Some women have “ovulation bleedings” every month. They are not very common, but they happen. When you are trying for a baby, and are eager to be able to interpret every sign your body is sending you, it is understandable that you are curious if your mid-cycle bleeding is an ovulation bleeding or an implantation bleeding. What are the differences between implantation bleeding and ovulation bleeding?

To answer this question, we should first examine exactly what an ovulation bleeding is. The decline in estrogen levels that happens during the middle of your menstrual cycle can cause bleeding, which is sometimes described as an ovulation bleeding. It is true that the decline in estrogen is closely linked to ovulation, but in the majority of women who do have ovulation bleedings on a regular basis, they show up just before ovulation.

For some, this bleeding can be a great way of knowing when they are fertile. Like an implantation bleeding, the “ovulation bleeding” consists of light spotting. And like an implantation bleeding, ovulation bleeding happens sometime between the onset of one period and the date the next menstruation is due.

Ovulation calendars, and even better, charting to conceive using basal body temperature (BBT) can play a key role in knowing what is going on with your body. The main difference between ovulation bleeding and implantation bleeding is not in the appearance of the spotting you experience; it is in the timing of the bleeding.

Implantation bleeding always takes place after ovulation. That is because implantation bleeding is in fact an already fertilized egg implanting itself into the lining of the uterus. An ovulation bleeding meanwhile happens just before or possibly during ovulation.

Therefore, the answer to knowing what caused your bleeding is in knowing whether you already ovulated, or are just before or in the middle of your ovulation. It seems like Mission Impossible to decide what type of bleeding you are having just based on your symptoms. Knowing when you ovulate is the most reliable way of telling the difference between an ovulation bleeding and an implantation bleeding.