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Does implantation spotting really exist?

After weeks and weeks of working closely with my statistical analyst (who now knows far more about the menstrual cycle than I’m sure he wanted, and more than most women!) we’ve come to some conclusions.

The simple answer is – yes and no… :) Implantation spotting does exist but it is not nearly as common as you may have once thought. There is a lot of literature out there that claims that implantation spotting is “very common” or “easy to identify”. A lot of this information is vague and not based on statistics. Also much of the information gets mixed in with spotting or bleeding during early pregnancy so the numbers are skewed or inflated.

We have put together the facts as our data tells us, based on the information collected on the site as submitted by our users. Our data and analysis is focused ONLY on spotting during the luteal period (the time from ovulation until your expected period). We analyzed spotting patterns and the probability of pregnancy. You may be surprised, but certainly enlightened by our discoveries!

The full study: Spotting During the Luteal Phase and the Effect on the Probability of Pregnancy
Includes graph, table, analysis and statistics.

Hopefully this will help you to understand more fully the meaning and impact of spotting during the luteal phase. My hope is that the term “implantation spotting” won’t be tossed around so much as the reason for any spotting after ovulation!

I’ve also put together a neat little calculator based on the results of the study. Use the POP & Luteal Phase Spotting Calculator to calculate your probability of pregnancy (%) based on any recent luteal phase spotting.

Best wishes and baby dust to all! x

7 Comments • 12 years ago

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Comments (sorted by likes)

1 - 7 of 7 Comments

FlamingoGirl13

I like seeing data analysis like this! It would be cool to see a similar work up on the so called "implantation dip" that some women during their luteal phase. I'm curious to see how often this dip comes up in pregnant and non-pregnent cycles.

6 years ago

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Guest

This is so true my self a mother of 3 'so far' has NEVER had spotting EVER my twin sister with two kids of her own had it once with her first pregnancy and did not with her second.

10 years ago

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Guest

I must say as a nurse in I agree as a mother I agree even more I have had 4 pregnancies and out the 4 I have experience implantation bleeding only once. It is a common misconception that implantation bleeding happens each and every time.

9 years ago

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ash_paul

I didn't have spotting with my first. I had a trans-vaginal ultrasound around 6 weeks and the ultrasound tech told me that I could expect a little bit of spotting since I was so early. I had it the next day but it was AFTER i found out I was pregnant.

6 years ago

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Moonbaby15

I also think there are a plot of misconceptions about what it looks like, people expect pink or red and both times I've had IB it was brown. With my first I had no IB, second I seemed to have brown spotting for a couple of weeks and this time I didn't even expect to be pregnant and suddenly I noticed brown spotting in my underwear and just knew. So I agree, it exists but it doesn't always happen.

6 years ago

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dragonfly23

I didn't have IB with my first pregnancy, and with this pregnancy I didn't have IB either. I think it varies from woman to woman.

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6 years ago

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coelh102

Had it with my son, it was pink, it was a one and done spotting. some women spot for days, that's not IB. It is usually brown too because brown is old blood which makes sense because it takes a bit to work it's way out of the uterus. However, I had none with these twins but I bled from the day of my Beta until I was 10wks from a hematoma.

I also think it depends on how thick the uterine lining is. The thicker it is the better it is and the less likely to have IB in my experience. With my son my lining was only 8mm which is decent but not as thick as they would like, they transferred two eggs and only one took. This time my lining was 13.4mm and we transferred two, both stuck.