Many varieties of gender prediction tests have used throughout history in an attempt to determine the which sex a baby will be when it is born. The lion’s share of these tests have no scientific basis and can be categorized as mythical, other tests are based on science and involve modern medical techniques to predict the gender of an unborn baby.
A medical test called amniocentesis is the most reliable of all gender prediction tests, but since it is an invasive test it is rarely used to solely determine the sex of a baby. During this test a small amount of amniotic fluid is withdrawn from the uterus by a long thin needle inserted through the woman’s abdomen under ultrasound guidance. An amniocentesis is primarily used to detect certain birth defects for women in high-risk categories. Determining the gender of a baby with this test is extremely accurate.
The most widely used medical test used to help discover a baby’s gender is the ultrasound which uses sound waves to produce a black and white image of the fetus. For gender prediction, the ultrasound can be used between 18 and 20 weeks, however, it is not 100 percent accurate because results depend on the position of the fetus and the quality of the image.
Other baby gender prediction tests have been developed to use at home that are based on a chemical reaction of the pregnant’s woman’s first urine of the day and can be performed as early as 10 weeks into the pregnancy with an accuracy rate between 80 and 90 percent. Other home test are blood-based and are not as accurate, and many of these blood tests have been found to have no scientic basis.
Old wive’s tales of gender prediction may have some anecdotal success, but are more approriate for baby showers than actually basing the color of a baby’s room. Here are a few:
If the hair on the woman’s legs grows faster during pregnancy, it’s a boy.
Girls are carried high, and boys are carried low.
Colder feet during pregnancy indicates a male child.
Refusing to eat the heel of a loaf of bread means you are having a girl.
If the father-to-be gains weight along with the mother, she will have a boy.
If the maternal grandmother has gray hair, the baby will be male..
Morning sickness early in pregnancy indicates a girl.
If the sum of the mother’s age at conception and the number of the month of conception is an odd number, the baby will be a girl.
If there is a craving for sweets the baby’s gender will be female.
Then there is the centuries-old Chinese Baby Gender Chart that uses mother’s Chinese age at conception along with the Chinese lunar month of conception to predict the gender of the baby. The claims of the accuracy of this range from 50 percent to 99 percent, but few actual studies have been completed.
It seems that to get the most reliable prediction of a baby’s gender is to wait until the he or she comes out of the birth canal. Only then can you fully separate the science from the myth.