Reasons why your pregnancy test is faint

What it means when you have a faint line on your pregnancy test

Nyakinyua Kibugi

April 15, 2019 5:33 PM

Ever gotten a faint line on your pregnancy test?

Woman checking a pregnancy test (Courtesy)

Ladies, a majority of us have definitely taken a pregnancy test at least once in our lives. If you haven’t, well, congratulations you careful, good girl hehe. When you take a pregnancy test, you expect two things, either you’re pregnant, which means the test is positive and you will get two colored lines, or negative, which means you’re not pregnant and you will get one line after peeing on the pregnancy stick and waiting for a few minutes. Pretty basic right? But what if you get a very faint line? What does that mean? If you have ever taken a pregnancy test and you got a faint line, or if you ever take one in future and get a faint line, fret not. We will break it down to you.

Pregnancy test (Courtesy) Pulse Live Kenya

If you pee on the stick and get two lines, one that's a faint line, are you pregnant or not? Well, the truth of the matter is,

1. It may be too early to tell.

A pregnancy test measures the amount of the pregnancy hormone hCG in the urine. The hCG doubles every two to three days until about 13 to 16 weeks into your pregnancy. So basically, after you get a faint line, your best bet will be to wait until 7-10 days after you miss your period to do the test and ensure you do it first thing in the morning when your urine is less diluted.

2. The other reason that could cause a faint line on your pregnancy test,

Is a chemical pregnancy. This is when you miscarry but there’s still some leftover hCG in the urine. This can last for weeks after a miscarriage.

3. Another reason could be that some medicines contain hCG as an active ingredient and taking these can lead to a faint positive test.

So, what next after you see a faint line? Simply wait 2 or 3 days and retake the test. If the line is still faint, see your doctor for a blood test. If the line comes back stronger, you’re pregnant! However, do not leave the urine on for too long as that can cause the urine to evaporate, making the line (evaporation line) to be distorted and give false positive results so always read the instructions carefully when taking the test.