Traditional methods for determining pregnancy: to believe or not?

A woman who dreams of motherhood wants to find confirmation of her position at the earliest stages. Today there are many scientific medical methods that allow you to diagnose the fact of conception in the first weeks. But along with them, traditional methods of determining pregnancy are actively used.

Why are “grandmother’s methods” so popular in the age of modern technology? Is this diagnosis really reliable? How to determine pregnancy using folk methods, you will learn from this article.

Most often, pregnancy is indicated by the absence of discharge, along with a change in taste sensations, the appearance of nausea, and increased oiliness of the skin. But these are only indirect signs. Even their presence does not guarantee that the reason for everything is the interesting position of the woman.

If it is not possible to visit a doctor, do the necessary research that can confirm this, you can try to determine pregnancy using traditional methods. Let's look at the most famous of them.

By urine

How to determine pregnancy by urine? Tests with iodine are considered the most effective. They are based on determining the level of alkali in it. To do this, you need to very carefully add a drop of iodine to a small container with urine. The dishes must be placed on a flat surface. If iodine remains a droplet or spot on the surface, then the woman will soon become a mother. If it spreads over the entire surface, then pregnancy has not occurred.

Another test can be done. To do this, take a sheet of paper soaked in urine and drip iodine onto it. If the paper turns purple, there is a pregnancy; if it turns blue or brown, there is no pregnancy. Of course, a modern urine test, bought at a pharmacy, is more convenient to use and more informative.

In the early stages, you can heat the urine very much and pour it into a glass container. It is believed that flakes and sediment will be present in the urine of a pregnant woman. It is characteristic that despite the strong, pungent and unpleasant odor, this method of determining pregnancy at home remains popular.

Another folk remedy for determining pregnancy is soda. If bubbles form when you pour a small amount of soda into a glass of urine, it means you can expect a baby. If the soda settles to the bottom, the test result is negative.

With a bow

One of the strange folk ways of determining pregnancy is onion fortune telling. To do this, take two onions, wish for a positive result on one, and a negative result on the other. Then the bulbs are planted in containers with water and it is monitored which of them will grow first to a height of 4 cm.

Obviously, this technique has no medical justification and is considered more entertainment than a real method of determining pregnancy.

By pulse

Traditional methods for determining pregnancy may include measuring the pulse on the abdomen at a distance of 7-8 cm below the navel. The presence of a pulse in this place means that a baby will soon appear in the family. The method has no scientific basis, its reliability is very doubtful.

According to dreams

Our ancestors believed in dreams. They believed that the fish that appeared in dreams indicated that in the near future the woman would become a mother. In this case, it doesn’t matter at all what to do with fish in a dream - catch it, hold it in your hands, buy it, cook it or eat it.

Also, the speedy conception of a child is signaled by swimming in a pond with clean water, seen in a dream.

By discharge

If you believe traditional methods of determining pregnancy, then in the early stages the nature of vaginal discharge changes. They become abundant and may turn pink or brownish.

Usually, discharge appears on the 5th day after conception. At this point, the fertilized egg can damage the small blood vessels of the endometrium. Hence the admixture of blood in the discharge.

This phenomenon is called implantation bleeding. In itself, it is completely safe, provided that the blood admixture is insignificant. If the bleeding is noticeable, urgent consultation with a doctor is necessary.

Metal taste in mouth

According to supporters of traditional methods of determining pregnancy, the expectant mother may develop a metallic taste in her mouth. Such phenomena occur to a woman in the first weeks of pregnancy. This allows you to determine the fact of conception at a very early stage.

With flowers

You can determine pregnancy using folk remedies by watering flowers in a flower bed with morning urine. This method is based on the saturation of the expectant mother’s urine with hormones. It is possible to reliably evaluate the test results only after some time, at the earliest - after 3 days. If after this period the flowers begin to look better, then the test result can be considered positive.

The effectiveness of traditional methods

All of the listed folk methods of determining pregnancy do not stand up to criticism and have no scientific basis. However, they have many adherents who claim that they learned about their situation long before visiting the doctor with the help of folk remedies.

The explanation for this is very simple. Each option has a fairly high probability of 50%. After all, only two things can happen - the pregnancy is confirmed or not confirmed. It’s up to a woman to decide whether to trust traditional methods for determining early pregnancy.

All products are completely safe and bring positive benefits to the expectant mother in the form of satisfying curiosity until the time when pregnancy can be confirmed in a medical institution. In addition, traditional methods of determining the presence of pregnancy are carried out with the materials that are available. They do not require financial investments or trips to a pharmacy, clinic or store.

Folk signs of pregnancy

There are many signs of pregnancy. But all of them are only indirect and can indicate not only the completed conception, but also other changes in the woman’s body, and, unfortunately, not always harmless. Traditional methods for determining pregnancy will be more effective if these signs are combined with each other.

Most common symptoms:

• Change in basal temperature. Many women use this method as a means. Let us clarify right away that this method is not effective for this. But to determine whether conception has already occurred, measuring basal temperature is very suitable. During this period the temperature is 37°C. A week before the onset of critical days, the basal temperature of a non-pregnant woman decreases. But if there is less than a week left before menstruation, and the thermometer stubbornly shows 37°C in the morning, the likelihood that conception has already occurred is very high. This is especially true in combination with other signs.
• Breast engorgement and soreness. In itself, such a sign does not indicate that a woman will certainly soon become a mother. Many women notice the same changes before the onset of their periods. But if, in addition to this, the lower abdomen periodically hurts and the basal temperature remains high, then it is likely that conception has occurred.
• Changes in taste preferences, nausea. And this is not a 100% guarantee of pregnancy. It may well be that it just indicates the appearance of pathology in the body. But in combination with the listed signs, it’s worth paying attention to.
• Increased sense of smell. Changed scent preferences. A woman can suddenly be driven to nausea by those smells that just recently she really liked.
• Sudden mood swings, increased emotionality, frequent tears.
• Increase in abdominal circumference. In fact, the fetus develops slowly, and by the end of the first month of fetal development the uterus will be approximately the same size as a chicken egg. But hormonal and physiological changes occur in the body of the expectant mother immediately after conception. This also applies to the digestive system. The intestinal walls swell slightly, its blood supply increases, peristalsis and gas formation decrease. Therefore, the stomach almost immediately increases in size. Visually, most likely, it is not noticeable. But a woman may notice that her favorite skirt or trousers have become too tight in the waistband.
• Frequent urge to urinate. This is due to the relaxation of the bladder caused by the hormonal changes occurring in the body of the expectant mother.
• You can determine pregnancy by the tightness of the cervix. Before the onset of menstruation, the cervix becomes loose. It opens slightly, preparing to release menstrual flow. Once pregnancy has occurred, the cervix thickens and closes, preventing infection from reaching the fetus.
• Changes in a woman's sexual appetite. Moreover, they arise almost immediately after conception. Libido can either increase or decrease. And again, hormones are to blame for this.
• Increased fatigue and constant drowsiness.
• Changes in appearance. If a woman suddenly becomes prettier for no reason, or her facial features, skin or hair inexplicably change, perhaps she will soon experience the joy of motherhood. Changes in the hormonal system can lead to a rash on the face, increased oiliness in the hair, excessive skin pigmentation, or, conversely, existing acne may go away.
• Morning sickness (