editor
Is There A Difference Between Pregnancy Symptoms With A Girl Vs. A Boy?
It’s certainly a lot of fun guessing when you’re expecting … and there’s no shortage of people willing to join in (you’re carrying a boy because you’re carrying high in your belly, says one friend; you’ve got acne because you’re carrying a girl, says your mom).
However, you might be wondering if, aside from CVS and amnio, noninvasive prenatal testing and prenatal diagnostic tests that can tell you your baby’s sex, there is anything else you can do. The response is both yes and no.
In a nutshell, not really. Sure, some studies have shown that certain symptoms are linked to an increased probability of one sex versus the other. But other research has shown mixed results. (And there are plenty of gender prediction old wives’ tales that have no science at all to back them up.)
“These studies are generally small and show associations, as opposed to true cause-and-effect,” says Tarun Jain, M.D., a medical director at Northwestern Fertility and Reproductive Medicine initiates a new window in Oak Brook, Illinois, and a member of the What to Expect Medical Review Board. “And the association demonstrated is relatively small.”
So while you shouldn’t take the following findings to heart — they’re still just for fun, and even the predictions that have been studied often tilt only ever so slightly toward one sex or the other — they may make the game of odds slightly more accurate.
Looking for more ways to guess or learn your baby’s sex? They can be found in the What to Expect app.
6 Signs You Might Be Carrying A Girl
1. You’re Suffering From Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Most moms-to-be experience some form of morning sickness when they’re expecting. But some moms have it much worse, suffering from severe nausea and vomiting (called hyperemesis gravidarum).
Studies have discovered that pregnant women with girls may be more likely to experience nausea and vomiting. These findings were even more strongly linked to women who suffer from severe morning sickness.
What’s to blame? The pregnancy hormone hCG, say researchers, which female fetuses produce more of than males. (Just don’t tell Kate Middleton that because she has hyperemesis gravidarum and has had two sons and a daughter from all three of her pregnancies.)
2. You Are Even More Forgetful
Research suggests that women who give birth to girls consistently under-perform in tests of memory — specifically in areas of listening, computational exercises, and visualization skills — compared to moms carrying boys.
So the next time you can’t remember where you put the car keys, you may be able to blame your pregnancy brain on the baby girl you’re carrying.
3. You Are Extremely Stressed
The more stressed out you were when you conceived, the more likely it is that you’ll have a girl, say researchers. That’s because girls may be less vulnerable to unfavorable conditions in the womb than boys are.
One study, for example, found that moms-to-be who had higher cortisol levels — an indication of stress — were more likely to give birth to daughters.
4. Your Baby Is Breech
Are you at least 32 weeks pregnant, but your baby is still laying head-up, bottom-down? It may be time to think pink! One study of singleton breech births in Hungary found that breech babies are significantly more likely to be girls than boys.
5. You’re Starting To Break Out
You might have heard the saying that acne during pregnancy means you’re carrying a girl — and, in truth, one very (very) small study of 35 women, those findings appear to be confirmed.
In their second and third trimesters, mothers who were expecting daughters were found to have more acne than mothers who were expecting sons. While hormones may be to blame, it’s worth taking the findings with a grain of salt — among the pregnant set in general, regardless of the sex of the baby.
6. You’re Giving Birth Near The Equator
Vacationed in the Bahamas? Took a cruise to the Caribbean? You might have a better chance of having a girl. Research shows that more daughters are born in tropical climates, whereas more boys are born in colder ones.
That said, the researchers pointed out that it’s not clear whether the climate influences gender selection before or after fertilization occurs. Research has also found that more girls are born during periods of high temperatures, possibly because male fetuses are more susceptible to stress, including climate change.
1 Sign You Might Be Carrying A Boy
1. You Ate A High-Calorie Diet At The Time Of Conception
One study found that eating a high-calorie diet at the time of conception and eating regular breakfasts may slightly increase the chance that you’ll be having a boy.
The researchers found that 56% of women with the highest calorie intake around the time of conception had boys, compared to 45% among women with the lowest caloric intake. The evolutionary thinking goes that sons require more resources (i.e., more calories) than daughters do, so a higher-calorie diet would favor a baby-boy-to-be.
