Determining Your Baby's Gender

Summary:Many expectant mothers are interested in finding out their baby’s gender before the arrival date. This helps a lot with what kind of clothes to buy, what kind of gifts to get for the child as well as family and friends.

Of course, it’s also a huge help in name selection. Because of the great desire for this knowledge, there have been many wives tales and myths arise about how moms-to-be can know what to expect. It’s the irresistible human desire to know the unknowable. Unfortunately, all of the “methods” are simply nothing more that old wives tales, entertaining perhaps but useless.

With modern science, however, there are ways to find out whether you’re welcoming a little boy or girl into the world. The most common is the ultrasound. Ultrasounds occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy and use sounds waves and a kind of echo location, similar to dolphins, to develop a picture of the baby inside the uterus. They can estimate size and often see the genitals well enough to discover the sex. However, emphasis should be placed on the word “often”. There are times when babies cross their legs, thereby concealing their little secret from mom and dad until the big day. Other methods are more sure but carry greater risk, such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Each one is used to find any genetic defects in the child before birth and can also clearly tell the gender of the baby. However, there is also a 5 to 10 percent chance of miscarriage caused by the procedure.

That being said, sometimes testing out the old wives tales can be fun, especially as you’re dreaming of how your little one will look and thinking up possible baby names.

There are many ways you can hold a key, or a ring on a chain and see what way it swings, but there is no clear consensus on what the different swings mean. A fun one says that if your husband gains weight, you’re having a girl whereas is he doesn’t gain a pound you’re having a girl. Another one says that if you look prettier during your pregnancy, your having a boy and if not then it’s a girl. The reasoning is that girls take away their mother’s beauty for themselves while boys add to it. A fun add-on to this that may carry some truth is hair gain or loss during pregnancy. Getting thicker hair signals a boy while thinning hair reveals a girl waiting inside. Of course, normal pregnancy hormones are known to cause hair to thicken.

Food cravings have been said to be a determining factor as well. Sour and salty foods are an indication that you’re carrying a little man, whereas the cravings for chocolates and sweets are signs of a little woman inside. There is also the classic wives tale of where you’re carrying the infant. Carrying high is supposed to be a girl and carrying low is supposed to be a boy. One last test that has a little research behind is quite simple. In one survey, pregnant women were asked what they thought the gender of their baby would be. It turned out that 71% of them were right! So, what do you feel like you’re having? Aside from that one exception, the rest of the afore mentioned tests don’t have a bit of scientific backing, but they sure can be fun.