How early can i know if im pregnant

Early signs of pregnancy

If you have a regular monthly menstrual cycle, the earliest and most reliable sign of pregnancy is a missed period.

Table of Contents Show

Early signs of pregnancy
Feeling sick during pregnancy
Feeling tired is common in pregnancy
Sore breasts in early pregnancy
Peeing more often suggests pregnancy
Strange tastes, smells and cravings
If your pregnancy test is negative
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Video: what pregnancy symptoms are normal?
What is a Pregnancy Test Kit?
How Accurate are the Pregnancy Test Kits?
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do I have to test with first morning urine?
2. When should I take the test if I suspect that I am pregnant?
3. Do I need a blood test for hCG to confirm my pregnancy?
Acknowledgement
How can I tell if Im pregnant after 1 week by?
Can you feel pregnant after 2 days?

In the first few weeks of pregnancy you may have a bleed similar to a very light period, with some spotting or only losing a little blood. This is called implantation bleeding.

Every pregnancy is different and not everyone will notice all of these symptoms.

Feeling sick during pregnancy

You may feel sick or be sick. This is commonly known as morning sickness, but it can happen at any time of the day or night.

Morning sickness symptoms usually start when you’re around 4-6 weeks pregnant

If you're being sick all the time and cannot keep anything down, see a GP.

You may have hyperemesis gravidarum, a serious condition in pregnancy that causes severe vomiting and needs treatment.

Feeling tired is common in pregnancy

It's common to feel tired, or even exhausted, during pregnancy, especially during the first 12 weeks or so.

Hormonal changes in your body at this time can make you feel tired, sick, emotional and upset.

Sore breasts in early pregnancy

Your breasts may become larger and feel tender, just as they might do before your period. They may also tingle.

The veins may be more visible, and the nipples may darken and stand out.

Peeing more often suggests pregnancy

You may feel the need to pee more often than usual, including during the night.

Other signs of pregnancy you may notice are:

constipation
more vaginal discharge (without any soreness or irritation)

Strange tastes, smells and cravings

During early pregnancy, you may find you no longer like some foods or drinks you used to enjoy.

You might notice:

a strange taste in your mouth, which some describe as metallic
you crave new foods
you lose interest in certain foods or drinks you used to enjoy, such as tea, coffee or fatty food
you lose interest in smoking
you have a more sensitive sense of smell than usual – for example, the smell of food or cooking

If you're worried about any symptoms you're having, talk to a GP or your midwife.

If your pregnancy test is negative

A positive test result is almost certainly correct, as long as you have followed the instructions correctly.

A negative result is less reliable. If you get a negative result and still think you may be pregnant, wait a week and try again.

If you're pregnant, use the pregnancy due date calculator to work out when your baby's due.

Find maternity services near you

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Video: what pregnancy symptoms are normal?

In this video, a midwife describes which symptoms during pregnancy are normal.

Media last reviewed: 20 March 2020
Media review due: 20 March 2023

You may suspect that you are pregnant when you have unusual symptoms of pregnancy or if you have missed your period. If you have regular periods and have missed your period by a week, it is likely that you are pregnant. However, if you have irregular menstrual cycles, look out for other symptoms of pregnancy.

For a start, confirm your suspicion by buying an over-the-counter urine pregnancy test kit. There are many brands of pregnancy test kits available in the market, which are quite reliable. These are available at our local pharmacies. Alternatively, you could go to your doctor for a test.

What is a Pregnancy Test Kit?

During pregnancy, a hormone called human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) is produced, which circulates in the blood and is also present in the urine.

The pregnancy test kit detects the presence of hCG in your urine. It is a qualitative test. Some pregnancy test kits are more sensitive than the others but most will be able to detect hCG between the fourth to fifth week of your pregnancy. This means that for those with regular cycles, the test should be positive once you have missed your period by a few days.

Although almost all over-the counter pregnancy test kits detect pregnancy by measuring hCG in the urine, you have to read the instructions for the test kit because instructions for usage are different for different test kits.

An indicator will show if you are pregnant. For example, some kits will show two bold lines if positive (Figure 6.2) and one bold line if negative (Figure 6.3). These indicators are different for various kits.

How Accurate are the Pregnancy Test Kits?

Pregnancy tests are rarely wrong. It is more than 99% accurate. Thus, if your test is negative, it means that you are not pregnant; However, if you are very early in your pregnancy and the test is done too early, there could be insufficient amount of hCG in the urine for the test to detect.

So, if a test comes back negative but you strongly suspect that you are pregnant, repeat the test in a few days’ time.

There are rare examples when the hCG level is raised transiently and then drops to zero. This is known as “biochemical pregnancy” and could be the cause of a false positive result of the test kit. This initial rise of hCG levels would soon drop in “biochemical pregnancy” and result in a negative test result. Vaginal bleeding occurs soon after, which would coincide with “delayed menses”. Also rarely, there could be occasional ovarian tumors which secrete hCG and the false positive result could be wrongly interpreted as a pregnancy.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I have to test with first morning urine?

Although you can test any time of the day, your first morning urine specimen is usually the most concentrated of the day and would have the most pregnancy hormones in it.

2. When should I take the test if I suspect that I am pregnant?

You can test your urine as early as six days past ovulation but the first day of your missed period is recommended for greatest accuracy.

3. Do I need a blood test for hCG to confirm my pregnancy?

Blood tests for hCG are more accurate in detecting HCG and they can also measure the actual levels of the hormone. These tests may be useful to differentiate a miscarriage when the blood hCG will drop with time or a healthy pregnancy when the blood hCG level will double every two days. Occasionally, we need to follow-up the hCG levels to help us diagnose an early ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy that is outside the womb), which could be potentially life-threatening or confirm a miscarriage.

Acknowledgement

Source: Dr TAN Thiam Chye, Dr TAN Kim Teng, Dr TAN Heng Hao, Dr TEE Chee Seng John, The New Art and Science of Pregnancy and Childbirth, World Scientific 2008.

Visit Parent Hub, for more useful tips and guides for a healthy pregnancy.

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How can I tell if Im pregnant after 1 week by?

Pregnancy symptoms in week 1.

nausea with or without vomiting..

breast changes including tenderness, swelling, or tingling feeling, or noticeable blue veins..

frequent urination..

headache..

raised basal body temperature..

bloating in the belly or gas..

mild pelvic cramping or discomfort without bleeding..

tiredness or fatigue..

Can you feel pregnant after 2 days?

How early do pregnancy symptoms start? It varies. Some people feel pregnant within a few days of conception, while other people don't feel pregnant for weeks after a positive pregnancy test. Pregnancy symptoms vary between people and even between pregnancies.