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When trying to know your baby’s sex, it may be a mix of feelings depending on your cultural background, personal preferences, tradition, religions and a whole a lot of things. It can be overwhelming exciting for many, but also under pressure for some.
In Australia, sex is hotly debated over decades. It is not allowed to choose the sex of baby under IVF, but it is allowed in some other countries such as USA, Mexico and many Asian countries.
Back in the olden days, the gender of a baby was a surprise. But with new technologies surge as time evolves, ultrasound from the 1980s and now contemporary Non-Invasive Prenatal Tests (NIPT) are giving mums and dads to be an earlier glimpse of their baby’s sex.
Ultrasound is convenient and safe for many mums when finding out the sex of their baby, however it really depends on the position of the baby. If the position is not favourable during the scan, then it would be difficult to see the genitals of your baby. Using this method, you can possibly find out the sex of your baby using as early as 16 weeks into gestation.
The more favourable way to know the sex of your baby is NIPT. It is a simple blood test that can tell you the sex of your baby. The test accesses the baby’s genetic material that is circulating naturally in the mother’s blood and looks for chromosomal abnormalities. Specifically:
- Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome)
- Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome)
- Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome).
A bonus of the NIPT is that it can also look for the XY (male) or XX (female) chromosomes, if you opt in for this. The result is 99 per cent accurate; however, sometimes the test fails because there may not be enough concentration of the baby’s DNA yet and sometimes there are maternal factors such as obesity, infection or inflammation. The NIPT can’t be used for twin pregnancies.
The ideal time to do NIPT is between 11-13 weeks into pregnancy.
Old wives’ tales about gender include things such as the way you are carrying your baby, morning sicknesses, Chinese gender prediction charts and so on. These are fun ways to predict the sex of your baby but the most accurate way is through ultrasound and NIPT.
Okay, now you know the ways to find out the sex of your baby, then what’s some fun ways to announce this beautiful news. Here are some interesting ideas to share with you parents to be:
1. Piñata Party
A fun way to reveal a baby’s gender, fill a piñata with blue or pink confetti or candies and let the guests beat the secret out of it. The entire area will be showered with an explosion of pink or blue for a girl or boy.
2. Big Brother Announcement
Sometimes you can have your little ones to spill the beans about your baby’s gender. They can be as excited as you are. Ideas such as having the little sister or brother to hold a banner or board announcing she/he will be the big sister or brother is going to be such a memorable photograph for the whole family.
3. Powder Smoke Cannons
You can send up a smoke signal with powder smoke cannons. Pink smoke refers to the excitement of a baby girl to come, whereas blue smoke would be for a baby boy.
4. Confetti Popper
Using gender revealing confetti popper to pop the exciting news is so much fun. A lot of poppers shoots up to 15 feet in the air.
5. Old Wives Tale Poster
You cannot predict a baby’s gender with old wives tales, but it would be fun by describing your pregnancy symptoms to help your guests guess the gender.
6. Ribbon Release
A super easy and inexpensive way to announce the gender is to tie a pink and a blue ribbon around the mum’s tummy. Then have the partner to cut either the pink or blue ribbon to reveal the news.
7. Scratch and Reveal
Hand out the gender reveal scratch cards to your guests. Do a count down and have everyone to scratch their cards. The scratch cards can also make for a really nice keepsake.
8. Balloon Box Launch
DIY a balloon box with wrapping paper and your desired decorations. Then fill it with the appropriate coloured balloons and seal the box for when you are ready to open it in front of your viewers or guests. You and your significant other can open the box together, or if you have any kiddos already, let them open the box to reveal the gender of their sibling-to-be! Not expensive and super fun.
9. Coloured Dessert Filling Surprise
This is such a sweet and delicious way to fill blue or pink icings inside your celebration cake. Alternatively, cupcakes or cake pops are equally delicious and cute options.
10. Dart Board Balloon Pop
Set up a dart board with few different colours of paint filled inside the little balloons, and only one filled with blue or pink. Then take turns to throw the darts until you pop the gender revealing balloon. This is a fun way to build up anticipation and excitement.
11. Paint Filled Water Gun
If you are ready to get messy, then this is a way not to be missed.
Try filling water guns with a 1/2 water 1/2 paint solution to share the gender. Have the parents-to-be wearing a white shirt and either squirt each other, or have your friends and family squirt you with either blue or pink paint-filled water guns.
Make sure to buy as washable paint so that it all comes out in the wash!
12. Gender Reveal Football
This is great for football fans. Toss, punt, or kick this “exploding” football to reveal whether the new little player on your team is a boy or a girl.
Any other interesting and amazing ideas to share? Welcome to input in the comments below.