Maybe Baby vs OPK - which do I believe

Hi I've been using a Maybe Baby and OPK's and the Maybe Baby is coming up with ferning - indicating that ovulation may be happening, but the OPK's aren't coming up with anything. Which should I believe? Anyone had experience with this?

It is my understanding that Maybe Baby changes to ferning upon entry of a "fertile phase", where OPK's catch the LH surge which is often a sign for some women that Ovulation is/has occurring so it may be too late to catch the egg if they have already popped it and haven't been bding regularly leading up to it.

Personally, I'd believe both. When the ferning on Maybe Baby starts, get bding. When you see the change on the OPK (and remember that some women never actually DO see that), take it as a good sign that you are very very close and take heart that your bding has been well-timed.

I hope you get a better response from somebody who knows exactly what they are talking about.

Lisa

Hi Bel

I told both my GP and gyno yonks ago that i was using the maybe baby.. both of them laughed and told me to throw it in the bin and get some OPKs .. which i did, although DH and i are not parents yet, but i have had just had two major ops to get rid of endo, i now only use OPKs as they give a far more accurate result than maybe baby, but in saying that i do know some girls who have had great success with maybe baby!

good luck leis xxx

Leis, I have heard that too, so there must be some credibility in that then, I have never sort of believed the maybe baby either, so your advice goes with what I believe. My fertility specialist said the same thing ages ago, but you never know, he could have just been saying that because it was a product that he had never fully looked in to, but I agree, I don't think you can tell by maybe baby either.....

Would you believe that I have NEVER yet seen a positive OPK? During one cycle I went through 100 and didn't see a surge on a single one. I know women who swear by Maybe Baby and others who hate them.

I'll let you know what I think after this cycle. I managed to pick one up very cheaply on ebay with the intention of at least giving it a go. I know that I O. I know that my temps pick up my O (along with the secondary symptoms of CM and CP) so it will be interesting to see if Maybe Baby agrees.

FWIW, there are women charting on FF who ONLY use their saliva microscopes and they swear by them and so apparently do their fertility doctors. But I do think that overall, many aspects of fertility in the USA are over-rated albeit sometimes more advanced. Unfortunately.

Lisa

Thanks for all the input girls, I will take it all on board. I think I will keep using both, you just never know I guess. One might pick up something early..

I too have had no luck with OPK's, they never show a surge for me, ever....

Yep, I've never even seen one change colour from stark white. No lines, no nothing. Bit frustrating really. But then, I'm not that impressed with the Pregnow HPT's either so I won't be wasting any more money on either Pregnow or Ovunow.

Lisa

Hi Belinda
Tough question! From my personal experience, i have found one month that the OPKS and Ferning tests to match up in prediciting O (of course with temping and CM checks). Then another just OKS and then more towards ferning being closer to the O date.

Some girls find the Ferning throughout their cycle and some never get anything more than pebbles. I find it hard as I chew up a lot and i found this made a difference to the results i got.

I have used Ovunow and find that they come up with the lines for me and finally I got a line as dark as the control one eventually. I have longish cycles now and O anywhere from day 16 to 24. And the fact that you are supposed to start testing before that date, so even 10 days of Okps if im good and only do it once is about $5-$6 with that brand, compared to about $18 - $40. Thankfully they work for me, although i am starting to buy another brand to use two to double check but am getting used to what my cycles look like and when im going to O. Everyone is diferent with their choice. And its hard to reduce the fluid intake in winter when theres nothing better than a hot cuppa to warm you up.

My fertility specialist told me to chuck the maybe baby out too, he said that it detects other things not just LH surge so ferning could be inacurate. From then on I only used OPKs, honestly I only ever got 1 positive OPK every month before that even though I had blood tests that indicated I ovulated no OPK came up positive. I guess in the end for me I took clomid so I knew the window of 6 days to BD to make sure we covered all bases to OPKs werent needed so much but were still an indicator if it worked.

Bel