Word of Mom | Pregnancy

The Gender Chart and Other Tests to Predict Baby's Gender

Can a gender chart or other old wives' tales accurately predict your baby's gender?

Do you want to confuse yourself while having a bit of fun? Try predicting your baby's sex by using a gender chart or some other old wive's tale. Did you know that at lease five different gender predictors can give you completely different results? If you're anything like me, you've tried them all.

All you have to do is search Google to find them. Literally hundreds of "tests" will tell you, based on your age and the month you conceived, that you're either having a boy or a girl. I checked more than one gender chart while I was pregnant, and the responses came out at 50/50 — one site would say I was having a girl while another predicted a boy.

Of course, there's only one surefire way to predict your baby's gender — and that's medical testing. Early on in your pregnancy, it's often recommended that women get either an amniocentesis or a chorionic villus sampling (CVS) test. Both are invasive procedures that come with a small risk of miscarriage — but they're useful in predicting whether your baby will have birth defects or a life-threatening illness, and they can also tell you your baby's gender. My husband and I chose to forego those tests because we felt the risk wasn't worth it. If our child was born with a disability, we decided we would deal with it after her birth.

An ultrasound is another way to determine your baby's gender. Because I had a low income during my pregnancy, I had only a couple of ultrasounds before my 20th week. On the 22nd week, I found out I was having a girl, which went along with my gut feeling. Ultrasounds aren't always right, though, and even experts make mistakes. My husband knew a couple who thought they were having a girl due to several ultrasounds, but when the child was born, "she" turned out to be a boy!

Because we chose not to have an amniocentesis, I decided to try another (more fun!) way to predict my daughter's gender: "the cabbage test." Take a few leaves from a red cabbage, boil them in a few cups of water, remove the leaves, and let the water cool to room temperature. In the morning, collect your urine and allow it to cool, then you mix equal parts cabbage water and urine to determine the sex of your baby. The theory behind it is the chemicals in the urine react to the chemicals in the cabbage water, changing its color depending on gender. If the water changes color to pink or red, you're having a boy. If the water color remains a maroon color, or changes to a purple or blue, you're having a girl. Obviously, this isn't totally accurate. But I'll admit, it worked for me!

What ways did you try to predict your baby's gender? Tell us in the comments section below!

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