Pregnancy tests pick up the presence of hCG in the urine. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is the hormone produced by the placenta. It starts to be produced as soon as the fertilized egg implants into the lining of the uterus. Since this happens 6 to 12 days after conception, any time you test too early, you will see a negative result because there is not enough hCG in your system yet.
The most sensitive pregnancy tests can detect 20 mIU of hCG. This level may be detected as early as 6 to 8 days past ovulation, but most women will still get a negative result this early. On average, most implantations occur between 8 to 10 days after ovulation, so you may be testing and your baby hasn’t even implanted yet. The closer you are to when you expect your period, the better luck you’ll have getting an accurate result.
Even if you get a negative result, if you still miss your period, retest. By the day after a missed period, 90% of women will get a positive result. The remaining 10% will still test negative even though they are pregnant. In that case, you may want to go to your care provider and get a blood test done. Blood tests can pick up extremely small amounts of hCG, but even they cannot confirm a pregnancy until at least a week after ovulation.
Visit our section on Pregnancy Symptoms here!
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