How early can you take a pregnancy test?

Take home pregnancy tests are designed to detect the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in a woman's urine. Some pregnancy tests are more sensitive than others, and may be able to detect the hormone sooner.

The sensitivity of a pregnancy test is marked as mIU/ml (milli-International Unit per milliliter). Pregnancy tests can vary in sensitivity from 10mIU/ml to 40 mlU/ml. The lower the number, the more sensitive the test, and the earlier it can confirm pregnancy.

If you test too early, your hCG levels may not be high enough to be picked up by a pregnancy test, and may result in a negative even though you might be pregnant. A good rule of thumb is to test about 2 weeks after you ovulated, or the day you would normally expect your period. If you receive a negative, and still suspect that you might be pregnant; test again 3 days later. Your hCG level should have built up enough by then to be detected by a pregnancy test.

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Daysy is an intelligent fertility tracker that lets you get to know your very own menstrual cycle.