Told gender at 12 wk scan

[Lucy61]

I had my 12 +4 week scan and fortunately all is well. The sonographer also said that she could tell us the gender, if we wanted to know, which we did. She warned us that it's early and that she could be wrong but told us that it's a girl. We are delighted with this news, and would have been just as happy with a boy too. Now I am thinking of girls' names and considering getting rid of DS' clearly boyish baby clothes etc.

I'm now trying to work out how reliable this info is. Has anyone been told the gender of their dc at 12 weeks? Was it right or wrong?

My understanding is that at 12 weeks things still look pretty similar down there. We were told 'probably a boy but not sure' by the sonographer - which turned out to be right! But he also said, if they guess boy, it's because they see something, so that's more likely to be correct.... If they don't see smthn and guess girl, it could still be a boy who was just hiding his goods!

I don't think they're meant to do that...external genitals aren't developed at 12 weeks so the guess might be based on 'nub theory' which is just that...a theory. An experienced sonography the will know what s/he is looking for and can give you an educated guess, but I think the key sentence is where you say "she said she could be wrong" well, she has a 50% chance of getting it right...sorry to be a boring old pessimistic fart btw!!!

yes, I was, and it was really obvious on the scan
It went like this:
me: "Can you see if it's a girl or a boy?"
Sonographer: "we don't really look at 12 weeks"
me: "that's OK, I know it's a boy"
Sonographer "oh, you're right, it's a boy, look there ..."

Didn't have a preference, just a very strong sense.

We had a private scan at 16 weeks and were told boy. That's the earliest sex scans are offered because they can be ambiguous before that point. I wouldn't trust a result from a 12 week scan

I was told at 11 weeks by a top consultant who said it's not the external organs they're looking at, but the internal organs. The same consultant accurately told me the gender of my youngest five children (four boys, one girl), all at 11 weeks. He said he was entirely certain. I would think you can rely on the info completely.

I was told at 13+6 but I knew the sonographer and it isn't something routinely discussed. They'd just had brand new machines and you could see quite clearly the way that the genitals were developing. My friend (the sonographer) said it isn't always that clear but at nearly 14 weeks, baby in a good position and a brand new, super machine and you could be reasonably sure.

I would think you can rely on the info completely.

I wouldn't. Well, unless you mean the information the sonographer gave that she could be wrong.

I was told "pretty sure it's a girl" with lots of pointing out why at my 12w scan. The next day I got the results of my harmony test (reads the baby's DNA) which said "boy". Every scan since has said "boy". He's due in 10 days. That 24h was a head fuck though! We hadn't been bothered in the slightest but 24h of thinking it was a girl made it a bit weird when the result was contradicted. I'd not be chucking the boy clothes just yet.

I relied on the info five times and he was right five times out of five SoupDragon. He was extremely experienced though, and in a leading teaching hospital. It's fair to say that with a different operator I may well have had doubts.

I had a private scan at 11+3 and was told by the 'very experienced' sonographer that she was over 90% sure that the baby was a boy. You know this nub theory thing that people swear by? Well she looked at the nub in great detail, from several angles, took pics of it too. She also said that the internal organs led her to believe it was a boy and we left the place taking her word for it.

Fast forward to 16 weeks and he became she. Definitely she. No mistaking that.

My cousin was told at her 20 week scan that she was having a boy so she gave all her DD clothes away. She then gave birth to a girl..... I would say keep the clothes at the moment. 12+4 is very early to find out the sex. There is a 50% chance that it will be a girl though

I know a few people who were told girl at the 20 week scan and it turned out she was a he so I'd definitely not be relying on a 12 week scan when everything down there isn't very well developed at all.

I've been told twice that I'm having a girl, at 20 & 28 weeks.

I'm keeping all of DS's things until the baby arrives (33 weeks now). Lots will be used regardless anyway!

I don't trust that they are correct, not until I see for myself!

My late father in law was an anaesthetist. He used to work with a gynacologist who, in the days before scans would joke with his private patients that he could accurately predict the gender. He would say e.g. "I think this a boy". If he was proved to be correct, the parents thought he was psychic! If he was wrong, they'd say "you said this was going to be a boy!" whereupon he would bring out his pocket diary and show them.where he had written "Mr & Mrs New Parent"-girl! Crafty!

We had a private dating scan at 10 weeks last pregnancy and out of the blue the consultant asked if we wanted to know the sex. Caught off guard we said yes and he said he was fairly certain it was a girl. We believed this for 10 weeks until the 20weeks scan showed it to be a boy, was a weird feeling.

Very interesting! Luckily, we really don't have a preference; a postive scan was all that we had hoped for at this early stage. I hadn't asked at all about the gender as I didn't really care enough and didn't expect it to be part of the consultation. The fact that she volunteered this info, made me wonder if she was more than just hazarding a guess. Surely a professional wouldn't say things like that 'willy nilly'. At least you'd hope not.

I will be holding on to DS' clothes and we haven't told anyone about the gender. However, I have 6 girl names ready and only one boy name.

I was told at 12 weeks I was 'definitely' having a boy. Roll on 8 weeks to the 20 week scan and he was most definitely a she, just as she was at the 32&36 week scan, and at birth!

Was told at 12 week scan, 99% were having a girl.
Rescan at 22 weeks.....definitely a boy ?!

oh gosh, hadn't realised how often it was wrong! am pleased they got it right for me as I did believe it (and had an instinct DS was a boy anyway).

Dapplesun- I wouldn't see it that way. Most of the posts on here describe times when the sonographer was wrong, but I wouldn't take that as representative of what actually happens; it's just that people are more likely to post if they had an 'interesting' experience to share ie- sonographer got it wrong. Less likely to post that all was as predicted.

I've been getting scans every 4-6 weeks (not in the UK) and was told clearly that sex isn't reliable on scans until 16 weeks at the earliest although they prefer to wait until 20. So anyone saying they can tell you at 10 or 12 is probably wrong. The only people I know who found out that early did fetal DNA testing.

During my 12 week (booked ar 13+4was told i was actually 14+4) the sonographer did start refering to kumquat at 'she' but she didn't overtly say anything. So I'm wondering why that was.