After that, both parents are interested in the gender of the unborn child. Medical methods allow you to reliably find out about this only at 22 weeks. But many are simply not ready to wait that long, and sometimes do not want to resort to an ultrasound procedure, considering it harmful to the baby.

In some cases, sex determination is necessary to eliminate the risks of hereditary diseases transmitted exclusively through the female or male line.

There are many ways that more or less accurately answer this question. We tried to collect the best of them, including special techniques, physiological characteristics pregnant woman and folk signs.

Medical alternative to ultrasound

• The most accurate way to determine the sex of a child in the early stages is a DNA test. Its reliability is 99.99%.

Already in the sixth week, the mother can donate blood from a vein, in which fragments of the embryo’s DNA are found and used to determine whether it is a girl or a boy.

The disadvantage of the test is its considerable cost.

• The second most accurate method is amniocentesis.

This procedure is recommended for hereditary genetic disorders that threaten the development of pathologies in the fetus. Amniotic fluid is collected by puncturing the peritoneum. The study of chromosomes allows you to find out the gender with a probability of 99%.

• Cordocentesis is also, first of all, designed to detect possible diseases, but at the same time shows gender with high accuracy.

In this case, umbilical cord blood is sent for analysis.

• The gender test can be considered the simplest and safest, and it can be used in the ninth week, and the accuracy of the result is 90%.

The indicator reacts to the composition of urine, turning different colors: green means there will be a boy, orange means a girl.

According to signs of pregnancy

Take a closer look at yourself and try to determine the sex of the child without an ultrasound.

Woman's appearance

Another sign that almost unmistakably indicates the gender of the child is appearance future mother.

• If during pregnancy a woman begins to look worse, rashes appear on her face or age spots- She is expecting a daughter. It is believed that the girl takes away her mother's beauty. However, after childbirth, all these signs disappear safely.
• If a woman blossoms from the beginning of pregnancy, she will have a son.
• A woman expecting a son has dry skin on her hands and very swollen feet. Soft and smooth skin hands and moderate swelling of the legs indicate the expectation of a daughter.
• It is believed that increased hair growth throughout the body during pregnancy occurs if there is a boy in the belly.

Emotional background

• Irritability and moodiness during pregnancy hint at the birth of a daughter.
• Pregnant women who are expecting a son are usually in an even and often good mood.

A woman pregnant with a boy often stumbles, bumps into various objects, and becomes more clumsy. At the same time, the girl’s mother becomes more careful and very graceful.

Belly shape

1. If the belly protrudes forward and is almost invisible from the back, the woman is expecting a son.
2. A round belly, as if extending to the sides, indicates that a girl will be born. From the back, such a belly is very visible.

Breast condition

• When pregnant with a boy, the breasts become larger at the beginning of pregnancy.
• If this happens towards the end of the term, you can wait for the birth of your daughter.

Another sign that even doctors agree with is the color of the nipples. For those expecting a girl, the nipple halos darken significantly and quickly. Halos that remain light indicate that the baby will be a boy.

Belly stripe

• The pigmentation on the strip indicates that the woman is carrying a daughter under her heart.
• The growth of hairs along the stripe on the abdomen indicates that a son will be born.

This sign can be explained by hormonal characteristics.

Food preferences

You can find out the sex of the child by what and how a pregnant woman eats.

• Mothers expecting a son prefer salty and sour foods, meat, and if they eat bread, they choose crusts.
• A pregnant girl will always give preference to sweet foods, candies, marshmallows and fruits, and will take the soft parts of bread.

It is also believed that if a woman has severe toxicosis, she is expecting a daughter.

By the way, if you consider taste preferences women several months before conception, you can plan in advance the gender of the baby. If you indulge in meat, bananas and lemons, then by conceiving a child during this period, you increase the chances of having a baby boy. When you prefer fermented baked milk, cottage cheese, oranges and various sweets, give birth to a little princess.

By baby's heartbeat

The fetal heart rate begins to be clearly audible at about 10 weeks. Normally it is 140 beats per minute.

If the pulse is greater than this number, there is a chance to give birth to a daughter; if less, there is a chance to give birth to a son.

This is justified by the fact that the size of the heart in women is usually smaller and it has to work at a slightly faster pace.

Gender of baby based on ovulation

The method is suitable for women who keep a calendar monthly cycle and for sure those who know the days ovulation. Conception is possible during this period.

A sperm carrying the male Y chromosome lives only for two days, while the carrier of the female X feels comfortable for a week. Thus, if sexual intercourse occurs 3 or more days before ovulation, your chances of having a son are slim. But the closer the moment of copulation is to the date of ovulation, the greater the likelihood that it will still be a boy.

The guarantee of sex determination based on the date of conception does not exceed 50-60 percent.

By parent's age

According to this theory, blood in men is regularly renewed every 4 years, in women a little faster - after 3 years. Which of the parents will have a younger child at the time of conception, and the baby will be of the same gender.

The calculations are very simple: a woman’s full age is divided by 3, a man’s by 4, and the remainders are compared. For example, 27:3=9.0, 30:4=7.5. For mom the remainder is 0.0, for dad it is 0.5. This means that the mother’s blood is younger and we should expect a girl. If the numbers match, there is a chance to give birth to twins.

However, if a woman has a negative Rh factor, the result will be exactly the opposite.

It must be borne in mind that blood renewal can not only occur according to schedule. In case of transfusion, surgery, abortion, miscarriage, accompanied by significant blood loss, the calculation should be made not by the number of years, but by one of these events.

Another calculation option allows you not only to see the year of the last update, but also to plan your desired pregnancy. It is done according to the date of birth of the parents.

Let's say you were born in 1994: 1994+3+3+3+3+3+3+3=2015. Spouse – in 1990: 1990+4+4+4+4+4+4=2014. Your blood is younger, and you can safely plan for a daughter until 2018.

The above method works 50%.

According to the lunar calendar

Astrology distinguishes male and female zodiac signs, in each of which the Moon stays for 2.5 days.

It is believed that at the moment when the luminary passes through the signs of Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius or Aquarius, it is possible to become pregnant with a boy. Conception of a girl will occur if the Moon crosses the constellations of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces.

The most favorable days for conceiving a new life: 2, 3, 7, 17, 24 lunar days.

Do not forget that physiologically, fertilization does not occur immediately after sexual intercourse. On average, this takes 30 hours, so the Moon may not be where you thought. Take this circumstance into account if you are planning to conceive.

Definition from tables

Today, three tabular methods are popular: one is based on the blood type of the parents, two are eastern.

Boy or girl by blood type

It is important to take into account the Rh factor:

A somewhat dubious method: if you consider that the blood type never changes, it turns out that a couple can give birth to children of only one sex. Most likely we're talking about about the firstborn.

Chinese calendar

Based on mother's age and date of conception. In some sources this method is called the Vanga table.

The probability is 70%, but it decreases if conception occurs at the border of two months.

Japanese

The months of birth of parents and conception are taken into account. It is believed that this is the most reliable table for determining the sex of a child.

Having found your number, compare it with the month of conception.

Folk signs

• Ask the pregnant woman to show her hands. If she turns her palms up, she will have a daughter, down, she will have a son.
• He sleeps more often on his left side - waiting for a boy and vice versa. The sex of the child is also determined by which side of the husband the wife sleeps on.
• If the left breast is enlarged, it will be a son, the right – a daughter.
• The initiator of the sexual intercourse that ended in conception was the husband and he was the first to feel an orgasm - 100 percent that a boy would be born. This is also indicated by the position during sex, in which the man took a dominant position.
• The act in dry weather foreshadows an heir, in rain - a daughter.
• Regular sexual relations - with the son, rare - with the daughter.
• The woman is cold all the time, which means she is carrying a girl. If he suffers from stuffiness, it’s a boy.
• Dad is recovering together with mom - to his son.
• My husband prefers tight underwear for a boy, loose underwear for a girl.
• If pregnancy occurs soon after an abortion or miscarriage, there will be a daughter.
• If the first child called his mother first, it means that the second will have a sister, and his father will have a brother.

Fortune telling about the gender of the child

• A long thread is threaded through the needle. The woman holds it over her left hand. If the movements occur in a circle, there will be a girl, to the sides - a boy.
• The wedding ring is hung on a thread on the stomach. By the way it spins, they recognize the gender (as in the previous fortune telling).
• A spoon and a fork are placed under two pillows and the pregnant woman is invited to sit on one of them. Having chosen a pillow with a fork, a woman carries a boy, and a girl with a spoon.
• You need to soak wheat and barley seeds in the urine of a pregnant woman, cover them with gauze and watch for germination. The wheat shoots appeared first - for the son, the barley shoots - there will be a daughter.
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Useful tips

For centuries, expectant parents had to wait until their child was born to find out its gender.

Now there are different methods for determining the sex of a child, starting from folk signs and ancient Chinese tables to modern medical procedures.

1. How to find out the gender of a child using the table?

According to legend Chinese gender determination chart child was found in an ancient royal tomb in China. It predicts the gender of the child based on the Chinese lunar calendar.

In this case you need to know mother's age at conception And month of conception to determine whether you are having a girl or a boy.

There is no scientific evidence to prove whether this method works, but you can test it on your friends and family.

2. Gender of the child by date of conception

According to this method, the sex of the unborn child is determined by date of conception and depends on the type of sperm.

It is believed that Y sperm, which will lead to the birth of a boy, is faster and less hardy than sperm with the X chromosome, which is slower but more persistent.

Thus, if conception occurs 2-3 days before a woman ovulates, then you are more likely to give birth to a girl. If conception took place directly on the day of ovulation or shortly before it, then the likelihood of having a boy is higher.

The day of ovulation can be determined by measuring your basal temperature or using home ovulation tests.

3. Calculate the sex of the child by blood

According to this theory, the gender of the unborn child can be determined based on renewal of parents' blood. It is believed that in women the blood is renewed once every 3 years, and in men - once every 4 years. The sex of the child is determined by which parent has “fresher” blood.

For example, a woman is 26 years old and a man is 28 years old. If we divide 26 by 3 we get 8.6, and if we divide 28 by 4 we get 8. Since the remainder of a woman (8.6) is greater than that of a man, the probability of having a boy is greater.

It is also worth remembering that in the case of blood donation and transfusion, operations, childbirth and other blood losses, it is worth taking the date of the last blood loss.

Gender of the child by blood type

Another entertaining theory for determining the sex of the unborn child is based on blood type and Rh factor of parents. The intersection of your mother's and father's blood types, as well as the Rh factors, indicates whether you are having a boy or a girl.

4. Gender of the child according to signs

There are many signs of determining the sex of a child, which our grandmothers and mothers also resorted to. Of course, these methods are not considered reliable since they have not been validated. Some of them seem to be true because they are about 50 percent accurate, and there are some that have been partially scientifically proven.

Gender of baby by belly

If you carry your baby low - you have a boy, if high - you have a girl. There is also an opinion that if the expectant mother a pointed belly shape means there will be a boy, and a more rounded shape means a girl.

However, according to experts, the shape of the abdomen is determined by the muscles, uterine tone and position of the child, and not by the gender of the baby.

According to the latest data, Breast volume is the best indicator of the sex of the unborn child. Women carrying girls have larger breasts during pregnancy (an average of 8 cm) than women carrying boys (an average of 6.3 cm). This is because boys produce more testosterone and require more energy from the mother, which suppresses breast growth more.

Gender of baby based on heartbeat

According to the signs, if you have a girl, the fetal heart rate will be above 140 per minute, and if it’s a boy, then less than 140. In fact, the fetal heartbeat changes as the child grows and develops, as well as as the child becomes more active. However, it has been scientifically proven that the heart rate of girls increases more during childbirth than that of boys.

Folk signs for determining the sex of a child

© blanaru/Getty Images

The mother's appearance deteriorated and acne appeared

Dad started gaining weight

Mom has a craving for sweets

The expectant mother suffers from severe morning sickness

Parents age over 40 years

If hung wedding ring above the stomach, it moves back and forth

The couple will have boy If:

Mother's appearance has improved

Dry hands and cold feet

Cravings for salty and sour

Mother is stressed

Significantly increased appetite and calorie consumption

If you hang a wedding ring over your stomach, it moves in a circle

5. Gender of the child according to ultrasound

One of the most accurate methods for determining the sex of your baby during pregnancy is an ultrasound, or ultrasonography, which uses high-frequency sound waves to create an image of your baby inside your uterus.

An ultrasound is not performed to determine the sex of the child, but to find out whether the child is developing correctly.

Depending on the length of your pregnancy and the position of the fetus, your doctor can tell you for sure whether you are carrying a boy or a girl.

At what time can you determine the sex of a child?

Most often, the method of determining the sex of a child by ultrasound is the most accurate. between 18 and 26 weeks of pregnancy. Although new ultrasound technologies can determine the sex of the child at an earlier period of 12-13 weeks.

Until 18 weeks of intrauterine development, male and female genital organs are more similar and therefore the likelihood of error is high. More late dates also make this task more difficult due to the tighter position of the fetus.

It is worth remembering that if the child is in an awkward examination position or crosses his legs, this may hide the genital area from observation.

Gender of the child: is ultrasound wrong?

Ultrasound is not a 100 percent method, and the likelihood of error depends on several factors:

Gestational age (the higher, the more accurate)

Equipment (3D ultrasound is usually more accurate)

Professionalism of the doctor performing ultrasound

Mother's weight (the fatter the mother, the lower the image quality)

Fetal positions

There are more accurate methods for determining the sex of the unborn child (almost 100 percent), but they are carried out out of necessity and are accompanied by a high risk for pregnancy. This amniocentesis(amniotic sac puncture) and chorionic villus biopsy. They are carried out at an earlier stage: in the first and early second trimester.

Amniocentesis is performed between 15-18 weeks pregnancy. A doctor inserts a long needle to take a sample. amniotic fluid from the amniotic sac, which contains the baby's cells. Typically, this test is ordered if there is increased risk anomalies in the child and disorders associated with the sex of the child.

Chorionic villus biopsy is performed between 11 and 14 weeks, and this method is also used only if the child has a possibility of developing disorders.

Even before the baby is born, many parents begin to wonder who it will be: a boy or a girl. They can satisfy their curiosity after an ultrasound scan, but this can only be done at 16-17 weeks of pregnancy. Until this point, you can try to calculate the gender of the unborn baby in several ways.

By date of birth of parents

From the point of view of the vast majority, this method is one of the most effective. To use it, you need to follow a few simple steps:

1. Prepare a sheet of paper, red and blue pencils.
2. Draw a line, dividing it into 12 equal segments.
3. They must be numbered in order from 1 to 12.
4. The mother's date of birth is marked in red on the line, and the father's in blue.
5. Make three more red marks: after 3, 6 and 9 months from the date of birth of the expectant mother.
6. Indicate two additional designations in blue: after 4 and 8 months from the father’s birthday.

Boy or girl? Girl or boy? - this question worries almost every future parent. And even those who do not want to consciously determine the sex of the baby in advance mentally ask themselves the same question. It is quite possible to guess, assume or reliably determine who will be born to you - an heir or an heiress, and there are many ways to do this.

100% guarantee of determining the sex of the unborn child

There is only one way to reliably determine the sex of the unborn baby after conception - chorionic villus biopsy or amniopuncture. In this case, genetic research is carried out. Since this procedure is very serious, it is carried out only to identify genetic disorders, if there is evidence for it. But for the sake of curiosity (who is sitting there?), not a single sane doctor will penetrate the uterus to take material for research.

Close to true definition The sex of the child is considered. But even here there is every chance of making a mistake or simply not seeing (the baby can diligently “hide” the “place” by which his gender is calculated). It is possible to find out the sex of the child by ultrasound after the 16th week of pregnancy.

But already from the seventh week " interesting situation“Those who want to find out who has settled in the tummy can do so. Already in the first weeks of pregnancy, a very small amount of fetal DNA “floats” in the maternal bloodstream with a “clue” to gender: if a Y chromosome is detected in the blood, then a boy will definitely be born, because girls only have X chromosomes. However, even in these methods an error is possible, so even doctors do not recommend blindly trusting them.

Chinese and Japanese methods for determining the sex of a baby

The Chinese and Japanese have determined the sex of the future baby (and planned it very successfully) since ancient times and trust their methods to this day, and not only the Chinese and Japanese.

For example, more than 700 years. Its original is still kept in Beijing, and copies freely “float” on the Internet and satisfy the curiosity of future parents.

We invite you to use this table as well. It is only important to know how old the expectant mother is, as well as in what month the conception occurred. By comparing these data, the table will indicate who will be born to you - D (girl), or M (boy).

The Japanese also use a table to determine the sex of the unborn baby. But she looks a little different. First, we determine the number indicated by the intersection point of the month of birth of the future father and mother.

Month of birth

Then, in the following table, we look for the resulting number and month of conception, and determine the gender of the “resulting” baby.

However, these days, these methods are viewed more as a game than as a serious way to determine the gender of the unborn baby.

Blood in determining the sex of the unborn child

There are two ways to determine the gender of a child using blood: by blood type and by its renewal. It is believed that human blood tends to renew itself: in a woman every three years, and in a man every four. And whose blood is “younger” at the time of conception, the future baby will be of this gender.

They also determine (or even guess with minimal accuracy) the sex of the child using the following tables of blood group and the Rh factor of the future parents.

The people claim

And yet the most interesting are the “folk” ways of determining the sex of the unborn baby, as they often say - “grandmother’s recipes”.

• The presence of a woman's waist (from behind) during pregnancy indicates that there is a boy in her tummy.
• Boys also kick harder in the stomach.
• Girls usually “take away the beauty” from their mother (“acneous” skin, tormenting, and).
• Cold feet and a craving for salty foods indicate that you are having a boy.
• A woman's grace appears when she is pregnant with a girl, and her clumsiness appears when she is pregnant with a boy.
• Swollen legs indicate pregnancy with a boy.
• Darkened nipple areolas “hint” at the birth of a girl.
• Increased hair growth on your legs indicates that you are having a baby boy.
• Intensive sex life“provokes” the conception of girls.

There are apparently no such “methods” of determining gender in the arsenal of our grandmothers. However, none of them have a scientific basis, much less evidence. So you decide for yourself whether to believe them or not. There will certainly be those among our readers who will say: yes, with my daughter I was terribly ugly, and with my son I had to wax my legs twice a day. Isn't it?

Especially for- Tanya Kivezhdiy