16 weeks sexing scan NHS? **Title edited by MNHQ at OP's request**

[greyby25]

I have a 16 weeks scan on Thursday for my MCDA twins. What can I expect from the scan ? I know that it is possible to find the gender at this many weeks, so will we find out the gender ? And Will I hear the heartbeat in my hospital doctors appointment after as all of my care has been transferred to the hospital now ? Can I expect any bloods to be done ?

Just wondering what's going to happen ? Anyone else been in this position and know what they do?

TIA X

Hopeful bump x

I found out what sex my twins were at 16 weeks.

Can’t remember much else - it was 12 years ago

It's an anomaly scan not a gender scan FFS!

Hey, the NHS won't tell you the gender anymore. I'm 17 weeks and we paid for a private scan so we could find out the gender (were having a boy) but no the NHS will never tell you the gender anymore. Think our gender scan was £60, we went with baby bond and they were really good! Xxx

Some trusts do kej13, and some don't. I love your 100% sure thing they'll NEVER tell you, just because your trust didn't 😂

but no the NHS will never tell you the gender anymore

This is a completely inaccurate statement, it entirely depends on the policy of your particular trust.

@Kej13 yes the NHS will just not before your anomaly scan at 20 weeks, I’ve had extra scans so far and the policy is that they aren’t even allowed to look at that area so as to not make “accidental mistakes”.
This is single pregnancies, multiple might be different though as I know my friend recently found at 17 weeks with twins but I’m not sure if she paid for a private scan.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/pregnancy/can-i-find-out-the-sex-of-my-baby/

Okay, I stand corrected. We were told that the NHS no longer offers it even at 20 weeks but maybe that's what our hospital tells people so people don't complain that they don't offer it!

Both times we were told the probable sex at our 12 week scan (correctly) as the doctor scanning could tell and I asked. It depends on both the skill of the person scanning and their policy as to whether they tell you.

Mumsnet posters get massively offended if someone refers to gender when they mean sex, OP. You won’t get a ‘gender scan’, it’s to determine sex. Sex refers to biology, gender to societal representation, so of course MN bores get hoity toity about it SMH.

Some trusts choose not to offer sexing due to the risk in the community from sex selective practises, and some because it takes longer to find sex so it’s not offered with anomalies since that takes so much time as it is. My trust will still give the sex if you want to know, but not til 20wks.

If you want sexing, the private clinics all tend to offer it. If you’re not bothered, it’s nice to have the option when you go to your appt but you’ll know what you’re having when they’re born 😊

Good luck with your appt, hope all is well for you and the twins, congratulations xx

Hi all, Thankyou for your responses, @hmwhatsmynameagain I'm aware it's not specifically to find out the sex of my babies, it's actually not an anomaly scan either like you would have at 20 weeks, it's a 16 week scan to assess the growth of my twins and seen if there is any risk of TTTS.

I found out the sex of my previous baby on the NHS at 20 weeks, I didn't know that they didn't offer it on some trusts !

We won't be going private to have any scans as we are having scans every two weeks or more through the pregnancy. We probably wouldn't have time for private scans if we wanted to haha.

@Sessy19 thankyou for making me more aware ! I'm aware of the gender/sex debate and absent mindedly put gender, but thankyou for educating me, I'll definitely be more conscious of my wording in the future ! I was thinking we wouldn't find out until 20 weeks but just curious as I did find out at 16 weeks with my previous daughter at a private clinic. We aren't bothered to find out the sex right away, I just want to know if my gut feeling is right as I was with my first pregnancy Thankyou for your congratulations xx

Haha...bless you for having to change the name of your post!! Sorry about that! 🤦‍♀️

I’m on this journey for the first time myself so I can’t offer you any help with the appointment plans I’m afraid. Eventually someone will come along with some wisdom though 😊

@Sessy19 haha it's no problem ! Don't want to cause any offence and just easier if it's changed ! And aw congratulations ! Wishing you a healthy happy pregnancy. X

I was offered to be told the sex of our baby at multiple scans, we already knew though from CVS testing. This was last year in the West Midlands. I think every trust is different.

Private scans are fairly reasonable in the UK though and you get more of an experience then the purely clinical side.

Okay I'm confused... are we not allowed to use the term gender anymore?

I found out my twins sex at the 20 week anomaly scan - they were DCDA though so no risk of TTTS and that was the first scan I had after my 12 week, then they were 4 weekly. I somehow knew they were both boys, it’s all I could picture which was odd as I had no preference.

Hope you find out and I hope all is well with your pregnancy. One of my boys ended up with IUGR which wasn’t picked up, so the extra growth scans are really important even if you don’t find out this time.

@LetsDoThisAgain yes they are. I loved my private scan in my first pregnancy but because we are having twins we would rather but the money towards something else as we aren't bothered about the sex of the babies, just genuinely curious at to when we will find out x

@kamikazeshady yes if you choose too but some people can take offence as sex and gender are different things x

@SinkGirl Everything seems fine up to now but obviously we are being kept a very close eye on due to the risk of TTTS. Mine are MCDA so are split by a single membrane but share the same sac and placenta so we are highest risk for TTTS. I'm absolutely positive I have two boys, i dont picture them being girls at all, but maybe I'll be wrong and it will be two girls ! X

If you are referring to gender, then saying gender is fine. If you are talking about sex, best to use the right term

Depends on the hospital and the person doing the scan.
I asked on my 16 week growth scan I got "definitely not, can't even tell the gender at this stage, wouldn't even try to look until 20 weeks"... I booked a private scan for the same night.
At my 18 week growth scan two weeks later with a different person, the first question she asked was if I knew and did I want to find out. Another person (I had a lot of scans) said they can usually see around 16/17 weeks.

No harm in asking if they see if they could please tell you. The worst that could happen is they say no.