What week can you find out the sex of the child by ultrasound?

Every pregnant woman eagerly awaits the moment when the sex of the child can be determined. There are many signs associated with this, however, the most reliable method is ultrasound (ultrasound). It provides more accurate information: eating sweet or salty does not indicate at all whether a girl is born or a boy. We will tell you about which week you can find out the sex of the child in this article.

Gender formation

Many women try to guess the time of intercourse before ovulation if they want to have a girl. It is generally accepted that conception on the day of ovulation is associated with the birth of a boy. However, it is possible to understand what the sex of the baby depends on without various beliefs and signs. For the sex of the unborn child, it is not the days of the woman's cycle, not the diet and not the coincidence of the periods of blood renewal in the parents, but the man who are responsible. And alone: the sex cells (sperm) can be carriers of the female set of chromosomes (XX) or male (XY).

Who will be born is determined directly at the moment of conception. It depends on which sperm was able to get to the egg and fertilize it. Carrier XX guarantees the birth of a girl, carrier XY guarantees the birth of a boy. Absolutely nothing depends on the woman in the matter of gender planning. Her chromosome set is always the same - XX.

Immediately after fertilization, the sex of the child, the color of his eyes, hair, approximate height, abilities and state of health are determined at the chromosome level. All this and other information is contained in DNA. From the moment of conception, interesting and rapid processes of cell division (formation of the embryo) begin. Sex cells are formed at the 5th week of pregnancy, however, the sex glands, despite the fact that the sex is already a foregone conclusion, begin to form only at the 7th week of pregnancy by obstetric time (from the first day of the last menstruation).

After two weeks, the embryo has formed ovaries (if it is a girl) or testicles (if a boy is conceived). Both those and other sex glands are formed in the baby's abdominal cavity. It's 8 obstetric week (6 weeks from conception). The formation of gender differences in boys is somewhat accelerated. By the middle of the 8th obstetric week, their testes begin to produce testosterone (male sex hormone). Under its action, the internal reproductive system begins to actively form.

Children acquire external signs of gender only by 10-11 weeks of mother's pregnancy. It is difficult to distinguish a boy from a girl at this time. Outwardly, the genitals of both those and others are exactly the same. They are a genital tubercle, which, under the influence of steroid hormones, in boys turns into a penis, and in girls - into a clitoris. This happens around 12 weeks of gestation.

Myths and truths about conceiving boys and girls

Impatience breeds a lot of beliefs, many of which are unreliable.

Connection with ovulation

It is believed that spermatozoa with a "gentleman's" set of XY are faster and more agile, and cells with female XX are tenacious, so you need to conceive a girl before ovulation, a boy - immediately at the time of ovulation. In fact, sperm with any set of chromosomes have approximately the same viability, activity and endurance. Sexual intercourse before ovulation cannot guarantee a girl, nor can a boy be guaranteed on the day of ovulation. 50/50 probability and other options are excluded.

Parents age

The opinion is firmly established among the people that a man older than a woman has a greater chance of conceiving a boy. If the situation is the opposite, a girl is more likely to be born in their pair. From the point of view of evidence-based medicine, this statement is not based on anything.

Although a few years ago, a scientific work on this topic was published by British scientists, who suggested that the age of the parents plays a role in relation to the firstborn. The statistics given by them made it possible to judge the probability of such a dependence at 30-35%. Not much to be considered an infallible truth.

Season, Rh factor and the nature of the parents

Winter, spring or summer do not affect the production of certain sperm in a man, and therefore the probability of conceiving a boy or girl in a certain season is nothing more than prejudice.

The Rh factor of the blood is an indicator of the presence or absence of a protein present above red blood cells. On the reproductive system, negative or positive rhesus does not affect under any circumstances... The popular opinion that strong and strong-willed women are more likely to have boys may be true in individual cases, but there is no scientifically convincing relationship, as well as convincing statistics.

ECO

Yes it's true. Artificial selection allows parents to choose a child of one sex or another, because in a test tube, the sex of the babies is definitely known even before the mother is implanted with a fertilized egg.

Sex determination ultrasound

Often many women come to the ultrasound scan after a delay in the next menstruation. Modern pregnancy tests, simple at home, usually just a couple of days after the delay (some before), show two stripes. However, due to the availability of ultrasound diagnostics, most women and girls prefer ultrasound rather than testing. The sex of the unborn child before the genitals are formed, no one, even the best diagnostician, working on the most modern equipment, can name a woman.

The first ultrasounds at the very beginning of pregnancy are performed transvaginally: this allows a better view of the uterine cavity. The woman is asked to fill her bladder while the pregnancy is short. Already by 12 weeks (especially in thin women), it is possible to carry out a transabdominal ultrasound (the sensor will be adjacent to the stomach). Intestinal gases, which often accumulate in pregnant women from the early stages of bearing a baby, can complicate the examination.

Before visiting the ultrasound office, it is better to drink Espumisan or Smecta in a few hours, since the accumulation of gases can squeeze the abdominal organs and somewhat distort the picture presented to the ultrasound doctor.

An experienced ultrasound doctor can theoretically consider the difference in the angle of the genital tubercle of girls and boys and before 12 weeks, but the probability of an error before this deadline will be high.

Parents can find out the gender of their baby during the first screening (if ultrasound is scheduled for 12-13 weeks of pregnancy). After 13-14 weeks, the external genitals of the child are clearly visible, with the correct position of the fetus and a free review for the diagnostician, you can touch the secret and find out the first assumptions of doctors about the sex of the child.

Ultrasound at this time does not set itself the task of determining the sex of the baby. The study is necessary for other reasons, the diagnostician has to find out:

the presence of pregnancy;
the place of attachment of the placenta;
number of fruits;
the vitality of the baby (kids);
fetal formation and possible deviations from the norms.

The sex of the child at 13-14 weeks can be seen if the child is not moving too actively at the time of the diagnosis, is facing the sensor, does not cover the genitals with pens or the umbilical cord. An experienced specialist who has been working with an ultrasound scanner for 15-20 years can see them on the monitor. The method of performing an ultrasound scan for any period of pregnancy is almost the same... The accuracy of sex determination increases every month, but in the second half of pregnancy it may decrease.

Accuracy of ultrasound

The accuracy of the first ultrasound scan depends on the qualifications of the doctor, his work experience, the class of equipment in the ultrasound office. The results of sex determination at the first screening should not be taken as an unconditional truth, although the probability accurate "hit" by an experienced doctor is about 75-80%... Often, the doctor refuses to discuss the sex of the child at this time and suggests returning to this topic in a month.

Conventionally, the typical period at which it is possible to determine the sex of the child with an accuracy of 90% is 15-16 weeks of pregnancy.

When a woman goes through a second screening, the question is quite justified. The expectant mother will receive a confident answer from the ultrasound diagnostician. By this time, the boy's penis, his scrotum and the girls labia are clearly visible with the fetus in a convenient location for viewing. At week 20, it is almost impossible to make a mistake with the floor, although anything can happen.

Doctors of ultrasound diagnostics claim that the sex is most easily considered in babies at 23-25 weeks pregnancy. At this time, children still have the opportunity to stretch, straighten in the uterine cavity, open to the view of the ultrasound sensor. In the third trimester (after 32 weeks), when the baby becomes cramped in the mother's womb, he can take very uncomfortable positions, it can be difficult to see the genitals, especially if the baby turns sideways and covers the genitals with his legs or back.

Most babies in the third trimester are in a head-down position (cephalic presentation). In this case, the baby already has to tighten the legs. There is often an umbilical cord between the legs, making it difficult to see the floor. If the child is in breech presentation, it is even more problematic to consider sexual characteristics.

Women who are sure that the ultrasound doctor sees the baby's gender with 100% accuracy should remember once and for all: the accuracy of ultrasound as a diagnostic method is never 100%. Never, under any circumstances, in any area of medicine. The probability of an accurate ultrasound result during pregnancy is about 85-90%. Therefore, one in ten expectant mothers may have an error in determining the sex of the baby.

Diagnostic errors

Expectant mothers should understand that ultrasound is done by a person who, like all people, can be wrong. Most often, diagnosticians confuse gender, not because of a lack of experience or knowledge, but because of a difficult view.

Here are some common ultrasound mistakes:

A boy is visible, a girl was born

It is possible that the diagnostician mistook the umbilical cord loops or the labia swollen under the hormonal attack for the penis. During the study, they are shown to the parents of the baby. However, at a later date, ultrasound shows another. Sometimes the gender is not visible until delivery. The probability of such an error is approximately 2-3%.

Waited for a girl, a boy was born

This situation is rare. Not seeing the penis is more difficult than mistaking swollen labia or umbilical cord loops for it. However, in 1-1.5% of cases (the statistics are relative), doctors come across such "modest" boys that they can be considered girls during their entire pregnancy because of the tightly shifted legs that cover the penis and scrotum. Therefore, if the doctors said one thing, but it turned out differently, it's okay: the child is yours.

Waited for one, it turned out to be two

This is also possible, but in rare cases (if one baby is located behind the other, "hides"). Usually the truth is revealed by the second ultrasound. The probability of such an error is less than 0.5%. In addition, modern methods (determination of hCG in the blood) will certainly push the doctor to the idea of a possible twins, because the level of hormones will be twice the norm.

Causes of medical errors

Most often, the causes of errors lie in the coincidence of several factors that lead to an incorrect assessment of the situation. In addition to insufficient qualifications and experience of a doctor, this may be:

Outdated hardware. In antenatal clinics in small settlements, specialists sometimes make mistakes in determining the sex of the child due to insufficient technical equipment (4-5% of cases).
Persistence of a pregnant woman. If a woman asks, the doctor simply cannot refuse to determine her sex: he is obliged to this by such a concept as medical ethics. The expectant mother often perceives the doctor's assumption as an accurate result.

Fetal position. An ultrasound scan at 21-22 weeks can show a boy, a study at 30-32 weeks - a girl. In this case, it makes sense to trust the earlier result, since it is easier to determine the sex in the middle of pregnancy than before childbirth.

Exact determination methods

Future parents are often interested in the question: are there more accurate methods for diagnosing gender. Yes, there are such methods. First of all, this is a non-invasive DNA test, which allows you to determine the sex of the baby with an accuracy of 99% already from 8-9 weeks of pregnancy. The method is based on the isolation of DNA from fetal erythrocytes, which by this time begin to be determined in the blood of a pregnant woman. Such an analysis is considered a new method, it is carried out only in paid centers and clinics, its cost is several tens of thousands of rubles.

Sometimes the need to find out the gender at any cost - not a whim of a pregnant woman and her relatives, but a medical necessity... Gender is of great importance if the family history contains genes that cause genetic pathologies based on gender. For example, such diseases include hemophilia - the inability of blood to clot. It is inherited only by mothers, although only boys suffer from hemophilia. To exclude the possibility of giving birth to a sick child, the doctor may give a referral to invasive methods of gender diagnosis. If it turns out that the woman is carrying a boy, she will be offered to terminate the pregnancy for medical reasons.

Invasive methods are based on penetration with a thin surgical instrument into the uterine cavity (in the ovum) to take water, fetal skin particles, and its blood for analysis. Chorionic villus biopsy is done early. The obtained material gives a complete and accurate (99.9%) idea of what gender the baby is in the womb, whether it has pathologies.

All these procedures are carried out exclusively for compelling medical reasons. They are traumatic, can lead to infection of the membranes, outpouring of water, premature birth or miscarriage, intrauterine fetal death.

Mom and Dad's curiosity should not endanger the baby's health.

Photo from ultrasound

The differences between boys and girls are in genitals that are different in shape and size. However, at an earlier date (at 13-14 weeks), no one measures the child's genitals. It is enough that the size of the testicles is normally only a few millimeters. These indicators are approximately the same as the size of girls' ovaries.

Looking closely at the photo of strange spots and dots (the first ultrasound scan), it should be remembered: the specialist made it in the transverse planeso everything looks strange. The sexual characteristics of a girl in early pregnancy in the picture may be clear parallel stripes. They can be from 2 to 4. Later in this place the doctor and mother will be able to see the labia majora and minora.

Such differences in the early shot are a great success. More often, the genital area looks like a spot with a small tubercle, which can be both the penis and the clitoris. You can immediately confuse them. More noticeable differences will be seen later. Better to ask the doctor to take a "photo" at the second screening... There will be much more to be seen, especially if the ultrasound was performed in 3D.

Psychologist's advice

Particularly difficult for doctors are certain categories of pregnant women, for whom the gender of the child is of particular importance.These include women from strict Muslim families, where future fathers, on pain of divorce, require their wife to give birth to a son, as well as women who already have two or three same-sex children.

With such women, doctors and psychologists of antenatal clinics try to work especially carefully: it is possible that the ultrasound will show the wrong gender that the pregnant woman expects. Sometimes doctors make a deliberate lie to keep the woman calm, because with her experiences she is able to harm herself and the fetus. The deception is not aimed at misleading the woman and her family: the doctor may not tell the sex of the child in order to save the woman from a big mistake.

The expectations of moms and dads are not always met, this is a common situation. If you really wanted a girl, and the ultrasound showed a boy (or vice versa), psychologists recommend that the woman calm down, try to accept the fact.

It is important to think about what the pros are in the current situation, how joyful and interesting weekdays and holidays will be, if two brothers have a third, a daughter will have a sister.

To realize that the sex of the child is contrary to expectations and aspirations, a woman needs several weeks, in more adequate cases, several days. There are no children of the "wrong sex": in any case, this is a person who is completely dependent on the well-being and mood of his mother. Scientists say that babies already in the first days after conception at the cellular level understand whether they are desirable. If a woman is disappointed, the changes take place on a physical level. The belly responds to mom's emotional changes.

Nobody in the world wants to feel unwanted, unloved. Before you start crying and suffering over the "broken dream", think about how bad it will be for the tiny defenseless person inside. The visual images that mom can draw for herself will help to love the baby (how they decorate a Christmas tree together for the New Year, how he gives her the first craft on March 8, how he blows out his first candles on a birthday cake).

Family psychologists believe that these days, a disappointed expectant mother simply has no one to talk to about her feelings and emotions. It is not customary in society to discuss this topic: it is considered somewhat shameful to say that the unborn child is not at all the one who was so expected.

To quickly accept the situation and get rid of painful feelings, experts recommend the following procedure:

You can't suppress your emotions. A mother-to-be should not forbid herself to feel what she is feeling. It is best to find a friend who can listen to the pregnant woman's emotions and calm the woman down. If there is no such person in the environment, you can contact a psychologist who accepts free of charge in any antenatal clinic.

You can't look back at others. If a mother decides to follow the advice of psychologists, the main thing is not to listen to those who are trying to suggest that the child is not needed. So the woman will be able to accept and love the future baby, and it will take only a couple of weeks to "digest" the disappointment, no more. Don't let anyone get in your way.
Start talking to your baby. As soon as the first emotions subside, you should start communicating with the child: finding a common language is half the battle. Instincts will come to the rescue of a woman, it is important to start taking care of the baby. You can sew a blue blouse for him if it's a boy, knit pink booties if there is a girl in the stomach. As a last resort, you can just go to the store and buy your baby's first toy - a cute bear or bunny with a ribbon around his neck (pink or blue), and put him in a prominent place in the house. Then the mother, meeting her baby's toy with her eyes, will involuntarily experience warm and positive feelings several times during the day.

It is much more difficult to come to terms with the birth of a child of the “wrong sex”. Often, all experiences are superimposed on postpartum depression, the woman becomes completely unbearable. However, practice shows that a baby that is born can quickly win the love of mom and dad. This problem solves by itself, dissolves in the daily worries of feeding, washing, walking.

Some women, having heard on the ultrasound that the sex of the child does not match the desired one, require a referral for an abortion from the doctor. The murder of a living person at the whim of adults just because he turned out not to be what mom and dad imagined is unjustified. The kid is not to blame for the fact that the father threatens to leave the family if "this is not a boy."

Let go, if his gender is not the same, then there is no love and education of a good child, he cannot give. You cannot weigh the life of a child and the feelings of a man on different scales.