heart beat - boy or girl??

[rainbowface]

Hi, does anyone know of any evidence as to whether a fast/slow heart beat (as heard by the midwife) can indicate as to whether you are carrying a boy or a girl or is it just an old wivs tale?? I am expecting baby no. 2 in 5 weeks and my midwife always says my babys heart beat is slow therefore sounds like a boy. Does anyone have any stories to confirm or contradict this??

[princesspeahead]

i thought that the heartbeat should vary considerably depending on what the baby is up to - I understood that a variation of about 20 beats per minute (eg from 140 - 160) was normal and a good thing. So haven't heard this!! Anyway that is the range of my current baby (expected in 4 weeks) and he is definately a boy, if that helps!

[janh]

The average heartbeat is 140 - I was once told that under 140 (120-140) is probably a boy and over 140 (140-160) is probably a girl and mine (4 altogether) have borne this out.

However have subsequently heard the opposite too!

Dunno if there are any published stats but pph's version does contradict your midwife (and me!) so don't paint the nursery blue just yet.

[aloha]

I really don't understand why, if you want to know, you don't just ask at the scan. If you don't, then I suspect you don't really want to know - so just enjoy the surprise!

[tallulah]

There was a thread on this recently. General consensus was that boys heartbeats are slower than girls.

[metired]

if the baby is asleep then heartbeat will be slower, if moving around then it will increase,old wives tales are ridiculous don't stress about it, it will be a lovely surprise when he or she is born

[neen99]

Aloha, I think part of the fun of not finding out is trying to guess all the way through your pregnancy what the baby is going to be!
We were the same when I was pregnant with ds1.

[Rachael17]

ive been told by the sonographer that im definatly having a boy and his heart beat is about 130bpm so maybe the theory is right

[WedgiesMum]

Can't remember if I've posted this before so sorry if you've heard this one before....

My best friend was birth partner for a friend of hers who was expecting twins. The woman hadn't found out the sex of the babies, and monitoring showed that one had a consistently slower heartrate than the other. So they'd decided that the babies were different sexes because they'd heard the thing about heart rate indicating sex.

At the birth my best friend was to tell the mother the sex of each baby as it was born. First baby with the highest heartrate born first and was a girl - 'it's a girl' bf duly reports thinking 'it'll be a boy next for certain then'. Next baby is born and bf freezes thinking 'ohmigod how can I tell her that this baby has been born without a willy' - you've guessed, it was a girl of course but bf just couldn't get her head round it as she was so convinced it was a boy. The midwife had to say very pointedly ' aren't you going to tell her she's had another girl then???'

[mears]

janh - I was told the same as you but tbh it sometimes is correct and sometimes isn't

[SamboM]

I was told the opposite - my dd's heartbeat was 150ish and several mws said it was probably a boy! Sorry!

[Joley]

My midwife told me I was having a girl because the baby had a fast heartbeat (skippy, she called it), but no....I had a boy!

[janh]

mears, "sometimes it's correct and sometimes it isn't " reminds me, I once read about somebody who had a small ad in the back of baby mags, "Your baby's sex predicted, £25, money back if incorrect" or something like that - he/she just told everybody they were having the same kind, had to return half the money but kept the rest!

[myersthecat]

My bf swears by the heartbeat thoery, under 140 for a boy and over for a girl (as an average).
I was convinced that I would have a boy, until the midwife kept saying that the av. hb is 160. Now I'm not so sure!!
Due today......although despite cleaning house top to bottom in sweltering heat still no sign....guess I'll just have to wait and see.

[mergle]

Baby due yesterday, heartbeat on fetal monitor yesterday was around 150 (baby asleep-went up to 160+ when started moving). Its a boy.