When you’re pregnant, one of the most common questions you will get is whether you are having a boy or a girl. Although the only foolproof way to know if you’re having a boy or a girl is to wait until your child is born, there are many methods you can use to try to predict your child’s gender.
The most common and reliable way to predict whether you are having a boy or a girl is your 20 week ultrasound. Some obstetricians will do multiple ultrasound scans during your pregnancy, but all will do an ultrasound at around the 20 week mark. By this time, your baby’s sexual organs are developed enough for an ultrasound technician to tell whether you are having a boy or a girl. Although this method is the most reliable, it is not foolproof. Sometimes your baby will be in such a position that the technician can not get a good view at his or her gender. Also, if the baby is moving around a lot during the ultrasound, it may be difficult to determine gender.
If you are unable to wait until your 20 week ultrasound, or could not find out the gender at that time, there are other methods you can use to predict your child’s gender. Chinese conception calendars are one such tool, and are readily found online. Chinese conception calendars use the month of the child’s conception and the age of the mother at the time of conception to predict the child’s gender. This method is far from foolproof, though.
Other methods of predicting your child’s gender are generally dismissed as “old wives tales”, but are still widely used and are entertaining. The appearance of your belly, or how you carry your pregnancy, is often said to indicate gender. Carrying high is said to mean a boy, and carrying low is said to mean a girl. Craving sweet foods may mean you’re having a girl, and sour food cravings indicate a boy. Baby girls are said to have faster heartbeats than baby boys. Depending on the source you use, these gender indicators may even be reversed.
A very simple way to predict whether you are having a boy or a girl that does not rely on any physical signs or symptoms you’re experiencing is the wedding ring test. To perform this test, tie your wedding ring to a string and dangle it over your belly. If it begins to swing in a circle, you’re having a girl. If it swings side to side, you’ll have a boy. Other versions of the wedding ring test have you use a necklace or have someone else dangle the object over your belly.
There is one gender prediction method that should definitely be avoided, however. This method is the Drano test. In this test, you take a bit of your urine and mix it with Drano. The resulting color is supposed to indicate your child’s gender. This test is no more accurate than any other wives tale, and may result in fumes that could be very harmful for you to breathe in.
As long as you accept that many methods of telling whether you’re having a boy or a girl are 50 percent accurate at best, feel free to have fun trying the safer ones out. Get your extended family involved, as they will usually have an opinion on the correct wives tale to use, and it can be great fun to have a friendly competition to see who was right. Remember the most important part of pregnancy is staying happy and healthy-knowing your child’s gender is just a bonus.
