At About What Point in Gestation Can an Ultrasound Exam Determine the Sex of the Fetus?

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Most parents today will want to find out the sex of their baby before birth. One of the almost common ways to do this is with an ultrasound, most oftentimes performed at between 18 and 20 weeks of gestation.

According to a 2012 study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, no less than 69% of parents wanted to know. Among the reasons cited, 77.viii% wanted to know "out of marvel," 68% "just wanted to know," and 66.8% did and so "because it was possible."

Your Baby's Ultrasound: What to Expect

Prenatal Ultrasound

A prenatal ultrasound is a non-invasive test that uses audible audio waves to produce images of a fetus'southward shape and position in the uterus. It is a preferred method of imaging during pregnancy every bit it neither involves radiation nor poses damage to either the fetus or mother.

An ultrasound is routinely used at dissimilar stages of the pregnancy. While most practitioners will await until at least six weeks to perform the first ultrasound, the gestational sac may exist seen as early on as four and a one-half weeks, while a heartbeat may be detected as early on as five.

Between weeks eighteen and 20, a trained sonographer volition perform a detailed anatomy browse called a level 2 ultrasound. It is at this time that the sonographer will measure the size of your baby, check the major organs, measure the level of amniotic fluid to make sure that it'due south right, and check the position of the placenta.

By this stage of fetal development, you lot should besides be able to find out the sex of your infant. While telling the divergence can sometimes exist tricky, there are a few things the sonographer volition look for to make the decision.

Accuracy

When a sonographer does a level 2 test, what is seen on ultrasound is far more of import than what is not seen. With regards to determining sexual activity, what this means is that the absence of a penis does not inherently mean that you have a girl.

With that being said, over 99% of ultrasounds performed between weeks 18 and 20 will make the correct conclusion. It is only when it is performed earlier week 14 that the rate of accuracy can drop significantly.

According to a 2014 study from Australia, which reviewed 642 fetal ultrasound results performed between weeks 11 and 14, the overall success rate in determining fetal sexual activity was 75%. The most common mistake was to assign male fetuses as female.

Girl Ultrasound Signs

When determining the sexual practice of the fetus on ultrasound, the sonographer volition look for feature features known as signs. For girls, there are two signs to look for:

• Hamburger sign: This is the moniker given to the appearance of the labia and clitoris on an ultrasound. If you expect closely at the image, yous will encounter that the labia lips would look similar to a hamburger bun, while the clitoris would resemble the hamburger patty.
• Sagittal sign: Each sex activity has a sagittal sign. It is obtained by looking at a profile view of the fetus (known as the midline sagittal plane). There is a nub at the finish of the spine, called the caudal notch. If it is pointing downwardly at a 10-degree angle, then the fetus is a girl.

Boy Ultrasound Signs

You would think that male person fetuses would exist easier to place than females, just that's not always the case. This is especially true earlier week 14. Past weeks xviii to twenty, the determination for a baby boy would exist based on the following signs:

• Sagittal sign: If the caudal notch is pointing upward at more than than a 30-degree angle, then the fetus is a male child. If information technology is somewhere in between, information technology may exist harder to make a definitive determination.
• Period of urine: The menses of urine can sometimes exist spotted in a fetus. If information technology is moving upwardly, and so it is more likely a male child.
• Male person genitalia: Frequently be seen by weeks 18 to twenty, the presence of male genitalia, including testicles, scrotum, and penis, is a articulate sign of male gender.

Other Ways to Decide Sex

In addition to an ultrasound, the sex activity of your babe can exist confirmed with an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Amniocentesis is a procedure in which fluid is extracted from the sac surrounding your baby with a needle and syringe. CVS involves taking cells from the placenta with a needle.

While both procedures carry risks, they are extremely authentic in making the conclusion and can return a upshot by as early as week 11 (for CVS) and calendar week 15 (for amniocentesis).

In fact, the same study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology ended that 65% of parents preferred to know the baby'southward sex afterward an amniocentesis compared to 28% who preferred an ultrasound. This was despite the fact that 96.ii% of women believed that an ultrasound was a reliable means of determining the sex of her baby.

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1. Kooper AJ, Pieters JJ, Eggink AJ, et al. Why do parents adopt to know the fetal sex equally part of invasive prenatal testing?. ISRN Obstet Gynecol. 2012;2012:524537. doi:10.5402/2012/524537

2. American Higher of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Ultrasound exams.

3. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Guidelines for diagnostic imaging during pregnancy and lactation.

4. Kearin 1000, Pollard Chiliad, Garbett I. Accurateness of sonographic fetal gender conclusion: Predictions made by sonographers during routine obstetric ultrasound scans. Australas J Ultrasound Med. 2014;17(3):125-130. doi:x.1002/j.2205-0140.2014.tb00028.x

5. Kearin M, Pollard K, Garbett I. Accurateness of sonographic fetal gender decision: Predictions made by sonographers during routine obstetric ultrasound scans. Australian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine. 2014;17(three):125-130. doi:10.1002/j.2205-0140.2014.tb00028.10

6. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Amniocentesis.

7. American Higher of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Prenatal genetic diagnostic tests.

Boosted Reading

• Manzanares S, Benítez A, Naveiro-Fuentes Yard, et al. Accuracy of fetal sex determination on ultrasound examination in the first trimester of pregnancy J Clin Ultrasound. 2016;44(five):272-277. doi:10.1002/jcu.22320.

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Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/ultrasound-photos-of-girls-and-boys-in-pregnancy-2758367

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