Typically done between weeks 18 and 22 of pregnancy, this test checks that all of your baby's organs and limbs are developing as expected — including those telltale reproductive organs. Although all babies start out with the same preliminary set of genitalia in the womb, at that point during your pregnancy, you can tell the difference between a baby boy or girl on an ultrasound.
While those scheduled late in the first trimester between weeks 11 and 14 get it right about 75 percent of the time, those done in the second trimester have an almost percent accuracy rate, though no test is perfect. As hard as it may be to wait, if you want to avoid repainting the nursery, hold off until the second trimester to act on any ultrasound results. In fact the accuracy of the test can be affected by:. And in the case of NIPT, you can find out as early as week 9 of pregnancy.
The absence of the above signs doesn't necessarily guarantee the baby is female. A sonographer's trained eyes will instead watch for these clues that suggest baby is a girl:.
With a male baby, it is often possible to observe the penis, testicles and scrotum at the second trimester routine scan. Lots of the mums on our forum have experienced sonographers using this method when they have scanned them. Buy tickets now. This week scan, posted by forum user SW2 , shows a boy. It looks very different from the 3 lines girl scan above, with the genitalia clearly sticking out. Your baby is also developing hair on her head, as well as eyelashes and the first hint of eyebrows.
Her eyes are still firmly shut, however, and won't open until approximately 23 weeks. The big news this week? Your baby-to-be's gender is no longer a mystery. Differentiation of male and female sex characteristics, which begins at the ninth week, is complete by week Still, you might have to wait a few weeks to find out whether you're having a boy or a girl.
Even if you do have an ultrasound , the sonographer might not be able to determine the baby's sex during an exam at this age, but in a few more weeks, you might be able to find out baby's gender. One development you'll have no problem seeing during an ultrasound at this time is happening deep inside your baby-to-be's skeleton.
All along his frame, connective tissue is turning into bone. This complex bone formation process, called ossification, begins in utero and doesn't really finalize until well into your child's life and even into adulthood. Bones need to be somewhat malleable in order for your baby-to-be to continue to grow now, and after he's born. Several layers of both inorganic and organic substances have to come together to help make bones form, grow and harden.
You'll be able to see these developing bones grow brighter whiter on the ultrasound as they become larger and harder. The scans are typically done twice during pregnancy, but the one done between 18 and 22 weeks is when the sonographer ultrasound technician might identify the gender of the baby, if parents want to know. Expectant parents who want their child's sex to remain a secret until birth are in the minority, said Dr. He said about 85 percent of couples want to find out the baby's gender before delivery.
They do so for several reasons: to know how to paint the nursery, pick a name or satisfy their curiosities about the family composition. However, "more and more people are telling us they want to wait until the baby arrives to find out the sex," Carr said. Increasingly, Carr said, couples have asked him to write down the baby's sex and place the answer in a sealed envelope.
This is because some parents-to-be want to host a gender-reveal party for family and friends to share the news. Beyond ending the guessing game, there are medical reasons why mothers and fathers may want to learn the sex of their baby from an ultrasound. Sometimes knowing the gender can help parents make informed decisions about the pregnancy itself, such as in the case of sex-specific diseases, Carr told Live Science.
One example of this is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a genetic condition in which baby girls may have genitals that appear more masculine than feminine, according to the Mayo Clinic. Lately, as more couples turn to in-vitro fertilization procedures to conceive a child, the issue of selecting the sex of a baby for purposes of "family balancing" rather than for medical reasons is controversial and raises ethical concerns.
Here six important facts about ultrasound screenings and sex determination, according to Carr, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. But the common prenatal scan wasn't intended as an exam to find out the baby's gender; it was meant to image the developing fetus for other medical reasons, he said.
Although the test can be done at any point during pregnancy, women typically get one during the first trimester. This early ultrasound is often done to confirm a pregnancy, detect the fetal heartbeat and determine the due date, according to the March of Dimes. A second ultrasound is usually done between the 18th and 22nd weeks of pregnancy to make sure that the baby is growing and developing properly.
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