How accurate is a gender scan?

[IAteTheCake]

I am 36 weeks pg with dc 2 and have been told at scans at 20, 27 & 34 week that baby is a boy. I know that scans can be inaccurate but would you think being told 3 x (one of those times by a consultant) that we are highly likely to be having a boy?! I only ask because I'd like to give my dd's hand me downs to a friend who is due to have a girl in the same week and we want to swap clothing! I am being paranoid that if I hand the bags over we'll have a girl!

So back to the original q.... how accurate are scans?!

[curiousgeorgie]

I think most hospitals say that they can't tell you for sure, and most private clinics (like babybond) will have a percentage of accuracy on the website.

For what it's worth, I've her told girl both times and both times they've been right. All my friends, work colleagues, family etc have been told correctly. I've heard of one instance of people being given the incorrect gender and it was the sister of a friend of my boss, so not exactly first hand information.

If you've been told that many times, I think the chances of it not being a boy are minuscule

[FoxMulder]

I think if they say it's a boy, it's definitely a boy, but if they say girl...hang on to the hand me downs

I only say this because my friend was twice told she was having a girl and she had a boy.

[bluebeanie]

It is easier to tell if it is a boy, but no-one will ever give you 100% odds. With 3 scans, I'd pretty much say a boy is a given.

[CheeseFondueRocks]

Babybond, which we used with DD1, states that their results are over 99% accurate. But this is a special gender scan and they take their time. I don't think the NHS would bother for long with this as the 20 week scan is meant to check for abnormalities.

However, boys are easier to spot than girls so if you've been told it's a boy 3 times, I'd be surprised if it turned out to be a girl.

[MissTink]

Sorry to throw the cat amongst the pigeons and I'm sure the scans are generally right but a friend had a baby last week, was told she was having a girl and had a boy!!!! Said friend is now frantically trying to replace all the pink girly items and asking for help from friends.
Sorry xx

[CheeseFondueRocks]

Of course it's possible to get a wrong result, for example if Babybond is correct 99.5% of the time, they are wrong 0.5% of the time, so with 1 in 200 babies. Given how many babies are born in he UK each year, that is quite a lot of wrong results.

And like it was mentioned before, girl results aren't "as" reliable as a penis can be hidden but if the penis was found aka boy results, what else exactly could it be?

[mikkii]

We asked not to be told the gender with any of 3 DC.

With DD2, I looked during one of the extra scans I had (due to complications), did some research and I correctly sexed her! I am not a medical professional.

[Sleepthief]

The sonographer was 100% certain with DS2 and when we all looked at the screen there was no doubt whatsoever

[princesscupcakemummyb]

id say if youv been told its a boy thats likely to be correct ive had 2 girls now expecting a boy he had his legs open you could see it was a boy haha no dought also you can tell by the body shape of the scan my boy 20 week scan looks totally diffrent to the 2 females ive had congrats x

[DaleyBump]

It's much more accurate for boys than girls :) I would say you're safe to give her the clothes :p

[plentyofsoap]

At my 20 week nhs scan there was a very good view and she said a girl. Checked again and said "yes" a girl?!

[midori1999]

All of mine have been right and I think with 3 scans to confirm, it's unlikely to be wrong.

With DS2 I was scanned every 4 weeks from 20 weeks and they had even written 'male foetus' on my notes, so they must have been sure. This baby is a boy too and it has been very obvious on the two NHS scans where they have looked since 20 weeks, even to me.