Home News Blood test reveals baby’s sex at seven weeks

Blood test reveals baby’s sex at seven weeks

By MumStreet on August 10th, 2011Share:

Blood test on the mother gives an accurate result of baby’s gender

Parents wanting to find out the sex of their unborn child at an early stage of pregnancy can be assured a blood test on the mother gives accurate results, according to scientists.

The tests, which look for foetal DNA in the mother’s blood, are sold privately in the UK. Until now, few studies have looked into how accurate the tests are.

The latest study examined over 6,000 test results and found the test was accurate 98% of the time, as long as it was done after the seventh week of pregnancy.

Couples have to wait until the 12th week of pregnancy to find out the sex of their baby using ultrasound. For those who need to know the sex of their baby for medical reasons, for example to see if their baby may be affected by a genetic disorder which only affects boys, waiting until 12 weeks can seem too long.

Some hospitals, such as Great Ormond Street, already use the blood tests to help detect male babies that could have haemophilia.

However, some medical professionals are concerned that such early gender identification could lead to couples terminating pregnancies because they want a baby of the other gender.

“In the UK we would not normally approve of someone who decided to terminate because it was a ‘blue’ pregnancy rather than a ‘pink’ one,” says Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services. “Sex selection for social reasons is illegal in the UK. But there’s the danger that this is part of a slippery slope.”