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Your grandmother might have done strange “tests” when she was pregnant in order to figure out if the baby would be a boy or a girl, such as analyzing what she is craving (sweet for girl, sour for boy) or mixing a cup of pee with a tablespoon of Drano to see what color it changes to (green for girl, blue for boy). However, science has proven that we shouldn’t give much weight to these old wives’ tales. Although these can be fun tests to take and laugh about later, they can’t really help you determine for sure whether you will be having a boy or a girl.They are in fact not considered in any way scientific. If the results of such a test are correct it is just because there is a 50% chance that you will have a boy and a 50% chance that you will have a girl and therefore, just by chance.

Gender testing has come a long way since your grandmother’s pregnancies, and we are now able to tell with about 99 percent certainty what sex your baby will be. You can also tell your baby’s gender much earlier than you would be able to with even an ultrasound. Ultrasounds can’t detect a baby’s sex until the 18th week of pregnancy. However, new gender testing methods can predict a baby’s sex as early as the 7th to 9th week of pregnancy. These new gender testing options include blood tests or urine tests. Each of these options has its advantages and disadvantages, but they both function in much the same way. The sample is analyzed to check for fetal DNA in the mother’s blood or urine.

The urine DNA test, although it might seem like the more obvious option due to how most pregnancy tests are taken, is actually the more recently developed of the two. Therefore, urine gender testing laboratories can be difficult to find in some areas of the country. This method of testing is also generally more expensive than a blood test. Male DNA can affect the results of this test, so mothers are advised to not have any sexual contact with men at least 72 hours before collecting the urine sample. Depending on your circumstances and priorities, you might prefer to do your gender testing by blood sample instead. It is important that you do a urine DNA test and not some other home test that requires urine. A proper gender test must be carried out in a laboratory.

Karl McDonald specializes in writing articles about DNA testing. Special areas of interest include Prenatal paternity testing, fetal DNA sequencing, amniocentesis for paternal verification, fetal genetic health and baby gender testing. Articles by the author can be found online.