Given below are various methods used for determining baby gender. These methods to find baby gender are scientific and accurate. Commonly used sex determination tests and how the test is done is explained below.
Chronic Villus Sampling Test or CVS Test
There are various technology oriented methods guiding the phenomena of gender prediction. Amongst the various techniques used, the one performed following ten to twelve weeks of the last menstrual cycle or missed period is known as 'CVS' or 'Chronic Villus Sampling'; whereby doctors diagnose a sample tissue for the purpose of ascertaining birth or congenital defects.
The tiny bit of tissue is generally extracted from the external part of the fetal sac, around its placenta. Apart from unfolding genetic disorders and chromosome centric maladies, the aforementioned test also serves to highlight the gender of a baby. However the given technique is not without defect. It leads to the possibility of miscarriage.
Gender DNA Test to Find Baby Gender
Another safer technique revolves around the use of DNA kit. It involves the mere testing of an expecting mother's blood sample when she is six to ten weeks into her pregnancy. Performed in the pathological lab this test can also be conducted by an able lab technician. It is based on the principle that fetal cells and DNA cells of a conceived fetus can be traced in the expecting mother's blood stream. Scientific studies reveal that a part of fetal cells are released into the mother's bloodstream. Fetal cells containing DNA are then analyzed because DNA can be readily categorized.
Thus the cells recovered without disturbing the given fetal content are tested to diagnose baby gender. With the help of specific tests contained in the kit, it can be shown whether or not the given sample contains DNA from 'y' chromosome. A sample testing positive for 'y' chromosome predicts the conception of a boy baby; whereas a sample testing negative predicts that of a female baby. The test guaranteeing up to 99% of accuracy is relatively safer as a test method because it does not cause disturbance to fetal content.
Amniocentesis Test to Predict Baby Gender
'Amniocentesis' hinges on testing a sample fluid extracted from the amniotic sac which surrounds the fetus. It is generally carried out around the eighteenth to twentieth week of pregnancy. A needle is inserted to extract a small portion of the fluid. Cells evident in the fluid content are then tested to detect possible abnormalities including 'down syndrome'.
In cases where the baby is subject to any potential genetic abnormality or that of gender abnormalities, 'amniocentesis' is prescribed. Also involving the hazard of miscarriage, this happens to be the most reliable scientific method of baby gender prediction. Of late it is claimed that hazards of miscarriages are less in the given method rather than that of Chronic Villus Sampling- the first method discussed.
Ultrasound Baby Gender Test
Depending on the nature of pregnancy and its associated complications, ultrasound is prescribed. Apart from serving as the most popular method of gender prediction, it also helps to trace and monitor the growth and development of fetus over the three trimesters. In course of monitoring the fetal condition, it caters to gender prediction when the gestating mother is into her sixteenth week of pregnancy.
The technique gears to the transmission of sound waves high in frequency through the expecting mother's tummy. Sound waves reaching the uterus are reflected back as echoes. Echoes reflected are then transformed into an image on the monitor. Besides detecting heart beat of fetus and chances of ectopic pregnancies, it is about ninety percent effective in respect of baby gender determination.
Ultrasonography or Ultra Sound Scan
Ultrasonography performed in the third trimester serves to deliver a correct result as far as gender prediction is concerned. Surviving over forty years, this technique is yet to feature any adverse effect. Pregnant mothers going in for ultrasound scan are advised to fill their bladders with fluid for the purpose of better imaging.
Through ultra sound gender is detected by tracking the visual representations of the gradually developing genital tissues in the first trimester and that of the reproductive organs in the later months of pregnancy. Sometimes the position of the baby interferes with the accuracy of this method in gender prediction. It so happens that the baby lies face down or positions itself behind the placenta thereby inhibiting the technician to get the desired visualization. Even the skill of the technician is a point to be counted on as far as the accuracy is concerned.
Accurate and Reliable Sex Determination Methods
Thus even the lab oriented technique such as ultra sound may not be fully reliable or hundred percent fail proof. Amongst all the scientific methods discussed amniocentesis and CVS based on genetic sampling are supposed to be the more reliable ones. But the dangers of miscarriages involved in them are equally noteworthy.
Perhaps the test involving the use of a DNA kit is by far the safest with the prospect of 1% to 5% of failure rate. Medically speaking, ultrasound techniques should be used for detecting fetal anomalies such as cleft palate; other cardiac or other spinal defects rather than use the same for gender prediction.
In this regard it is worth mentioning that owing to a high incidence of female feticides, certain oriental countries like India has legally banned any form of gender predetermination by the use of the mentioned techniques. While the scientific methods are in vogue, with their required pertinence to fetal health; but the use of the same in respect of gender predetermination has been strictly prohibited by law.
However in countries where it is legally permissible, gender prediction through scientific method is definitely worth falling back upon as it facilitates mental and emotional preparedness on part of the expectant parents.
