Free Baby Gender Prediction

A Free Baby Gender Prediction Quiz

You can tune in to old wives' tales about gender prediction at JustMommies.com. Their gender prediction quiz includes questions about what foods you're craving, what your belly looks like, and whether or not you're having mood swings. After you click "submit," the site tells you your odds of having a boy or a girl. Of course, since there's no proof that any of the questions have any bearing on your baby's gender, don't depend on this quiz to tell you what color to paint the nursery!

An Ancient Chinese Calendar?

If you're interested in Asian legends, try the Chinese Fortune Calendar. All you have to do is enter your own birth date and the date you conceived. You'll also find a chart, based on the I-Ching, to help you select a lucky baby name.

Other sites offer free baby gender prediction using a simpler version of the Chinese chart. At Babyworld, all you have to do is enter your age and the conception month. The description of the chart is the same as on the Chinese Fortune Calendar site: a 700 year old document supposedly discovered by a Chinese scientist and said to be 99% accurate. Don't count on that 99%, though. If that were true, every single baby conceived by a 25 year old woman in the entire month of January, 2006, everywhere in the world, would be a girl!

Psychic Predictions

Do you like to play with tarot cards or enjoy getting your palm read? Visit the Psychics and Mediums Network for instructions on making a pendulum predictor. You'll make the pendulum by suspending a ring from a piece of string. You start by holding it near familiar objects and asking "Is this a phone book?" or "Is that the dog?" Watch how it swings; it can go back and forth, clockwise, or counterclockwise. You should see that one type of swing always represents "yes" and another one stands for "no." Now, hold the pendulum over your pregnant belly and ask if the baby is a boy or a girl.

This is a fun game to share with friends—but don't rush out and buy baby clothes based on this prediction. Wishful thinking could be what's causing your pendulum's swing!

The Drano Test

Maybe you've heard of mixing a pregnant woman's urine with Drano as a do-it-yourself, free baby gender prediction method. Supposedly, the mixture will turn one color for a boy and another for a girl. But, which color represents what sex depends on who you ask! A different version of the myth says that the baby's gender is revealed by the amount of bubbles in the mixture.

This test is not a great idea; products like Drano are dangerous if used improperly! If you must try it, be sure not to touch the Drano, stay clear of the fumes, and dispose of the mixture where children and pets can't get into it. You can learn more about the Drano myth at Snopes.com.

Timing the Conception

Some people believe that you can determine your baby's gender by timing the conception. The Shettles Method is based on the idea that sperm with Y chromosomes—which make boy babies—move a little differently from sperm with X chromosomes, which make girl babies. According to Dr. Shettles, you should have intercourse near the time of ovulation if you want a boy.

If you could plan the baby's gender this way, you wouldn't need free baby gender prediction at all! Unfortunately, medical studies have made it pretty clear that the Shettles method doesn't work.

More Predictors

• You'll find a fun list of gender prediction myths in the iVillage article Boy or Girl? 38 Fun Ways to Guess Your Baby's Sex.

• The Snopes.com article also has a long list of gender prediction legends.

What Really Works?

Only your health care provider can really find out the gender of your unborn baby. The most fool-proof way is to check the unborn baby's DNA, but that requires amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. Those are invasive procedures do pose a risk to both the mother and baby. Ultrasound pictures give a good guess, but they are not foolproof. There have been plenty of parents who picked out a name based on the ultrasound results, and then had to change it—fast!—when the baby was born.