Just later on answering the question, "Am I pregnant?", your next one might be: "Am I having a male child or a girl?" Although enough of methods — some legitimate, some just fun — can predict the sexual practice of your baby earlier on, your 20-week ultrasound usually offers a fairly reliable answer — with a few caveats.

Acquire how this second trimester sonogram works and how to tell if the images you lot run into indicate that a baby male child or girl is on the mode.

How does a "gender ultrasound" work?

During any ultrasound, a sonographer uses a wand called a transducer to emit sound waves through your belly (or other times, transvaginally). These pings safely bounce off of your baby's tissues, fluids and bones, and the echos aid create an image (called a sonogram) of your baby on the screen.

You may get several ultrasounds throughout pregnancy, simply the big gender reveal often happens during your second trimester at the xx-week ultrasound, if you desire to know what you're having.

Typically washed between weeks 18 and 22 of pregnancy, this test checks that all of your baby's organs and limbs are developing as expected — including those telltale reproductive organs.

Although all babies get-go out with the same preliminary set of genitalia in the womb, at that betoken during your pregnancy, yous tin tell the difference between a baby boy or girl on an ultrasound.

Meaning that every bit long as your little one is in an opportune position, the sonographer will await for those anatomical male child-girl distinctions to deliver the news you've been eagerly awaiting. Then if you'd rather not know, tell the sonographer you desire to be surprised!

How accurate is a gender ultrasound?

How accurately an ultrasound predicts a baby's sex depends on when it'southward performed. While those scheduled tardily in the first trimester (between weeks 11 and xiv) get it right about 75 pct of the fourth dimension, those done in the 2d trimester have an almost 100 percent accuracy rate, though no test is perfect.

As difficult as information technology may exist to expect, if you desire to avoid repainting the nursery, concord off until the second trimester to act on any ultrasound results.

No matter when you observe out babe's sex, keep in listen that ultrasounds rely on visual assay, which can be more than subjective and have room for error. In fact the accuracy of the exam can be affected by:

  • The sonographer. The more than experienced and trained your ultrasound technician is, the more than accurate your results (and baby sexual activity determination) will exist.
  • You. If you're experiencing gas or bloating (ii common pregnancy symptoms) or accept a total float, it can create shadows or cloud the image and make information technology more than hard to come up up with an authentic reading of infant'due south sex.
  • Your baby. Every bit much as y'all desire your babe to cooperate, your little one may have other plans. Crossed legs, the presence of the umbilical cord between the legs, or other less-than-ideal fetal positions can forbid the sonographer from getting a expert plenty look.
  • How many babies. If you're expecting multiples, your babies may hide or block ane another — making it harder to acquire each ane'south sexual practice.

If you're looking for more certainty or an earlier answer, genetic testing tin can also reveal your baby's sex. Procedures like noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) take a more than objective arroyo, using placental or fetal DNA to determine the sex. And in the case of NIPT, you can observe out as early on as calendar week 9 of pregnancy.

How to tell if it's a boy on an ultrasound

While parents may accept a hard fourth dimension making out the various parts of their babies' bodies during ultrasounds, sonographers expect for sure male characteristics:

  • A genital tubercle pointing upwards. This is what eventually grows into a penis (or a clitoris, in the case of a girl) and it's what the technician will look at most closely to determine your baby's sex activity. If it'due south angled upwardly when looking at baby from the side, yous're likely having a boy.
  • A dome shape. When looking up at the babe's lesser from below, a sonographer may spot what's referred to every bit the "dome sign" betwixt the baby's legs, which is the penis and scrotum.

How to tell if it's a girl on an ultrasound

The absence of the above signs doesn't necessarily guarantee the baby is female person. A sonographer's trained eyes will instead watch for these clues that advise baby is a girl:

  • A genital tubercle angled downwards. If it'southward pointed down, it indicates a daughter. This "nub" won't elongate and will instead develop into the clitoris.
  • 3 lines. Rather than the dome sign, seeing what looks like iii light, layered lines (also chosen the "hamburger sign") in the genital expanse indicates a girl. Those lines are the labia majora, the clitoris and the labia minora.

While it'due south not foolproof, a 2d trimester ultrasound done around week 20 of pregnancy can ofttimes answer your "male child or girl?" questions fairly accurately. So once you hear the happy news in the physician's role, you can outset buying baby gear accordingly and sharing the secret with loved ones — unless you make up one's mind to go on it a surprise until the very end!