Parents once had to rely exclusively upon old wives tales regarding the size and shape of a mom-to-be's belly or her degree of morning sickness to give them clues to their unborn baby's gender. Modern science allows many parents to find out the gender of their baby weeks, or months, before the birth. Even though you might be anxious to find out whether you should buy pink or blue, waiting until about halfway through your pregnancy usually offers the most accurate ultrasound results.
Significance
Genetic testing--including amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling--can conclusively identify your baby's gender as early as 11 weeks, but doctors only recommend these invasive medical procedures for women whose babies face an increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities. The accuracy of ultrasound gender prediction can vary depending upon the skill of the sonographer and your stage of pregnancy.
Time Frame
A baby's genitalia develops somewhere between the 12th and 14th week of pregnancy, according to Dr. Marjorie Greenfield of the Dr. Spock website. Although the baby's genitals might be recognizable as male or female, they are still developing, which can make it difficult to determine the gender using ultrasound. Depending upon the baby's position en utero, the sonographer can often make a gender prediction as early as 16 to 18 weeks.
Identification
The internal and external genitalia of male or female babies are the same for the first eight weeks of pregnancy, but their chromosomal structure differs. A baby that will develop into a girl will have two X chromosomes while boys will have an X and a Y. These chromosomal differences enable doctors to identify the gender with 100 percent accuracy via genetic testing.
Considerations
Although "boutique" style ultrasound places often promise a peek at your baby's gender as early as 12 weeks, medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, advise against elective ultrasounds. They caution that the individuals performing the ultrasounds might not have the medical training necessary to give accurate results.
If you do decide to have an elective ultrasound prior to 16 weeks, you might want to hold off announcing the gender and decorating the nursery until your doctor confirms the gender at a more advanced stage of pregnancy.
Misconceptions
Despite the plethora of old wives tales and pregnancy myths that purport to predict the gender by evaluating the baby's heart rate or tracking the date of conception on special calendars, the American Pregnancy Association asserts that the only proven ways to identify your baby's gender are through ultrasound or genetic testing.
