Baby Gender Tests for Pregnant Women
Determine if it's a Boy or Girl with Early Gender Prediction Tests
Sep 15, 2009
"Is it a boy or a girl?" – That's one of the most common questions that a pregnant woman will hear from others and wondering about a baby's gender can give rise to intense curiosity in an expecting mother. There are now early baby gender prediction tests that claim to be up to 95% accurate as soon as seven weeks into a pregnancy – about five weeks before mothers can learn a baby's sex via ultrasound.
Traditional Ways of Determining Baby Gender – Ultrasound and Amniocentesis
The most traditional method of baby gender prediction involves using a sonogram, also known as an ultrasound. In the case of a level three ultrasound — performed in cases where there are concerns about the baby's health or the mother's health — the baby's gender can be determined as early as 12 weeks into a pregnancy. Notably, level three ultrasounds are not performed solely to find out the baby's sex, so this is not an option for many pregnant women who want to find out if they're having a boy or girl.
The baby's gender can be determined using level one ultrasound as soon as 15 weeks of pregnancy, but some women have to wait much longer to determine if it's a girl or boy. In many cases, the baby's position in the womb is such that the it's impossible to make an accurate gender prediction until much later in the pregnancy.
Expecting mothers can also learn the sex of a baby as early as 15 to 18 weeks of pregnancy using an amniocentesis, which involves penetrating the woman's belly with a needle to extract a sample of amniotic fluid from the sac surrounding the baby. This method of determining baby sex has a more than 99% accuracy rate, according to WebMD, but like a level three ultrasound, amniocentesis is not available to all women. This procedure is usually performed in cases of advanced maternal age (35+) or in situations where birth defects or other fetal health problems are suspected.
Pink or Blue – Early Baby Gender Test Using DNA
A company named Consumer Genetics has developed a DNA test for predicting a baby's gender. According to the Pink or Blue baby gender prediction test website, geneticists determine sex by analyzing a small blood sample that the pregnant women obtains using a home DNA collection kit.
The Pink or Blue website says that the baby sheds blood cells, that find their way into the mother's bloodstream, so the blood sample is examined for the presence of "Y" genetic material. If "Y" chromosomes are located, the woman is expecting a baby boy; if only "X" chromosomes are found, then the mother is expecting a baby girl.
Expecting mothers must use extreme caution when collecting the blood sample for the baby gender prediction test because if a male is present, his genetic material may contaminate the test, leading to incorrect results. The Pink or Blue instructional video indicates that the DNA test for gender is so sensitive that only female staff are permitted to handle the DNA collection kits during the manufacturing process to avoid contamination.
The Pink or Blue DNA test for baby gender prediction can be performed "ten weeks after the first day of your last menstrual period, which is seven weeks post-conception, to guarantee accurate results." In some cases, the test cannot be accurately performed on women who have received a recent blood transfusion, a bone marrow transplant from a male donor, or a recent miscarriage or abortion.
Learning the gender of a baby early in the game won't come cheap; the Pink or Blue DNA baby gender prediction kit is priced at more than $150.
IntelliGender Gender Prediction Test
The IntelliGender test is another, less accurate way for pregnant women to find out whether the baby is a boy or girl. The IntelliGender website says the baby gender prediction test is 90% accurate in the lab, but only 82% accurate in "real life" conditions.
The baby sex prediction kit, priced at $34.95, can be used as early as six weeks from the first day of the woman's missed period. To perform the gender prediction test, the mother must urinate in a cup first thing in the morning. The urine interacts with crystals contained in the cup and the sample must be left undisturbed for 10 minutes, at which point it will turn green to indicate that the mother is expecting a baby boy, or orange to indicate that the woman is expecting a baby girl.
Unlike the Pink or Blue DNA test, the IntelliGender baby sex prediction test is intended to be "a fun, positive pre-birth experience for the parents-to-be. IntelliGender does not recommend test users to make any financial, emotional or family planning decisions based on the test results. This includes painting a nursery!"
Related Articles for Expecting Parents
Curious if you can choose the sex of a baby? To find out, read Can You Choose Baby Gender?
Readers may also enjoy learning about Myths and Old Wives Tales on Baby Gender, along with Myths on How to Choose Baby Gender at Conception.
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