Maybe Baby Tips & Discussion

Here's a thread to to share your experiences, tips and advice for anyone considering using a Maybe Baby. What have you found to be good and bad?

MB was very inconsistent for me so I gave up on it after about 4 months. Ferns, no ferns , blobs with ferns etc at wrong times. I used it religiously every morning and still no luck with consistency.
I was charting BBT at the same time so was using that alongside MB so I knew relatively when was supposed to ovulate.
The one thing that really bugged me though was that the edges of the microscope area always seemed to be blurry to me and it was really hard to look at the whole screen IFKWIM.

First time maybe baby user this morning, I used urine opk previously and wasannoyed when I missed O when I tested with them as I ran out of sticks, 0 was on day 18 that month and they suggested to test from day 10. With the cost invovled I thought that MB would be a good option as it is reusable. I also temp chart and check CM. I found it easy to use this morn and was impressed, it showed me what it was supposed to but will know better next week when o comes.:D

I too used MB for 5-6 months with non consistent results (Thankfully I had borrowed it & not spent my own $$$ on it). Dh even put his saliva on it & so did maddy & we all ferned all over the place??? It never resulted in a BFP for me but as soon as I started temping & OPKing I got a BFP!!

So I personally didnt like it & wouldnt recommend it.

I used MB for the first few years of TTC, and the advice I give anyone using it is to wait until the lens in bone dry. My cousin couldn't get it to work, and we were chatting and she said she waited the 10 or 15 mins recommended. I told her she needed to wait at least 20 mins, I sometimes gave it more than that. I also suggest that you use a fair amount of saliva. I used a good dollop of it, not just a smear. Probably why it took so long to dry, but I got very definite ferning whenever I O'ed, and just plain spots when I wasn't fertile.

I used it for about 3 months and didn't have any luck with it. It didn't show ferning even though blood tests and OPKs confirmed i was ovulating.

I followed the instructions to the letter, so I don't think it was anything I was doing wrong.

Like Tracey, I borrowed mine and was glad I didn't pay the $60-$80 they charge for them. I wouldn't recommend it. I'd recommend OPKs and temping.

I used it for about a year, and only once got full ferning. I don't know if that was because I wasn't ovulating, or because it is not very accurate.

I was temperature charting at the same time, and my FS said that most months I did ovulate, according to the charts. I used Maybe Baby religiously, every morning when I got out of bed, left it to dry whilst I had a shower and got ready for work (half hour or so), then read it. I was constantly disappointed. The only time it ferned, it was gone the next day. I was so sick of seeing the damn blobs!

So, I wouldn't recommend it. Especially as my FS said I did ovulate most months, surely that would have given me ferning, but no, just more wretched blobs!

Not happy!!!!:(
I used the MB this week and temp and observing for CM.
Day 11 I got partial ferning, day 12 no ferning and got temp drop and EWM, day 13 no ferning and EWM!!! Did I just waste $66??????!!!!!!!
But I will follow Sushee's advice and try leaving it for 20 mins and use more saliva.
See how we go next cycle, hopefully there wont be a next cycle!!!:pray:

I'd spit on mine & go have a shower coz many times it hadnt dried & still no ferning, just blobs... to the point when iw as OPkingb & tempibg I'd also spit on it & have shower brekky etc have a look no ferning (but temp & OPK said I was O'ing)
I left it there all day & had a look when I got home & zip, zilch, zero! If it was mine it would have been smashed into little pieces!!! hee hee


Blayz, go get baby dancing now!! Good Luck!

I used mine in conjunction with temping and OPKs, which I would recommend until you are sure that it works for you. If I had gone on ttcing for awhile I probably would've just temped and used to MB, to save on OPKs (who am I kidding....I'm a POAS addict LOL! Thank goodness for lullaby conceptions).

I found it was best to use a fair bit of saliva, and then go and have a shower or something while waiting for it to dry. Like Sushee said, you really need to give it awhile, and make sure it is bone dry. Whe I was just getting the hang of it, I would do it two or three times each day, to be sure of the results. I found it most helpful in letting me know when to start OPKs, cos I O late and otherwise would have been starting them WAY too early! I used OPKs to help pin point my exact O date. It's worked twice now!

MB did work for me, but I could be confident of that because of the other methods I was using. It's now on loan to a friend, I really hope the babydust is rubbing off on her :D

I used it too for a while and always in conjunction with OPKs. I would agree that consistency in its use is very important or you could end up quite confused. Same time each day and be very religious about it. It's possible to have ferning at a few different times during the cycle. It's also possible to ovulate and have no ferning whatsoever.

I think it works really great for some people. Those of us who have a few hormonal inconsistencies might have a problem with it though.

To what extent saliva correlates with cervical mucus, I am not sure. Both are bodily secretions obviously and can be affected by things such as antihistamines etc. which is worth remembering for people who have allergy problems.

In my case, I have not had much in the way of cervical mucus in recent years which probably contributed to my fertility problems in the first place.

I also notice that I only got full ferning for about 12 hours, and then it would start to disappear, so when I started to get partial ferning, I would use the MB morning and night for the next few days and usually would see full ferning only the once in that time. Eg if I had full ferning in the morning, it would have settled back into partial ferning by the evening. If you're seeing partial ferning, you're getting close, but you may miss the full ferning if you're only using it once a day.

Well, that's how it was for me anyway!

I found it to be really consistent for me, but that it showed me o'ing later than I actually was - according to OPKs and dating scan for this bub! According to MB I o'd 6 days later than the OPK said I did, but there is no way I could have o'd then cos my dating scans (which have all been consistent) indicate that I actually o'd a couple of days even before the OPK said I did, so I was just plain lucky! Also agree with the others that it takes lots longer to dry than the instructions say it does, and that you have to be really consistent with the amount of saliva you use - too much or too little and you just get nothing.

i am using maybe at the moment and i find it good although i wonder if any of you can shed some light on me, i have had full ferning happen for seven days now, but the light ferning, did it this morning and got black ferning come up, the 7 days ferning was consistant all around but was light but this mornings ferning was a darker fern like black on the back of the maybe baby pack, would you think that this is the start of my ovulation or was it 7 days ago, i just get confused about the ferning pattens and their shadings.

wow! i wish that i had of read this before going out and spending the $65. I have regular cycles, and thought that the MB could be good over the OPK's cause you can re use it. Any who, i hope that it gives me an accurate reading, but despite that the DH is up for 24 - 48 hourly BD so i hope that this leads to a BFP.
Mrs G

A couple of ladies recommended Maybe Baby to me because my partner and I want to try and improve our odds of concieving a pink baby. My partner and I tried to concieve without charting, OPK's etc for 2 cycles but to no avail. This promted me even more to buy something to help us gauge when I ovulate...So I decided to buy one to use during this cycle. It cost $75.00. However I am not toooooo impressed with it at all.

I had full ferning during the 7th and 8th day of my cycle yet it was inconsistent throughout the day (I made sure that I followed the instructions in the little manual that came with it). No eating, drinking for 3hrs etc.

I did not have full ferning mid cycle (I have a 28 day cycle) however transitional ferns did appear around day 15 but only at night when I tested before bed, but this display did not show until 30 minutes after. I had spots and splotches with my morning saliva on this day, so it was quite frustrating.

My partner likes Maybe Baby because we have been :bd: every day because I can't make out how this darn thing works... :rolleyes:

I called the company a week ago because the little light stopped working and the representative told me over the phone how to fix it. I also told the rep over the phone that it gave pretty inconsistent results. I was told that you have to get the right amount of saliva on the test slide for it to be accurate and if you leave the slide more than the time specified the results are not accurate as the salts in your saliva start to crystalise so it is not recommended that the device be read past the 10min - 15min time period after placing your saliva on the slide piece. She did give me a few other tips and ended by saying that Maybe Baby is 98% accurate.

After the phone conversation I just felt as though I had been ripped off because the device is just so hard to use... and it seems as though a question mark should always be placed over any result given.

I have tested my saliva every day since I bought this gadget (I am now CD23) and I have had spots and slotches up until tonight and NOW I am seeing transitional ferning again (after leaving it for 20mins or so). Although according to the respresentative I spoke to over the phone this result should be considered as an inaccurate one.

I have since spoken to my doctor about it and she just scoffed. I really wished that I had first spoken to my doctor and read all your posts before buying this product. I don't feel that I can rely on Maybe Baby as an effective means of determining my ovulation.
I have had several episodes of wanting to toss it out my car window on the way to work. Yet what has stopped me is the fact that it cost me $$. I guess when my 6 year old son becomes more interested in science I can show him how microscopes work :cryinglaugh:

I really really really wouldn't advise this product to any woman who is actually serious about concieving :wall: .

Wishing you all the best of luck on your ttc and/or pregnancy journy's

:bluedust:
Karen

Here here Karen!
I think that it is a hoax, more like maybe not!
Anyhow, like yours, my hubby has been loving the fact that we have been bd'ing every day as i can not get an accurate read. So good luck to you and here is wishing me a bfp. I am on day CD19 so will be testing next week. yay!
Mrs G

Put it on Ebay 7 tell them it worked for you??? YOU may get some $$$'s back!

But I agree thank goodness I never bought one as they were pieces of crap!

Hi Tracey

That is a brilliant idea I should make it someone elses problem.

I am glad :cryinglaugh: to hear that others are having the same probs with it as I am because I was starting to think that I was the one being tempremental.

I found that it helped me.
Back when I was TTC Mason and I had no idea about anything it helped me to figure out I was Oing at about cd21 and was having a 35 day cycle, not having my period a week late every cycle like I thought.
We were wasting our BD efforts on cd14. I had no idea when I was Oing so when I started using it and was getting a pebble pattern when I was supposed to be Oing I was just so darn confused that I kept using it every day until the ferns appeared and they got stronger and thicker.

I discovered that a good thick layer of spit on the thing and leaving it to dry on a sunny windowsill, or helping it along with a hair dryer, gave me a good accurate result.

Yep, been doing the big spit and on window sill. Still nothing but from previous months and regular cycle know that i usually o around day 15-16.
I reckon that it could also depend on diet, excercise and general health.
I have been sick with a virus over the last week, and i think that could interfere with readings.
Any who, BD'ing all the time is kind of fun!
Mrs G

On the website it also says that you can get ferning after your ovulation (transitional ferning) and just before and during menstration, Oh and if you are pregnant. So according to the genius who developed the gizmo you can get ferning pretty much throughout your cycle, which could mean anything... very confusing :wall:.

I think I am definitely going to put it on ebay and recoop my loses, see if someone else has better luck with it.

Karen

I will let you know how i go, but i am going to see if i can take it back to where i bought it and see if i can get my dosh back. I don't really feel that good about inflicting confusion on the sisterhood, especially when one is quite vulnerable and a little desperate (from my own experience) when on the ttc journey.
mrs g

I went to the chemist and told them that i was not satisfied with the MB so they called the company, and even though the response was that i wasn't using the device properly, they refunded my money.
$70 to spend on other things now. Hopefully some HPT's to advise me of a BFP.
2 days to go until i test.
Ciao

Hi I have used MB and been very successful with it. Used it for 3 months to get used to how it worked then when we were ready to try; got pregnant that first month. I agree with Sushee you should definately leave it till it is bone dry, i would continually check it over the day to see if any thing changed but generally i would get an expected result within 30 minutes. When using MB you can tell the transitional stage from the day of ovulating, it became quite clear to me after using it for about 4 months (i think you need to get familiar with how to use it correctly). When adding the sample i would get saliva on my tongue and then lick the lens. I found this worked best. However you do have to wait longer this way there is more saliva on the lens so drying time is longer. When i became pregnant the ferns never went away.

I had used the urine OPTs as well as the MB as we are trying again now, but i have had no luck with the urine OPTs never got a positive ovulation indicator so i found using those quite frustrating.

I have a few friends who have been successful with MB and swear by it hence why i decided to give it ago, Good luck

But when they tell you that reading it after the designated time dee4ms it a false reading then what's the point! Your back to guessing again!???



MrsG yay on getting avrefund & good luck with testing!

Hi Dannik,

reading a result after 30 min or checking back throughout the day is probably not a good idea. I was told that you should not read the lens after 10-15mins because the salts in your saliva start to crystalize. So anything that appears after the specified time should be taken as an inaccurate result.

I bought one after coming off the pill and cycles being all over the place. Now at six months off but only four cycles, something is not right?

I got full ferning on day 15 and slight transitional on day 16 but I have not yet had a period and am testing tomorrow at day 42.

I would say it hasn't been a complete waste of money but not realy happy either.

Maybe it was a coincidence but Maybe Baby worked for me the first month of using it - we had been TTC baby #2 for about five months without having any luck using OPKs.
I started testing with Maybe Baby on day 7 and got ferning on days 9 and 10, before I would even start with the OPKs (usually started on day 12).
I thought it was a dodgy when the ferning continued for the rest of the month then realised why when I got a BFP!
I think different things just work for different people, my friend only used one stick from her OPK and bingo BFP the first month TTC.
When you're TTC you can't help but try every option - whether the advice is for or against it...just incase.

IKWYM Daisyblue, when TTC you are willing to try anything. I am using MB now and am getting ferning during my cycle, so who knows. We arent TTC yet just charting etc to see if I can find my o pattern.

Love

Hi there, thought Id share my positive experience with MaybeBaby...
I also bought it thinking id save money on the individual pee sticks... I charted my first cycle on it, putting a huge blob of spit on the lense before getting out of bed and did check it at least 1/2 hour later... I had text book results each day and on ovulation day I had full dark fully formed ferns (I get Mettleschmerz most cycles so its quite painful to ovulate but sometimes easy to know its happened)
We were lucky to get pregnant that cycle... Unfortunately it wasnt to be and miscarried at 11wks... we're still trying but dealing with some sperm issues...
I cant praise the Maybe Baby enough and at least you can sell it once you are done with it!
Best of luck to all of us:pray:

Maybe Baby worked for me! We had been TCC for 3 months when I decided rather than DTD every night :p we should try and do it at the right time.

So I purchased the maybe baby, got the kind of fern picture (the picture when you are in the transition stage) we then went for it... and got our first :bfp:

The only annoying thing was how you are not meant to test unless you have not eaten for 3 hours which means I could only test in the morning or just before bed (unless I'd had a night time snack!)

Hi Everyone

I bought a saliva ovulation predictor called Ovuclear. It works the same as MB, just a different brand, and half the price. I really like mine, and I got results that matched temping and CM. It takes me longer than 10 minutes to get the lense dry (which is the maximum they recommend) but I've always got the result I expected after 30 mins. I also lick the lens and use quite a bit of saliva.

HTH

Well I can't say I am too sure on Maybe Baby either. I brought mine to track my cycles as last month it was a bit haywire after the early m/c which I expected but I thought I would start tracking as of this month to make sure its back on track.

It is now the right time of the month for me and I am pretty sure I am ovaluting because I can feel it but according to Maybe Baby - I am not. All I see are pebbles no ferns!!! (Not getting alot of CM but its there and so is the pain in my side!)

So not sure what to make of it - I will keep using it because I am still going to wait a month or two before trying again so maybe Maybe Baby will improve!

Well I tested this morning again and today I had pebbles and ferns which is what is suppose to happen before ovalution. I would have thought I would have seen this yesterday cause I swear I was ovaluting and last night I got quite a few ovalution pains in my side.

But maybe I am a little late ovaluting this month. If so it seems to be reading me correctly!

If anyone wants a MB, I have one I no longer want (didn't take long!!!) I've found that I have so much estrogen that I constantly fern. Plus, using this daily is just adding to TTC consuming my entire life. I also hate trying to not eat for three hours in the evening to use it (works much better for me in the evening than in the morning). *sigh* I wouldn't be a very good sales person!

I am happy to give it away to anyone who wants to try it, especially if you want to collect from Brisbane city during working hours. I'll edit this post when I've given it away. Hope it helps someone else, all I ask for in return is babydust! PM me for details.

EDIT: MaybeBaby has been given away.

I have mixed feelings about my MB. I found it pretty useless at first but after spending the money I thought it may be a good idea to invest a little time in some experimentation. I used it morning and afternoon every day for a month (after not eating for 3 hours). I found that the morning results were the closest match with my temp chart. The problem with using it in the afternoon is that I was getting ferns almost everyday. In the mornings I never actually get the full display of thick ferns like the sample on the leaflet but I do get the most ferns about 2 days prior to O. I wouldn't just use MB on it's own but with my temp chart it's ok. I also found best results for me are if I follow directions & it's dry after 10-15 mins not sooner no later. Ahhh the things we put ourselves through!

hi oscaroscar i would be interested in your MB that would be great! i cant PM but my email is becagirl@hotmail.com i am on GC can i pay for postage thanks!!

guccibabe - I emailed you but no response - maybe there is an email from me in your junk mail?

I see there is a lot of negative feedback about the maybe baby but I've got to say it worked for me. We fell pregnant literally on the first try! I used it first thing in the morning and also when I got home from work in the evenings. It took me a few days to work out the right amount of saliva and the length of time I had to wait for it to dry in order for it to work properly. I have a 31 day cycle and on the evening of day 16 I got the distinct fern pattern. I asked my hubby if he wanted to go make a baby and the rest is history. :)