level present as early as 6 days before the first day of the missed period — which is basically about 9 days after conception (after the sperm got together with the egg!) So, you can find out even before you miss your period.”
Dr. Minkin said that by the time you are missing your period, most of the commercially available tests will show a positive if you are pregnant.
If you’ve gotten a positive test at home or via a urine test at your doctor’s office, you can also get a blood test to see if hCG is rising. Given with a doctor’s orders, a blood test for hCG can work earlier than a urine test, because it's more sensitive. Blood tests can also be administired early on to see if HCG levels are rising appropriately. In a "chemical pregnancy" — a miscarriage before the fifth week of gestation — you may get an initial positive test, but if hCG levels fail to rise, you will have a miscarriage that seems like a heavy period. Often, women don't even know they were pregnant, but for those trying to conceive, having a chemical pregnancy can be devastating.
Are homemade pregnancy tests accurate?
Though you may have read about the sugar, salt, or toothpaste tests, Dr. Minkin suggests you steer clear of these.
"None of the homemade tests do anything," she said. "All reliable pregnancy tests measure for the presence of hCG. Salt or sugar or toothpaste will not react with hCG — so they are not going to give you any reliable information."
Reasons for a missed period besides pregnancy
If your period is late and your home pregnancy test is still showing a negative result, there may be a different reason than pregnancy.
"What a late period can signify besides being pregnant is that you may not have ovulated that month," Dr. Minkin said. "Many things can cause you to not ovulate: gaining a lot of weight, losing a lot of weight, exercising big time, or just being ill; all of those can cause you not to ovulate. Your care provider can help you figure it out."
