About Pregnancy: Boy or Girl?

Probably one of the first things expectant parents wonder is if the baby is a boy or a girl. Everyone you run into seems to have a favorite method of predicting the sex of your baby. You may be subjected to the suspending-the-gold-ring-over-your-belly test or the checking-the-hair-growth-on-your-legs test or the common carrying-high-or-low test. All of these so-called tests stay around because, after all, they have a 50 percent probability of being right.

How Baby’s Sex is Determined

The man’s sperm determines the sex of the baby. As soon as the sperm fertilizes the egg, your baby’s sex is set. The mother has only XX chromosomes. The father has XY chromosomes. If a Y chromosome from the father’s sperm fertilizes the egg, the baby will be a boy, an XY. If an X chromosome fertilizes the egg, the baby will be a girl, an XX.

When You Can Find Out

Although your baby sex’s is determined at fertilization, you will not be able to find out from an ultrasound until anywhere from week 18 to week 26. That is when the ultrasound will give you the most accurate result, according to the Pregnancy Info website. The ultrasound picture should be able to detect a penis or vagina in the fetus at this time.

Women’s Intuition

Ultrasounds, while not 100 percent accurate, are the most accurate way to determine the sex of your baby while still in the womb. Don’t discount your woman’s intuition, though. Dr. Victor Shamas, of the University of Arizona, conducted research that shows that mothers are accurate 70 percent of the time, based on intuition alone. Results are more inaccurate if the mother is hoping for a girl or a boy. That gets in the way of what your intuition is telling you. Shamas notes that this early intuition relates to the bond mothers share with their children.

Why Find Out

Some couples do not want to know the sex of their baby and would prefer to be surprised in the delivery room. Other couples are planners and want to know. These couples can use the pregnancy time to decide on a name, prepare the nursery and buy either cute baby girl or baby boy clothing.

Myths Debunked

While most of those old folklore tests to determine a baby’s sex are just harmless fun, the Drano test is dangerous, and you should not do it, according to Medicine Net. Mixing your urine with Drano to see what color it turns is about as accurate as flipping a coin, according to a 1999 study published in “Canadian Medical Association Journal.” And, it can be dangerous because pregnant women should not be working in or around Drano; it could cause some serious skin injuries.

Eating certain foods or having intercourse in certain positions to try to increase the chances of your having a boy or a girl will probably not work. No method has been scientifically proven, according to Medicine Net. As myths become debunked, they go away. One myth in particular is a good example–18th-century French noblemen would remove the left testicle to have a boy. Not surprisingly, this method has ceased to be used as a way to ensure a baby’s sex.