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Expert Q&A
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| By David L. Fay, M.D. Family Physician Associate Director, Waukesha Family Practice Residency Program | ||
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Can tell the baby's sex by its heartbeat or by the way you are carrying it?
While old wives tales can be amusing, those of us in the medical profession don't use the baby's heart rate as a determiner of sex. A study mentioned in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, "found there was no difference in male and female fetal heart at anytime during pregnancy." (JUM, 7:237-238, 1988) Results of another study, published in Britain's Clinical Science (92, 345?349, 1997) echoed these findings.
There is no truth to the myth that you can tell the sex of the baby by the way you are carrying it, meaning low or high. And if people tell you differently, remember, any method (even a coin toss) is going to be correct about half the time! Ultrasound is much more dependable, and amniocentesis is the most reliable of all.
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