You know the old wives’ tales for gender prediction: If you’re carrying high, breaking out with acne, noticing a high fetal heart rate, craving sweets, or stricken with strong morning sickness, think pink.
Similarly, if you’re carrying low, have dry hands and cold feet, noticing a low fetal heart rate, craving sour foods, or sailing through pregnancy without a queasy stomach, you’re expecting a little prince.
But is there any truth to any of them?
No, said Dr. Lily Hahn, an OB-GYN with St. Elizabeth Physicians. In fact, a fetus’ heart rate changes by the hour, so if it was 130 last week and 160 this week, the only thing you can deduce from that information is that your baby has a strong, healthy heartbeat.
Now that you’re throwing the Chinese gender calendar out the window, should you still find out the sex?
If you want to decorate your baby’s nursery before he or she is born, go for it. In general, there aren’t any health benefits to finding out the sex, but there aren’t any disadvantages either. Just try to refrain from visiting a novelty imaging center earlier than your fetal anatomy scan, Hahn said, which is usually scheduled between 18 and 20 weeks’ gestation.
The scan is when your obstetrician uses an ultrasound to look at your baby from head to toe to make sure he or she is healthy. It’s also the time when parents can find out the sex if they want to know.
Gender-revealing 3D and 4D ultrasounds before 18 weeks’ gestation at pregnancy spas or imaging centers aren’t a good idea because any ultrasound exposes the fetus to an increase in tissue temperature, Hahn said, which could potentially cause physical harm. It’s best to avoid unnecessary ultrasounds, especially because their purpose is solely to reveal the gender or capture a keepsake photo and there aren’t any medical benefits.
So, either postpone that gender-reveal party for a few more weeks or prepare yourself for the surprise of a lifetime at delivery. (And just remember that it doesn’t matter if you have a ton of heartburn during pregnancy or none at all, your baby is probably still going to be born with hair.)
