Boy or Girl? Ways of Finding out the Sex of Your Baby

Pregnant and curious to know whether you are carrying a baby girl or baby boy? Then why not carry out a baby gender test to find out. Naturally, the next question is: which gender test shall I use? There are so many different ones available and all claim to be accurate and reliable. The following should help clarify the issue.

DIY Gender Tests: The Old Wives’ Tales

There are a vast number of tests which can tell you the sex of your baby and the following are a just a few of the most common at home gender tests. You will find ample more information about these tests online. A word of warning: whilst these tests can provide a correct result, there is no hard evidence to support them and whether they actually work or not is purely based on anecdotal experience.

The Chinese calendar is probably one of the most popular tests around. Based upon your age, this popular gender prediction test claims to be able to tell you the sex of the baby with astounding accuracy. The important issue that is taken into consideration is age- you need to enter both your date of birth and either your conception date or due date. From these dates, the calendar claims to predict the sex of your unborn baby.

The Cabbage test is another very popular at home test. It is pretty simply to carry and all it involves is boiling finely chopped cabbage and mixing in your urine while the boiled cabbage is still hot. The resulting solution and color change should indicate the sex of your baby. Pink or red means you are expecting a boy whilst purple indicates a girl.

But how accurate are the above tests?

These at home gender tests are often referred to as old wives’ tales or as myths. The reason is that no studies have been carried out to validate these studies and some of these tests have even been scientifically researched and rejected. However, you can still expect a correct result. After all, you have a 50% chance of your baby being a boy and a 50% chance of it being a girl and thus, you also have a 50% probability of the test providing you with a correct result.

DNA Testing for Baby Gender

A more accurate and reliable method for ascertaining the sex of your baby is by means of a DNA test. DNA can be detected in samples of maternal blood or maternal urine. Because these are actual DNA tests the analysis of the sample will need to be carried out in the laboratory. All you will be required to do is collect the sample required. Urine baby gender testing provides an accuracy of around 99% whilst a gender test with blood varies in accuracy between 85-95%. The sample collected for this type of test will not be suitable for a paternity test in pregnancy. This latter type of DNA test is far more complex in terms of samples used and methods of analysis.

Samples of a baby gender test with blood are collecting by pricking the tip of the finger and collecting blood drops onto a special paper. For a urine gender DNA test, you will be provided with a urine specimen cup. You will then just need to return samples for analysis.

Karl McDonald is an online writer specializing in writing about genetics. The author regularly contributes to many online blogs and websites delving into various, related topics including forensic testing, genetic sampling information about genetic illnesses and health tests. Many of the articles, resources and information written by the author can be found at: http://www.easydna.co.uk/

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