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Can You Tell If You're Pregnant By Checking Cervical Mucus?

By , About.com Guide

Updated January 08, 2012

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Positive pregnancy test

Cervical mucus isn't a good predictor of pregnancy. Instead, wait for your period to be late and take a pregnancy test.

Photo (c) Don Farrall / Getty Images
Question: Can You Tell If You're Pregnant By Checking Cervical Mucus?
Answer:

Not really. I know how tempting it can be to look for signs of early pregnancy, and if you've been checking your cervical mucus to help time sex for pregnancy, it only makes sense that you might hope to see signs of early pregnancy via the same method.

However, cervical mucus in early pregnancy varies from woman to woman, and may not differ much from what you'd see just before menstruation.

Vaginal discharge does eventually change and increase during pregnancy, but you wouldn't notice these changes until pregnancy was further along. The two week wait would be way too soon.

These is a small possibility that light bleeding, sometimes in the form of pink or brown tinted cervical mucus, could signal early pregnancy. Known as implantation bleeding, this could be a good sign. But it may also just be a sign of your period coming.

In the end, you're better off not trying to predict whether or not you're pregnant by checking your cervical mucus. Instead, wait until your period is late, so you can take a pregnancy test.

More on how to get pregnant:

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