12th week of pregnancy - the child's sex on ultrasound

The main question that arises almost after a woman finds out that soon will become a mother, is the sex of the future baby. What women do not do to find out: use different lunar calendars, calculation calculators. However, most of them are unreliable, since they are not based on the physiological characteristics of the organism, but use an incomprehensible combination of numbers. Let's discuss in more detail how the determination of the sex of a child is made on ultrasound and whether it can be done at 12 weeks of pregnancy with 100% accuracy.

At what time can you find out the sex of the fetus?

It should be noted that in itself, ultrasound to determine the sex of the child is extremely rare. As a rule, this research is aimed at eliminating pathologies of development, assessing the rate of growth processes of the baby. However, there are medical indications, in which ultrasound is performed only to find out the sex. An example is the presence of predisposition to the development of hereditary genetic diseases ( hemophilia in boys ).

In addition, there are also terms for this study when carrying a baby. They may differ somewhat in individual countries. However, in most cases, the first ultrasound is carried out at 12-13 weeks, at which the sex of the child can be assumed.

What determines the accuracy of such a diagnosis?

First of all, this is the term of gestation. In view of the fact that it is often incorrectly installed, it is impossible to determine the sex at 12 weeks because of ultrasonic examination. in fact it turns out that the age of the fetus is less than the estimated. This can also be observed with a lag in the development of the baby, which is diagnosed by calculating the dimensions of individual parts of its body, comparing them with the norms.

It must be said that the sex of a child on ultrasound, conducted at 12 weeks of pregnancy, may be erroneous. Often, beginning doctors-diagnosticians take the umbilical cord, the finger of the fetus behind the penis. In addition, in some cases, future girls may have a small swelling of the labia, which as a result is taken for the scrotum. In addition, there are cases when the baby is in such a position that it is impossible to examine his genitals.

Given these facts, in fact it turns out that it is problematic to determine the sex of the unborn child when performing ultrasound of the fetus at 12 weeks. Most doctors are of the opinion that this can be done with high accuracy only by week 15, in view of the individual pace of development. The optimal term is 23-25 ​​weeks, when it is possible to say with 100% accuracy who will be born. At this time, the fetus is sufficiently mobile, allows to examine itself completely.