Late period faint line on pregnancy test

If a faint positive pregnancy test has you confused, we've got expert advice on how to find out for sure.

So you’ve peed on the stick of a home pregnancy test, and the line that comes up is so faint you have to squint to see it. What does it mean? Does a faint line on a pregnancy test mean you’re pregnant or not?

According to Yolanda Kirkham, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Women’s College Hospital and St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto, testing too early could be one reason you get a faint positive pregnancy test. “There’s that old saying, ‘You can’t be a little bit pregnant’—but you can, and that’s what happens when you have a faint line,” she explains. What the test is measuring is how much of the pregnancy hormone beta hCG is present in your urine. The amount of this hormone doubles every two to three days until it stabilizes between 13 and 16 weeks of pregnancy.

In the very early days of a pregnancy, a test done later in the day may also produce a faint line because the hormone is more diluted by your fluid intake. And while modern tests can tell you if you’re pregnant as little as 10 days after fertilization—which is even before you miss a period, since a you ovulate 14 days before your period begins—Kirkham recommends waiting until seven to 10 days after a missed period to test, because many pregnancies don’t continue past the first several days. “When I see these commercials where they say, ‘Test and know as soon as you’re pregnant,’ I actually think it’s too early. You may lose it in a few days and just be really upset. There’s no need to test really soon. You’ll know if your period comes or not,” she says.

A faint line may also indicate what’s known as a chemical pregnancy, which is when you are no longer pregnant, but there is still enough beta hCG in your urine for a positive test. Kirkham says the raised hormone levels could last for weeks after a miscarriage. So, if you do get a faint line, Kirkham recommends waiting two or three days, then testing again. If it’s still faint, she suggests going to your family doctor for a blood test, which can measure the specific amount of beta hCG, to check if the pregnancy is progressing as it should.

If the faint line persists, your doctor may also order an ultrasound to date the pregnancy and rule out an ectopic pregnancy (where the fertilized egg attaches itself to the inside of a fallopian tube, rather than the uterine lining).

Knowing all this, should you just use a digital test to avoid all the confusion? Though digital tests, which offer a “yes” or “no” rather than a line, remove the possibility for ambiguity that comes with a faint line, they might give a “no” result when you are in the early days of a pregnancy because of the low levels of beta hCG in your urine. So, even if you get a “no,” test again if your period does not come on time.

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See more on Getting Pregnant

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by Polly Logan-Banks |

It's possible. Some home pregnancy tests are sensitive enough to detect tiny amounts of pregnancy hormones in your system, even before you have missed a period.

To get a positive result, you need to be making a detectable level of a pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). The more sensitive a pregnancy test is, the earlier it will show a positive result. It'll depend on how much hCG your body is producing too, as every woman's response to pregnancy is individual.

If your home test shows only a faint positive, it may not be sensitive enough to give you a clear answer. Check the side of the box to find out what your test's sensitivity is. For example, a test with a sensitivity of 10mIU/ml (milli-International Units per millilitre) will tell if you're pregnant sooner than a test with a sensitivity of 25mIU/ml.

You may get a faint positive because you're not as far along with the pregnancy as you expected. Sperm can live inside your body for up to seven days, waiting for an egg to be released. So depending on when you ovulate, you could get pregnant up to a week after having sex. Alternatively, your fertilised egg may not have implanted in your womb as quickly as expected.

Another possible explanation is what's known as an "evaporation line". This is a faint line that can appear as urine evaporates from the test, and it means you're not pregnant. The instructions that come with the test will tell you how long to wait before checking the results. If the faint line appeared a few minutes after this time, it's possible that it's just an evaporation line.

If you get a faint positive, you could try again using a digital pregnancy test. These are easier to interpret than a faint line, as they state whether or not you are pregnant. However, if you're testing early on, their accuracy still depends on the sensitivity of the test.

Alternatively, you could try taking another test in three days' time. If you are pregnant, and your body is making the normal amount of hCG, the test should be clearly positive by the time your period is due.

These early days while you wait to find out whether or not you are expecting can be an emotional rollercoaster. Unfortunately, it is possible to have a faint positive, only to get a negative when you retest a few days later.

If this happens to you, it may be that you have had a very early miscarriage. Sadly, miscarriages are very common, with a quarter of pregnancies thought to be affected. Learn more about early miscarriage.

One of the downsides of having such sensitive pregnancy tests is that, for some women, they may raise false hopes. When tests were not as highly sensitive to hormonal changes, very early miscarriages would simply go unnoticed. However hard it is, it may be sensible to wait until the day your period is due before testing. That way, you can be more sure of the results.

Still not sure what your faint line means? Get a second opinion (or two, or three…) by posting a photo of the test in our Line Eyes community group. Or learn more about pregnancy tests:

• Check out these 16 things you never knew about pregnancy tests.
• Discover seven things to remember when taking a test.
• Find out more about the best time to test.

Polly Logan-Banks is an experienced editor with a keen interest in producing evidence-based content. Polly is passionate about ensuring that every child gets the best start in life.

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