Take the pregnancy test first thing in the morning before you drink any fluids. Coffee's going to have to wait a second! Levels of hCG will be strongest with first morning urine — more concentrated urine guarantees a more accurate test.
Caffeine doesn't impact your hCG level at all. However, like alcohol, drinking caffeine can make you feel dehydrated and cause you to drink more liquids. As in our other examples, drinking too many liquids can dilute your urine, making it difficult for your home pregnancy test to detect the presence of hCG.
Home pregnancy tests work by detecting the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in a urine sample. There are a few things that can cause a false negative reading, namely the improper use of the test, testing too early, using an expired test, or diluting the urine by drinking too much water in advance.
Don't drink too much water, or any liquid, before taking a pregnancy test.
The short answer is no—alcohol itself doesn't affect pregnancy test results, but it can cause dehydration, which will make you want to drink more water. Excess water can dilute your urine, making it difficult for the pregnancy test to detect your hCG levels[1], resulting in an inaccurate reading.
Can Too Much Pee on a Pregnancy Test Make It Negative? Urinating too much on a urine pregnancy test should not cause a false negative result. But diluted urine, or urine with a higher water content, can impact a pregnancy test by skewing results.
But that doesn't always mean you're not pregnant. A false negative pregnancy test can happen because you conceived later than you think, you didn't take the test correctly, your urine was diluted, or even because you're pregnant with multiples.
However, you don't need to stress too much about taking a pregnancy test at a specific time of day. Using urine later on when it's less concentrated may only “hypothetically delay a positive result by only 12 to 24 hours,” advises Dr. Flanagan.
In general, the best time is when you have your first morning pee. However, some pregnancy tests are sensitive enough to detect HCG no matter what time of day you take the test.
And avoid drinking a ton of water beforehand.
For the same reason that you should test first thing in the morning, you should also avoid chugging water before taking a pregnancy test. "Drinking water—or any fluids—can, in fact, affect the results of this kind of at-home pregnancy test when very early in the pregnancy.
The most common reason for a late period and a negative pregnancy test is that your period is simply delayed and you're not pregnant. Having one or two irregular cycles a year is not unusual and does not mean there is something wrong. Reasons your period might be late include: Breastfeeding.
If your doctor has ordered a test for metanephrine in your urine, you should avoid caffeine for 24 hours and during collection of your specimen.
Yes, it is possible. Getting a negative result doesn't mean you're not pregnant, it may just mean your hCG levels are not high enough for the test to detect the hormone in your urine.
Use First-Morning Urine
This makes it more likely to get an accurate test reading. 1 If you're worried you'll forget to collect it when you first get up, close the lid to your toilet and set the pregnancy test on top. Some say that if you hold your urine for more than four hours it is the same as first-morning urine.
About 11-14 days after implantation, a woman's hCG levels are high enough to start causing early pregnancy symptoms. Some of these might include fatigue, food cravings, darkening in the color of the nipples, or gastrointestinal changes. When a woman experiences these symptoms, a pregnancy test may show up positive.
A negative pregnancy test at night and positive in the morning. As strange as it sounds, you might get a negative result from the pregnancy test at night and a positive one in the morning. In this case, you should wait for another 3 to 5 days before you take your pregnancy test again.
Most pregnancy tests include instructions that encourage you to wait at least one week between a negative test and taking another pregnancy test. This is to allow time for your body to build up enough hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) to be detected in your urine.
It's also possible to get a positive test result followed by a negative result. If you use two different pregnancy tests, this could be the result of varying test sensitivity. Wait a few days and test again. You also may no longer be pregnant.
Know this: All Clearblue® pregnancy tests are over 99% accurate from the day you expect your period. False positives very rarely occur, and are often due to medical conditions or certain medications. False negatives, while more common, typically occur due to testing too early or drinking too much liquid before testing.
If you see a positive result beyond this time frame, you may be left second-guessing the results. However, always remember that a pregnancy test result is only accurate within 10 minutes. After the that, it's best to throw the test away to avoid confusion.
Test too early and the amount of hCG in your urine isn't detectable. As many as 9 out of 15 women will get a false negative until seven or eight weeks of pregnancy.