Implantation Dip: Know Whether It Indicates Pregnancy or Not?

Implantation Dip – Does It Indicate Pregnancy

If you are trying to get pregnant, any indication or sign that may hint the positive result can increase your hopes of becoming a mommy. One of the cheapest and convenient ways of having natural biofeedback is keeping a tab on your basal body temperatures in providing valuable inputs. Let us find out how accurate or authentic is the BBT fertility approach, which is also known as implantation dip, in the following article!

What is Implantation Dip?

Before you learn about implantation dip, it is important to understand about basal body temperature or BBT. BBT is your body’s temperature at rest. However, your hormones, room temperature, illness, and even sleep can impact it. Further, to establish implantation dip, BBT or basal body temperature relation, you need to understand that hormones can bring changes in the temperature. Your BBT can increase after the ovulation has taken place and a decrease in temperature can indicate your period is on its way or has already arrived. An important thing to register here is that your period will not come just a week to ten days after ovulation, this means that you would not be expecting any dips in temperatures during this time. However, temperatures dips take place during the luteal phase, which is the time between ovulation and your next period time and also during the time when implantation usually occurs. This dip lasts for only a day and the temperatures rise again the following day.

Though most people may attribute this dip as implantation, it is not certain whether or not this dip in the body temperature is because of implantation. This is because there are many factors that can affect your basal body temperature and make it fluctuate.

When Does Implantation Dip Occur?

Implantation can occur anywhere from 6 to 12 days after ovulation, but in most cases, it occurs around 8 to 10 days, as per one of the researches. In a study conducted in 1999, the implantation timings of approximately 200 women were monitored and the majority of the pregnancies were implanted from 8 to 10 days after ovulation. Where some women registered light-spotting and cramping as some of the symptoms of implantations, the ones tracking their basal body temperatures attributed the dip in the temperature or implantation dip as another reliable indicator.

What Causes Implantation Temperature Dip?

Though the implantation dip chart is indicative of pregnancy in some of the cases, we cannot undermine the fact that the dip is present in the charts of non-pregnant women too. So, why does this happen? Well, we do not know for sure, but here are some of the possible causes of this phenomenon:

  • The surge in estrogen is one of the reasons for the dip. The higher amounts of estrogen are directly related to low body temperatures. This surge in notable two times during your cycles, once before the ovulation, and then again, somewhere midway during the luteal phase.
  • Also, women who are pregnant have higher levels of estrogen. That is why there is a frequent decline in their temperature charts.

woman wondering if she is pregnant

Relation of Basal Body Temperature and Implantation Dip

Monitoring your basal body temperature can help you in getting more information about your monthly cycles (periods) and fluctuating hormones, and it may also help in knowing whether or not implantation has occurred. BBT is one of the many other options of monitoring fertility and also one of the cheapest ways to know what is happening with your monthly cycles. In order to have more accurate results, one should monitor the basal body temperatures and basal body temperature implantation dip for almost three months at a stretch.

Keeping a tab on the BBT charts can help you know more about your biphasic chart or the two phases. In the first phase, the temperatures show a low trend because of hormones preparing for ovulation. In the second phase, there is a slight increase in temperature, which results from the ovulation. However, sometimes the chart may indicate a 1-day implantation dip, which happens 7 to 10 days after ovulation, and implantation dip 7 to 10 days post ovulation is mostly referred to as implantation dip.

Does Implantation Temperature Dip Indicate Pregnancy?

If you are wondering whether an implantation dip below the cover line is indicative of pregnancy then we would like to share some valuable insight on it! Women who registered positive results by monitoring their BBT endorsed this as one of the definitive parameters of pregnancy but the ones who didn’t get the positive results felt otherwise. We cannot shrug away from the fact that human anatomy works in unusual ways sometimes and just acknowledging some temperature variations in the body as probable signs of pregnancy, which otherwise can occur too, cannot alone act as a viable determiner of the same.

Also, your body temperature changes or dips because of many reasons and it can be difficult to establish why these fluctuations are taking place. You may notice a dip in your temperature if your period is approaching or due to other biological changes happening inside your body. This means that dip may not be a sign of implantation.

There are also not many studies or researches available that support implantation dip as a positive sign of pregnancy. According to one of the analyses, it was observed that dip usually occurs around 7 or 8 days, however, in most cases, implantation took place anywhere from 8 to 10 days after ovulation. Also, as many as 11 per cent of women with the dip was not pregnant but 23 per cent were. These numbers are indicative that implantation dip cannot be the only parameter to determine your pregnancy. You may consider it as one of the probable signs of pregnancy rather than a definitive indicator.

Reliability of Implantation Dip to Confirm Pregnancy

Every woman who is trying to get pregnant would want to have some clear signs and indications about whether or not she is pregnant. However, relying on basal body temperature as sure short proof of pregnancy may not be the most reliable way! You can have a more accurate readout if you combine your readings with other kits such as ovulation kit. Here are some ways to establish an early pregnancy:

  • If you are late with your period for more than a week.
  • If your home pregnancy test kit shows a positive result.
  • By taking a blood test (after you have missed your periods).
  • If you are experiencing pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, morning sickness, bloating, headaches, breast tenderness, constipation, etc.
  • By getting an early ultrasound scan.

When you have been trying to have a baby, the wait to find out something positive can sometimes be too frustrating and exhausting. So, does that mean that you can simply rely on anything that shows even the slightest of the positive hint, well, you can but it is not a full-proof way of knowing! The best thing to do is wait patiently for two weeks after you register such a dip or wait to take a home pregnancy test after you miss your period.

Also Read:

Useful Guide on Implantation Bleeding 
8 DPO Pregnancy Symptoms You Must Know
Symptoms Of Early Pregnancy Before Missed Period

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Gauri Ratnam completed her Masters in English Literature from the University of Pune. She began her journey as a German translator soon after completing her graduation, but later moved on to pursue her passion for writing. Having written for both digital and print media in a varied range of industries, she has the ability to write relatable and well-researched content, benefical for anyone seeking advice or direction.