Now this question can be easily answered.with the help of an ultrasound and a competent specialist. But such an opportunity appeared quite recently, some 30−40 years ago. Prior to this, for many millennia, mankind was forced to wait for a “surprise”, but in every way resisted it. Tatyana Butskaya, a pediatrician and a popular medical blogger, told Wday.ru in details about how to predict the sex of the future baby.
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Ancient and Middle Ages
In different eras in different countries they were developedknow-how that was supposed to shed light on the secret of a child's gender long before birth. Many methods now seem, to put it mildly, strange, but one of them was recognized as quite accurate following a scientific experiment. Read on and try to guess which one.• In Ancient China, women were instructed to cook rice in the early stages of pregnancy. If it turned out crumbly, the expectant mother was congratulated on conceiving a boy, if the rice stuck together, she was predicted to give birth to a girl.• In Ancient Rome, the gender of a child was determined by the appearance of the first lamb in the household in 9 months. After a lamb, the family was expecting a son, after a ewe, they were expecting a daughter.• In Ancient Egypt, forecasts were made using bags of barley and wheat. The pregnant woman had to urinate on them. If barley sprouted first, it was believed that she was expecting a boy, and if wheat sprouted first, a girl.• Russian women expected a child based on the harvest. If there was a lot of grain, a boy would be born, if little, a girl. To finally confirm their assumptions, women folded twigs in half. If the twig straightened, expectant mothers believed that soon there would be one more man in the family, if not, they expected the birth of a little helper. If the sex of the child was important to the couple (and in those days, preference was given to boys), the parents resorted to various tricks before conception. In order for a boy to be born in 9 months, men brought an axe to the family bed, and women, if they dreamed of a needlewoman daughter, put needles with a thimble at the head of the bed.• The French believed that the sex of the child could be found out with the help of salt. A man sprinkled a little salt on his sleeping wife’s hair, and when she woke up, he caught her every word. If the wife called the man's name first, the couple was preparing for the birth of a son, if the woman's name - for the birth of a daughter. • The Greeks used a ring as a "folk ultrasound". It was strung on the hair of a pregnant woman and hung over her belly. If the ring began to spin, it was assumed that a girl would be born, if it swung from side to side - a boy. And now about the most reliable of the listed methods of determining gender. In the last century, scientists decided to resort to testing the ancient Egyptian method: they watered barley and wheat with the urine of pregnant women. Surprisingly, in 7 out of 10 cases the result coincided with the ultrasound data.
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Modernity
Although the baby's gender can be determinedwith the help of ultrasound, alternative methods remain popular. They are remembered in the early stages of pregnancy or in cases when the child is “hiding” from the all-seeing eye of ultrasound. It must be said that now the methods of determining the sex of the child have reached a different level: they do not sprinkle salt on the head, and do not break the rods. Future parents pay attention to the woman’s taste preferences (sweet - for a girl, salty - for a boy), the shape of the belly (round - for a girl, “cucumber” - for a boy), the date of conception and the personal data of the parents. The method of determining the sex of the child by blood renewal has been practiced relatively recently. The essence is to calculate which of the parents has “stronger” blood. It is believed that female blood is renewed every three years, and male blood - every four. If the father’s blood is “fresher”, a boy will be born, if the mother’s - a girl. Predicting the sex of the child using a table came to us from Ancient China. About 700 years ago, scientists found an ancient table according to which the sex depends on the mother's age and the month of conception of the baby. To understand who will be born, it is enough to study the intersection of these inputs. There is a theory that the sex of the child depends on the mother's diet. If at the planning stage a woman ate dairy products, nuts, beets, carrots, peas and denied herself potatoes, citrus fruits and bananas, you can safely buy a pink dowry. If the diet of the expectant mother was dominated by meat and potato dishes, as well as oranges, peaches, cherries, then a wardrobe in blue tones is more relevant.
No matter how popular these methods may seem,experts will only smile at them. The only explanation for hitting the target is that the chances of guessing are quite high and are no less than 50%. It is more likely (without ultrasound) to predict the gender if the couple knows the time of ovulation and the date of conception. If sexual intercourse occurred during the release of the egg from the ovary, most likely, the sperm carrying the Y chromosome reached it first, and then a boy is growing in the belly of the expectant mother. If sex occurred 2-3 days before ovulation, it can be assumed that the egg was fertilized by a sperm with an X chromosome and a girl will be born. But here, too, no one can give a guarantee.
