Congratulations! After months or years of trying, you conceived a pregnancy. Now you
would really like to know if it is a boy or girl. You’re not alone. A 2004 study found that 58%
of mothers and fathers to be wanted to know the sex of their fetus before birth. You can find lots
of videos about different techniques on YouTube but what works and what doesn’t? Stay tuned
This video is about predicting the gender of a fetus in the uterus. If you are trying
to increase your chances of having a boy or a girl, watch this playlist.
The most popular method for predicting gender of a fetus is measuring the heart rate.
A heart rate that is faster than 140 beats per minute is supposed to predict a female. Does
this method work? This study looked at nearly 500 pregnant women. They measured the heart
rate early in the first trimester and then later determined the gender of the fetus.
The average female heart rate was 151.7 beats per minute BUT the average male heart was about the
same 154.9. Statistical analysis determined that the small difference is due to chance.
Don't believe it? This next study measured the fetal heart rate in over 650 pregnancies. They
also found no difference in heart rates. Both males and females averaged 167 beats per minute.
This study went even further. They did a breakdown of fetal heart rates week by week.. They measured
heart rates at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 weeks and still showed no difference in the heart rates
between the sexes no matter when you measured it. Conclusion? Measuring heart rate does NOT work.
What about women’s intuition? Some women have a strong feeling that they know the gender of their
fetus. This study put that to the test. The asked women if they thought they knew the
gender of their fetus before doing an ultrasound in the second trimester. About half the women
thought they knew. It turned out that those women, who thought they knew the sex of their fetus were
wrong about half of the time. Conclusion? Women’s intuition is no better than flipping a coin
Morning sickness or what doctors refer to as nausea and vomiting in pregnancy
has also been suggested as a means to determine gender. A study from 1999 supported the idea
that women carrying female fetuses had more severe morning sickness. However, a 2013 study of 2,450
births suggested a slightly higher rate of nausea and vomiting in women carrying boys. Even then,
the difference was very slight women with boys had morning sickness 79% of the time and women
with girls had it 72% of the time. Conclusion? Morning sickness is not able to predict gender.
What methods do predict the gender of a fetus accurately? What about the use of ultrasound to
peak between the legs of the fetus? The accuracy here depends on how early the ultrasound is done
during the pregnancy. Fetal genitalia only starts to be visible on ultrasound
after 12 or 13 weeks. This study found that prediction of gender before 11 weeks was no better
than 50/50. Between 11 and 14 weeks, accuracy increased to 75% and after 14 weeks it was 100%.
Conclusion, ultrasound is highly accurate in determining gender after the first trimester.
How about during the first trimester? We know that gender is determined by the chromosomes.
Males have a Y chromosome and females don’t. Since the placenta is made from fetal cells,
removing cells from the placenta, a procedure called chorionic villous sampling or CVS
can determine the gender accurately. However, this is an invasive procedure. It is not recommended
that this is attempted unless you are looking for fetal chromosome abnormalities. Did you know,
however, that some fetal cells and fetal DNA can actually be found in the blood of their mothers?
That’s right. What’s more is that you can separate the fetal DNA from the mother’s
and determine whether a Y chromosome is present. This technique, called NIPT,
is risk free because it only requires a blood test from the mother and can be used to look
for chromosome abnormalities and determine gender. It is very accurate. When done
after the 7th week of pregnancy, it will predict the gender correctly about 98-99% of the time.
Okay. Now you know how to accurately determine the gender of your fetus before
birth. This does not mean you are obligated to announce it to the world by setting off a
cannon or explosion or setting a fire during your gender reveal party. Please be safe.
InfertilityTV is your most trusted source for accurate information on
infertility and miscarriage. If you are not a subscriber yet, hit the subscribe button
right now. A new episode is released every week. Dont miss any episodes. You
can also check us out on our website ivf1.com where you can become a patient