So! You just missed your periods and are curious to know whether you are pregnant or not, the baking soda pregnancy test is the answer for you. There are many women out there who do not have access to the pregnancy test kits because of a number of reasons including the fact that they could be expensive. In such a situation you can rely on an old and traditional homemade method of checking your pregnancy.
Things you need to perform the baking soda pregnancy test
This is the simplest and easiest test to perform. You have to make sure that you have all of the following equipment ready before you get started.
- Baking soda (of course!)
- A clean container (preferably disposable)
- A spoon
That’s it! All these things are easily available at home and you can perform this test whenever you want.
Also Read: Toothpaste Pregnancy Test – Is It Reliable?
Method of performing the baking soda pregnancy test
Follow these simple steps to know whether you are pregnant or not using one of the basic ingredients that you will find in your kitchen.
- Take a clean container and collect some urine in it.
- Take a spoonful of the baking soda and add it to the urine.
- Shake a bit and wait.
Results
It is believed that if the baking soda starts frizzing when it is added into the urine just like a carbonated drink, the test is positive and you are pregnant. If this does not happen and the baking soda settles at the bottom of the container, this is a negative result and you are not pregnant. This is very simple and easy to perform but the reliability of the test is still in question.
How does this test work?
Baking soda reacts with acid and gives off a gas that comes out of the mixture as bubbles which makes it look frizzy. If the urine has more acid in it, the reaction would happen and this could be a possible indicator of pregnancy. But if there is no acid in your urine, you are probably not pregnant. But this test is not widely supported by scientists. In fact, this test is only popular in Asian countries like India. If you really want to be sure about the test. It is better to get a real home pregnancy test kit.
Precautions while performing the test
This test is very basic and general and there are a lot of things that could play a part in giving you the wrong results. You should keep in mind a few things before you get started with performing the test.
- Having acid in urine can be an indicator of many other things along with pregnancy. It could be affected by your diet or underlying kidney disease or infection as well. It is recommended that the test should be performed early in the morning before you have eaten anything. This would make sure that the acid detected in the urine is not there because of the food that you ate.
- Use a clean container to perform the test. It is recommended that you choose a disposable container for this purpose and discard it after the test.
- Baking soda might lose its strength if it is kept open for a long time. Make sure to not use a packet of baking soda that you opened long ago and stored in the fridge. Try to use a new packet of fresh baking soda so that its strength may not interfere with the results of the test.
Also Read: Salt Pregnancy Test – Is It Reliable?
Should you rely on the baking soda pregnancy test?
The baking soda pregnancy test is not proven scientifically because it is too general to predict pregnancy. Still many people find it useful. By rough estimates, this test is able to give the right result in 70% of the cases. This is still a big number as compared to the ease of performing this test. So trying it won’t be a bad thing at all.
But make sure not to spread the news based on this test. After confirming with baking soda. Go to a doctor and get yourself tested to be sure and enjoy your moment in the best way possible. This will save you from the disappointment of knowing that you are not pregnant if you have gotten false positive results through this test.
Baking soda pregnancy test for gender revelation
Myths and traditions have no boundaries. Especially in countries like India where people are really superstitious and strongly bonded with their old beliefs. One of the things the parents to be are most curious about is the gender of the baby.
As opposed to the western countries where you can know the gender of your baby as soon as it can be identified, it is illegal in India to determine the gender of the baby before it is born. That is why people have invented different ways to guess the gender of the baby at home and here again baking soda is the magic ingredient. This test is to be performed after the 10th week of pregnancy to get the results.
The procedure of performing the test is similar to the one for confirming the pregnancy, but this time the interpretations of the reactions are different. In case you see the effervescence or frizzy bubbly solution when you add baking soda to your urine, this means that you are pregnant with a baby boy. On the other hand, if you do not see the effervescence then probably you have a baby girl growing inside you.
As opposed to the pregnancy confirmation test, this gender determination test is not reliable at all. There is no scientific logic to explain the results. The people who believe in this test say that the reaction is due to the different hormones of a male and female baby. But statistically, the result of this test gives only 50% accuracy. Which is exactly similar to the 50% chance of having a girl or a boy each.
Conclusion
Since the test is very easy. You do not have to make any extra effort to perform it, there is no harm in trying it. But believing the test completely is not a wise idea. Before believing anything, Always get proper medical tests done.