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Original poster

Sounds mad but it’s true, honest! If you have 3 kids…

429 replies

Nunaluna · 07/05/2025 20:00

Same dad, no miscarriages to ‘break the chain’, if the first 2 are opposite sex, the third will be whatever number 2 was - so BGG, or GBB. Not BGB, or GBG.

It sounds crazy but it’s something I noticed ages ago - every time somebody announces they’re having a third, and they have one of each, I know it will be the same as the second child.

Prove me wrong, Mumsnetters!

OP posts:
JLou08 · 07/05/2025 21:42

Not true for my children, or my cousins, or my dad and aunt/uncles. Most of the sibling groups of 3 I know are the opposite to this.

Namechange3747 · 07/05/2025 21:43

Sister has BGG, but a friend has BGB.

Couchtattie · 07/05/2025 21:45

Of the families with three children with first two opposite sex:

BGG - yes
BGG - yes
BGB - nope
GGB - nope

However I’m realising I know a lot of people with 3 of the same.

thebrollachan · 07/05/2025 21:45

Prince Andrew should have been a girl?

Finallydoingit24 · 07/05/2025 21:48

How do you know whether all these people have had a miscarriage to “break the chain”? Do you ask them or something? Sounds like a bollocks theory.

sarah0106 · 07/05/2025 21:48

I’ve a friend with BBG, sister had BGB, mum had GBGG

IKillUnkillablePlants · 07/05/2025 21:48

I have GBG, my sister has BGB, so not true in my family

localnotail · 07/05/2025 21:50

My cousin has BBGB
Friend has BBB
Another friend has BGB

PhaseFour · 07/05/2025 21:51

Mine are GBGG.

Another2Cats · 07/05/2025 21:51

User28473 · 07/05/2025 20:10

Even though I know this can't be legit, I'm annoyed at those saying it can't be true because they don't see it in friends and relatives or celebrities, because there is no way of knowing if there were miscarriages or terminations in-between or even if the paternity was the same.

I take your point generally. But there certainly are examples where miscarriages or terminations are not relevant.

For example, in one case in my family, they had three children in four years.

I suppose that it is possible that somewhere in there that there was a foetus that was unviable and was aborted, although this was back in the 1960s so I'm not so sure if that would have happened.

I have many examples in my family tree that are either BGB or GBG

But I have equally had family members that do follow the OP's theory.

Although, when I do a quick look, I find that many of my ancestors had either BBG or GGB. It seems that particular branches of my family had BGB or GBG and other branches were much more likely to have BBG or GGB.

Goodfood1 · 07/05/2025 21:53

Probably just a coincidence or maybe you're only noticing those type. I have 3 BGB so imo nah

HarLace1 · 07/05/2025 21:55

Sorry OP I've not noticed this before. I myself had 3 kids, eldest a girl, 2nd a boy. We did wait another 5 years but had a girl. Does the gap matter? (Same dad)

minipie · 07/05/2025 21:56

Families I know who had 2 of opposite sex and then a third:

BGG (your theory)

GBG (not your theory)

BGG (your theory)

GBG (not your theory)

So 50:50

then I know quite a few with GGG or BBB

blackpear · 07/05/2025 21:58

My mum was GBG, all the same father.

HollaHolla · 07/05/2025 21:58

We’re girl/girl/boy.
Also, my mum is no 4 - boy/boy/boy/girl - then 3 more boys.
Dad is no 1 of boy/boy/girl (and then quite a few more…)
No telly in those days round these parts, apparently. 😉

Liz1tummypain · 07/05/2025 22:02

I've got GBG. But maybe I'm a freak. Seems likely.

Justnotsureaboutit2021 · 07/05/2025 22:04

Nope, 5 kids. Same Dad: G,B,G,B,G

EmotionallyWeird · 07/05/2025 22:05

This has made me realise that I don't think I know many families with exactly 3 children. If I include the first 3 children of people who went on to have more, I think about half follow the pattern you mentioned. Certainly no more than half, maybe even a bit less. But I can totally believe that you could get clusters of different patterns for no particular reason.

Bravemama · 07/05/2025 22:06

DH and I have 6 DC.
First one we lost
But then had GBGBGG

IberianBlackout · 07/05/2025 22:07

My uncles have GBG, my cousin has GGB…

… never heard of that theory before

poetryandwine · 07/05/2025 22:09

There is a very small nugget of truth in what OP says.

In 2015, M. Monakhov posted to the Biology preprint server biorxiv the paper

An association between sexes of successive siblings in the data from Demographic and Health Survey program.

This can be found at biorxiv.org by doing a search on the site.

In analysing sibling patterns from over 2,000,000 families it was found that the sex of a baby has a small influence on the sex of the next baby. So having a boy (girl) slightly increases the chances that next baby will be a boy (girl). The effect diminishes over time.

Again, this influence is very small. Nothing like 80%. It has nothing to do with how many previous children there are.

I don’t have time to read the paper now but it looks moderately interesting. It can be freely accessed and downloaded at the site above.

TheMauveBeaker · 07/05/2025 22:13

I’m one of three - GBG - same dad, mum had no miscarriages. My DIL also has GBG, again same dad and no miscarriages.

QueenofFox · 07/05/2025 22:13

I have GGB, that or BBG is the pattern around me.

ilovesushi · 07/05/2025 22:13

I'm one of GBB, so we fit your theory.

supercatlady · 07/05/2025 22:16

I think it’s confirmation bias.
We were GGB.