Are you weighing up whether or not to find out your baby’s gender?
Finding out your baby’s gender is a really exciting moment – but it just so happens that some people prefer to wait until their baby is born to find out if they have a boy or a girl.
This is because in the emotional moment of actually meeting your baby it can make it all even more special.
On the other hand many parents simply cannot wait to find out what they are having, and finding out the gender of your baby is a pretty exciting moment regardless of when you do find out.
For me personally I loved finding out the gender of both of my kids at their 20 week scans. It was a really nice moment and it gave me time to prepare!
There are a few pros and cons to both options, and it’s really just down to what’s right for you.
A survey in 2004 found that 58% of mothers and 58% of fathers learned or planned to learn their baby’s gender before the birth.
Another poll found 51% of parents in America would like to wait until the baby is born.
To help you make a decision on whether to find out the baby’s gender we’re going to take a look at the pros and cons, plus some tips about finding out your baby’s gender!
Pros of finding out your baby’s gender
You get to find out right away
Are you one of those people who just has to know information right away? Me too!
Finding out your baby’s gender as soon as you can doesn’t make it any less of a surprise, it just means you get to find out right now and get planning!
You’re able to prepare
Knowing your baby’s gender means you can buy both gender neutral and gender specific clothes. It also may make decorating the nursery much easier, as you can
You can also buy clothes and decorate their bedroom for a boy or a girl is that’s what you want to do.
Discussing baby names is easier
By finding out whether you are having a boy or a girl you immediately halve the discussions you need to have about baby names.
Knowing the gender can also help you focus on the types of names you really love.
If you are looking for baby name inspiration then check out my baby name ideas posts:
Baby girl names with cute nicknames
Baby boy names with cute nicknames
You could throw a gender reveal party
Some parents choose to surprise their loved ones with news of their baby’s gender at a reveal party! This may involve cutting into a cake coloured pink or blue in the middle or firing a confetti canon with pink of blue confetti.
You can make it a surprise for yourselves as well at the party by getting the medical professional who conducts your gender scan to write down the sex on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. You can then present that envelope to a cake maker or whoever is providing your gender reveal “prop” and then it’s a big surprise for you as well.
A gender reveal party can be combined with a baby shower and is a fun way of celebrating your baby’s arrival with loved ones.
Pros of not finding out baby’s gender until birth
Scans can, on occasion, be wrong
It is incredibly rare but sometimes either during the scan the healthcare professional cannot see the clearly enough to tell the baby’s gender or there can sometimes be mistakes.
By waiting until your baby is born you will know you’re getting a definitive answer!
Gender neutral clothes may be your preference
Gender neutral clothes are adorable and this may be your preference anyway. Sticking to yellow, beige, purple, orange and green when it comes to babygros is not exactly a hardship as you still have a ton of choice when it comes to adorable baby clothes.
You can keep your newborn clothes for the next baby
Gender neutral clothes will work for your next baby, regardless of what gender they are!
Babies grow out of clothes rapidly and so you’ll find the baby clothes you have to pass down to your next kids are almost like new!
This saves you money and hassle when it comes to preparing for your second baby.
You get a surprise at the birth
That moment when your baby is born is hard to beat, but adding onto that the surprise of whether you have a boy or a girl can make it a really special memory.
How early can you find out your baby’s gender
The earliest you can find out your baby’s gender is if you have a prenatal blood test which may be able to tell you whether your baby is a boy or girl as early as 11 weeks into your pregnancy.
However these tests are not offered routinely on the NHS.
Generally the routine ultrasound scan at 20 weeks will be when you can find out the gender of your baby in the UK.
An earlier scan at 14 weeks could reveal your baby’s sex, but these scans are not thought to be accurate until 18 weeks at the earliest.
Can you accurately guess your baby’s gender?
Some people swear they just know what they are having. But can there be such a thing as parental intuition when it comes to predicting a baby’s gender?
Well a study actually looked at this! It found that 40% of mothers surveyed for the study thought they had intuition about their baby’s gender.
So how many of those mamas got their baby’s gender correct? 51%!
The conclusion from the study was: “Intuition of fetal gender is professed by almost half of mothers though, when present, is no better at accurately predicting fetal gender than flipping a coin.”
Final thoughts on finding out if you’re having a boy or girl
So finding out whether you are expecting a boy or girl ahead of your due date is totally up to you!
In some cases you may get to your 20 week scan and find the baby is in a position that means the gender cannot be determined! This actually happened to us with our first baby so we went for a private scan as we really wanted to know!
Whatever you choose to do the excitement around welcoming your baby will be just as special!
