Old Wives Tales For Predicting Baby Gender – Debunked!

Nearly every mom-to-be will experience someone trying to guess the sex of her baby at some point during her pregnancy. She may even try to do it herself! Take a look at some of the most common methods for predicting a baby’s gender and why they just don’t quite add up:

• Pendulum / Circle Swing. Hang your wedding ring or a needle on a string and hold it over the belly. If it moves in a circular motion you’ll be having a girl, but if it moves like a pendulum, it’s a boy. While this method has a spooky element, you can really just chalk it up to uncontrollable mini-muscle movements.
• The Chinese Conception Chart. This chart correlates your baby’s gender based on its month of conception and the age of the mother. It’s popular in China, and is said to be accurate, but hasn’t caught on or been verified in North America.

Many methods for guessing gender focus on the mother and baby themselves. While they may seem slightly more scientific, in the end, they’re still just old wives tales. Examples of these include:

• Fetal heart rate. A 1993 study out of Kentucky found that 91 percent of male babies and 74 percent of female babies could be accurately predicted using fetal heart rate. A heart rate of more than 140 beats per minute means girl, while less than the magic 140 number means boy. Unfortunately, no other study before or after this one has been able to support the conclusion.
• Where You’re Carrying The Baby. This is one of the most common offhand predictors for a baby’s gender. If you’re carrying the baby high, it’s believed to be a girl. Carrying low, the baby is a boy. Variations on this one include lots of morning sickness indicating a girl, or an active baby indicating a boy, but none of them have been backed up with conclusive scientific study.
• Food Cravings. Think your cravings can predict your baby’s gender? Some believe that if you’re craving sweets, you’re probably having a girl, which craving salt, it’s probably a boy. But again, there’s no scientific evidence to back this one up.

These are just a small sample of the many creative ways to predict a baby’s gender – share more in the comments below!