False negative result on pregnancy test may happen when you take it too early. A false negative result is when the test says you are not pregnant but actually you are. A home pregnancy test is the most initial test that would be taken by many women. Therefore you must be very careful to avoid any factors that may cause false results when using home pregnancy tests or using homemade pregnancy test.
Some reasons for false negative pregnancy test:
1. Too early to test
All pregnancy tests work by detecting the presence of hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin) in the urine. After conception, hCG begin to secreted by the growing placenta when the embryo implants into the wall of uterus. This is happen approximately 7-10 days after ovulation. The hCG level is increasing rapidly during these first days, they will double every 48-72 hours.
But if you take a early pregnancy test 6 or 7 days after ovulation, you still have high possibility to get negative result on your test, even if you are really conceiving. This can be happened because of there are still not enough hCG amount in your urine to be detected by the pregnancy test kit. If you are testing in these days and got negative result, it could definitely be a false negative pregnancy test.
2. The test kit sensitivity is too low
Probably you already notice that home pregnancy tests are available in so many “shapes and sizes.” There are digital tests, midstream tests, and test strips. Beside coming in different shapes and sizes, home pregnancy tests are also coming in different sensitivity. Some of them are highly sensitive to hCG and able to detect as low as 20 mIU/ml hCG in the urine.
While some other home pregnancy tests are less sensitive and only calibrated to detect a much higher amount of hCG, like 50 mIU/ml or even 100 mIU/ml. Common hCG amount that produced by a newly pregnant women is 50 mIU/ml at 7 days after ovulation. If you’ve just be ovulated 7 days ago and you choose to test using home pregnancy test that calibrated to detect 100 mIU/ml hCG, then your test result will be negative. This may lead to false negative pregnancy test.
3. Your urine is too diluted
Amount of hCG that is detectable in your urine may decrease if you like to drink lots of water and/or urinate frequently. So, if you get negative result on your pregnancy test, you may wanna try to retest again using your first morning urine, because your first morning urine will have the most concentrated amount of hCG.
Actually you don’t have to be worry about being a victim of false negative pregnancy test. You can always test again in a couple of days to confirm it. And for the best result, be sure to choose a highly sensitive pregnancy test and use your first morning urine.
