How to Test If You Are Having a Boy or a Girl

Although many wives' tales claim to determine whether you will have a boy or a girl, these techniques are better saved for baby shower entertainment. The only completely safe way to absolutely know the gender of your baby is to wait and see what happens in the delivery room, but you might want to know the baby's sex earlier than that in order to better plan for his or her arrival. Always consider the health of the baby when deciding how to test the gender.

Instructions

• 1

  Have your doctor perform an ultrasound. Beginning at 16 weeks, an ultrasound can determine the baby's gender with 80 percent to 90 percent accuracy. The test offers better results between the 18th and 26th weeks. Doctors don't generally give an ultrasound for the sole purpose of checking the baby's gender, but will perform ultrasounds periodically to make sure everything is progressing smoothly.

• 2

  Ask your doctor for an amniocentisis test. This test carries a 1 percent to 1.5 percent risk of miscarriage and a 1 percent chance of other pregnancy complications, so use this test only while checking for suspected genetic diseases. In this test, the doctor inserts a needle into the amniotic fluid around the baby to collect a sample.

• 3

  Check the results of a chorionic villus sampling (CVS) test. Doctors use this test to confirm genetic problems in high-risk cases. When performing this test, the doctor takes a sample of the embryonic membrane. CVS tests carry a significant risk of complications with a miscarriage rate of about 4 percent and a 3 percent chance of losing amniotic fluid or having a baby with limb deformities, especially when done before the 10th week of pregnancy. The results of this test are not as accurate as an ultrasound or amniocentisis.

• 4

  Ask for a DNA test. Although they provide complete accuracy, prenatal DNA tests are very expensive and only used in special cases in controlled settings.