
Let’s face it: the sooner you know your baby’s gender, the better. The technology is there; at around 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, you’re going to know with nearly 100% accuracy whether you’re going to have a boy or a girl. Yet, there are many other methods of baby gender predictions that may not be as scientific (and may also not be as accurate).
One newer, trendy method you may have heard of is the Ramzi’s Method. This method of baby gender prediction was developed by Dr. Saad Ramzi Ismail. The basic premise here is to use a sonogram to look at the location of the fetus, placenta, and other details at six weeks of age.
This scan measures gestational age, and it measures where the placenta is located. According to the research done by Dr. Ramzi Ismail, at the age of six weeks after conception, around 97% of male fetuses had either the placenta or the chorionic villi on the right hand side of the patient’s uterus. For female fetuses, either the chronic villi or placenta was on the left uterine side in about the same percentage of cases.
Traditional ultrasound done at 18-20 weeks specifically looks for the presence of sex organs. Obviously, sex organs aren’t detectable at six weeks into pregnancy.
This method is new, and fairly controversial. If you have an ultrasound early, you might talk to the doctor and the sonographer about the baby’s position and the placement of the placenta and chronic villi. While your doctor will probably not consider this placement to be a reliable determination of gender, it can be an interesting way to try to guess your baby’s gender ahead of time.
Until more research is done, the Ramzi’s Method will remain controversial. Controlled studies must take place that can validate or invalidate the result. In the meantime, take it all with a grain of salt, and use the information the way you would any other unscientific method of baby gender prediction: as a fun way to guess and hope, while you wait for reliable results.