The Truth about the Baking Soda Pregnancy Test

Could I be pregnant? This is normally the first question that will come to your mind when you miss your period. You may have tried on numerous occasions to get pregnant but haven’t been lucky all that long. Then, suddenly, the pregnancy signs begin to show. You start experiencing morning nausea, vomiting and other pregnancy symptoms.

Morning sickness

At this time, the anxiety is killing you. You have to confirm whether it could be true or not. But then you remember that you are in the rural areas with no nearby stores to buy a pregnancy test kit or perhaps you don’t know how to use the pregnancy kit appropriately.Do not worry dear. There is a way you can still confirm whether you are pregnant or not.

Do you have baking soda in the kitchen? Yes, you got that right. Baking soda can be used in making a baking soda pregnancy test. It is not only used to bake cakes and stuff, but also to clear your doubts and anxieties.

Backing soda

Some people do not believe that it works while some have tried and confirmed that it indeed works. In this article, the whole concept of this pregnancy test is going to be explored, the myths surrounding it, how it works, whether it is accurate and much more.

How Does It Work?

Baking soda is readily available in almost every household. If you love baking, the chances are that you have it. This method uses some scientific principles to give the results.Let me not make you bored with lots of chemistry, but here is a brief idea of how it works.

Baking soda is a mild base, with a pH slightly higher than that of distilled water. When you mix an acid and a base, a gasis given out which explains the presence of fizzles in the baking soda when you add vinegar to it.

Urine (forgive me, but there is no other way of putting this), is a mild acid, with the acidity varying from person to person depending on their health status.When you add some urine into the baking soda solution, it fizzles, with the degree of fizzling depending on the acidity of the urine.

add some urine into the baking soda solution

What Else Can The Test Do?

Apart from confirming whether you are expectant or not, the baking soda test also helps determine the gender of the expected baby. Sounds like some fairytale ha! Whether this is true or not, the jury is still out. Whether you choose to believe this or not is entirely upto you.

BAKING SODA GENDER TEST

When determining the gender, the same bubbling principle is used. When the solution fizzes like a soda can when you pop it open, then you could be expecting a baby boy. On the other hand, if it stays still, then you might want to start preparing the nursery pink as a baby girl may be coming along.

The Biology behind the difference in the fizzles for boys and girls is that some hormones in the mother’s body are altered by the baby’s gender. The changes in the hormones cause a subsequent change in the acidity of the mother’s urine, hence the bubbling difference.

Just as awarning though, never rely entirely on this method to come to a conclusive result. Most women normally just do it for fun. Do not start making those preparations just yet. You need to perform a more accurate and well-known pregnancy test or visit your gynaecologist. But when you are in it just for the fun, then why not?

What Do You Need For This Test?

You now know how this test works, what it can do for you and its probable short comings. Do you want to proceed anyway? If yes, then these are some of the stuff you need to perform this test.

  • A dry and clean container, preferably a clear glass container.
clear glass container
  • Baking soda, 2 tablespoons.This must be from a fresh box as it tends to get stale with time.
Baking soda
  • Your urine. Take the first sample in the morning. It is believed that this sample is undiluted and gives the best results.
urine

How To Go About It

1. Add the 2 tablespoons of baking soda into the clean container.

2. To this, add a few drops of the urine sample and watch keenly what happens as you add the urine.

3. If the baking soda fizzles, a boy could be in the offing. If the soda stays calm and does not produce bubbles, a little girl could be on her way.

How Accurate Is The Test?

There is absolutelyno consensus about the validity of this test and its accuracy values. Takinga quick survey around the web and gives accuracy values of about 70%, and this sounds like it is not so accurate.

Chance of pregnancy

Some people claim to have gotten accurate results about their pregnancies and the genders of their unborn babies using this method. You will not also miss the group that claims this test did not help them at all. So, it is a little conflicted out there.

The probability of the guess being correct is quite high though. Plus, women back in the good old days relied on this method, so it could be worth a goat.

What is clearer though is that this method should not be used to make decisions based on the results you get.If you are serious about knowing whether you are pregnant and the possible genders of your babies, then do not use this method.

What Are The Other Homemade Testsapart From The Baking Soda One?

If you are so intent on using a homemade test for determining whether you are pregnant or not, there are other homemade tests that you could use. You could not be having a box of fresh baking soda, or you just want to compare the various results that you get. It is advisable to look into the following options.

  • Sugar: In this test, watch out for complete or incomplete dissolution of the sugar in the urine sample.
  • Toothpaste: You mix the urine and any quantity of toothpaste and look for a bluish mixture
  • Vinegar: This test relies on the principle that the urine from an expectant mother would change the colour of the vinegar and vice versa.
  • Bleach: Bleach reacts with the urine from a pregnant mother and starts to foam. While the other urine does not.

Conclusion

Homemade pregnancy kits have been used since time immemorial when commercial test kits were not in existence. You can still use them during these modern times to confirm whether you are pregnant or not.

They are cheap, use tools that you can get from your kitchen counter and can be performed in privacy as well. The baking soda pregnancy test is urine based. An appropriate sample has to be taken as the accuracy of the test depends on it. Use your first urine in the morning. It is believed that this is not diluted.

This test and other homemade ones are not always accurate, and other methods should be used as a basis forcomparison. If possible, consult with your doctor before sharing any good or bad news with loved ones and friends.

The pro-homemade tests argue that even the commercial kits are not 100% accurate hence there is no need for all the hullabaloo. Regardless of what you’ll decide to do, do not rely on this method wholly. I wish you luck though.

Kristi Cathey
 

Hi everyone! My name is Kristi Cathey and I’m glad you found your way to my blog. I am a mother of 3 beautiful angels. This blog was created in order to share my personal experiences in baby care and general health care for pregnant women. If you'd like to get in touch with me, please contact me by sending me an email via kristicathey.intelligentmother@gmail.com. Welcome to Intelligentmother.com

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