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The question most pregnant women ponder most of the time is whether that sweet lil angel they are carrying in their tummy is a boy or a girl. And, as far as gender predictions kits go, the jury is still out. In fact, the surplus of these products in the market has been a cause for concern for many experts.
Below, we look at the efficacy and the accuracy of the gender prediction kit. Read on.
What Are Gender Prediction Kits?
Home-based gender prediction kits are devices that can accurately predict fetal gender, sometimes six weeks into your pregnancy term. Gender prediction kits are typically sold for around $20 and are readily available online. Moreover, they are noninvasive devices, and you can take the test at home. In today’s world of instant communication, waiting for the 18th-week sonogram can be rather cumbersome. This tendency for laziness and the obsession for instant information has, in no small way, contributed to the rise of gender prediction kits.
How Does It Work?
A basic home-based kit is designed to detect the presence of testosterone, the male hormone, in a pregnant woman’s urine, while other similar kits test blood to determine the fetal gender.
The urine gender prediction kit contains several chemicals, which change color if they detect male hormone, testosterone, in the urine. All you need to do is pee in a cup, and you’ll know if you’re having a boy or a girl, simple isn’t it?
Are These Tests Accurate?
Well, the problem isn’t the accuracy of the test. It’s the validity of the test because the test is phony. According to Dr. Daniel A. Potter, reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist practicing in Newport Beach, California, “there are no sex hormones in urine that change color at this stage of pregnancy and prove one way or another the sex of the baby.”
The other blood test based gender prediction kit available in the market uses the mother’s blood to ascertain the unborn child’s gender. A study in the American Medical Association Journal concluded that blood test could detect fetal DNA in the mother’s blood, but determining the sex isn’t the same thing.
“Moreover, the validity of these gender prediction tests has been called into question, as most manufacturers refuse to release information verified by independent sources,” says Dr. Mary L. Rosser, M.D.
Blood-based gender prediction tests are rather expensive, and cost around $225, which includes the lab test and the kit. The expense of these kits doesn’t make them a viable option for couples eager to know the sex of the baby they are adding to the brood.
“The legitimization of these kits by traditional retailers only adds to their so called accuracy,” Dr. Potter adds. This is rather alarming, as some of these kits, the ones that test urine for testosterone, cannot tell the sex of your unborn baby.
Dr. Rosser feels that many people would try to abort their babies if they learn that they don’t have the daughter or son they wish for, only to learn later that the child the mother aborted was indeed the daughter or son they wanted, which could lead to severe emotional trauma and other problems.
So, the next time you decide to take a home gender prediction test, take the results with a pinch of salt. Don’t paint the nursery blue just because the urine based kit says that the baby is a boy. Keep an open mind, as even scientific tests like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) tests aren’t entirely accurate, and also carry a minor risk of miscarriage.
What are your thoughts on the subject? Tell us below.
