Can you find out sex of baby before 16 weeks?

[sunsandwaves]

Is 16 weeks the earliest you can find out sex of baby?

[quote HalfTermHalfTerm]@Nookable I understand that in certain countries or cultures there may be an issue with baby girls being aborted, what I specifically meant was that I don’t see how finding out from a blood test very early on is any less ethical than finding out from a scan at 16 weeks.[/quote]
Because people are more likely/able to abort at 7 or 8 weeks than 16?

It’s much easier and less traumatic to have an abortion before 10 weeks than waiting for a 16 week scan. The reason lots of NHS trusts won’t disclose sex is to avoid sex selection through abortion. (In English law there’d be no basis for a law suit for the wrong gender).

@GrowBabyGrow

This is a completely non judgemental question but I'm interested in knowing why people who have found out the sex pre the 20 week scan chose to do that? I'm asking as it is obviously an additional cost when you can find out for free later on. I'm going to find out the sex at the 20 week scan so this isn't because I'm anti knowing or anything, just genuinely interested

I found out at 16 weeks with my youngest because my husband couldn’t attend our 20 week scan due to work. It also meant my younger two could come too which was really exciting for them.

I found out at a private scan at 13 weeks.

@GrowBabyGrow

This is a completely non judgemental question but I'm interested in knowing why people who have found out the sex pre the 20 week scan chose to do that? I'm asking as it is obviously an additional cost when you can find out for free later on. I'm going to find out the sex at the 20 week scan so this isn't because I'm anti knowing or anything, just genuinely interested

I had the harmony test which is a form of NIPT to check for chromosome abnormalities. Because they're looking at the chromosomes anyway they can tell you the sex too if you want. It's much more accurate than the scan. Because we knew we wanted to find out we asked them to tell us then

@Moancup

It’s much easier and less traumatic to have an abortion before 10 weeks than waiting for a 16 week scan. The reason lots of NHS trusts won’t disclose sex is to avoid sex selection through abortion. (In English law there’d be no basis for a law suit for the wrong gender).

Can't see that being a major problem in the UK

My OB told me with 70% certainty at my 12 week scan for DC3 (he was right)

With DC2, my OB didn’t feel confident telling me until 16 weeks.

(DC1 we found at our 20w, purely because we hadn’t decided whether or not we wanted to know before then)

[quote HalfTermHalfTerm]@Nookable I understand that in certain countries or cultures there may be an issue with baby girls being aborted, what I specifically meant was that I don’t see how finding out from a blood test very early on is any less ethical than finding out from a scan at 16 weeks.[/quote]
Not saying I agree or disagree with you but I live in Germany and even though you can find out the sex early, they won't tell you until 14 weeks as it is then illegal to have an abortion. This is to avoid abortions based on "wrong sex". So we got our harmony results back at 12 weeks but had to wait 2 weeks for the sex even though it comes with the generic testing results in the UK.

Can't see that being a major problem in the UK

It might not be as major a problem as other parts of the world but would be extremely naive to think it wouldn't be a consideration to some i individuals of particular cultures/religions living in the uk

Even if it is rarer here than elsewhere doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to the possibility of it happening

What's the rush to find out the sex before 16 weeks? Especially if it could reduce abortions based on sex of babies (no matter how small a number in uk)

I did a SneakPeek blood test at 8 weeks for a bit fun- said girl
I did the NIPT- confirmed girl

I don’t care what I have, but due to a history of losses and never making it this far…I wanted to know what she was to make it more real for me.

I can't believe that people are naive enough to not realise that people in the UK (or France, wherever. I won't say US as women seem to have fewer rights there!) will not abort because of the sexual or their foetus.
Where I lived, you wouldn't be told before 20 weeks, purely because of immigrant communities choosing to abort female foetuses. It's outrageous but it is what it is.
If this is what it takes to prevent humans fucking around with nature because of absurd human bullshit then that is what it takes (and I say that as someone who had a child in kindergarten in China where her son was one of 30 in a class with 5 females! I know what shit this is!)

Go to a really good sonographer. I saw someone at 9 weeks who told me confidently it was a girl. He was right.

I found out early because of NIPT. Some abnormalities are sex-specific and they double-checked we wanted to know before telling us. I wanted to know because I thought it would help me form an attachment to the baby rather than being utterly petrified haha (and I was right, it has) but I 100% understand why people aren’t bothered about finding out.

@GrowBabyGrow

This is a completely non judgemental question but I'm interested in knowing why people who have found out the sex pre the 20 week scan chose to do that? I'm asking as it is obviously an additional cost when you can find out for free later on. I'm going to find out the sex at the 20 week scan so this isn't because I'm anti knowing or anything, just genuinely interested

You are aware that the 20 week scan isn't actually about finding the sex out (it's far more important than that) and that some trusts don't confirm it anyway?

Yeah you can I had the test done at 8weeks due to having a genetic condition that runs in my family which only effects the males in my family so I needed to know as early as possible really so I could be prepared, I also had the test done 7 years ago when carrying my daughter to but back then you needed to be 12 weeks pregnant to get a 99% accurate.

It's amazing really that a simple blood test can do that. When i was pregnant with my son I was at my 12w scan the woman giving me the scan could already see i was carrying a boy she was surprised as she said she's never been able to see it's a boy so early.

@Alonelonelylonersbadidea

I can't believe that people are naive enough to not realise that people in the UK (or France, wherever. I won't say US as women seem to have fewer rights there!) will not abort because of the sexual or their foetus. Where I lived, you wouldn't be told before 20 weeks, purely because of immigrant communities choosing to abort female foetuses. It's outrageous but it is what it is. If this is what it takes to prevent humans fucking around with nature because of absurd human bullshit then that is what it takes (and I say that as someone who had a child in kindergarten in China where her son was one of 30 in a class with 5 females! I know what shit this is!)

Absolutely this.

Discussions around sex (a baby has no idea of it's 'gender' as it hasn't yet been born) only need to be known where there is a sex specific medical issue. Everything else is just impatience and should not be divulged until the chance of sex specific termination has decreased. Certainly to the level where terminating a pregnancy will require surgery rather than simply pills.

I am fervently pro choice for early abortion. As long as it's not due to horrific misogyny. To believe that this does not happen in the UK is hugely naïve.

You can pay for the Harmony test which also tests more accurately for all the things that your 12 week blood test does. Do be conscious that the Harmony test isn't 100% accurate on the sex. I know somebody who was told the wrong sex, there is a small chance this can happen.

Sometimes it can be seen at the 12 weeks scan if the baby is in the right position. I forgot to ask when I had mine ( I was so happy the baby was doing well I wasn't even thinking about the sex).
I had a privet scan at week 16. It wasn't a gender scan, I booked it as I had mmc before, but they were able to tell me the sex of the baby.
I heard about the blood test but I didn't wanted to do it; I wated to make sure the 12 weeks scan went well first. But I don't see why not if you don't mind paying and you're curious.

We had the Harmony test so found out the sex before 12 weeks. We considered it a bonus as the purpose of the test was to check for trisomies, but it is lovely to know what we’re having.

Contrary to what an earlier poster said, the Harmony test is >99% accurate for singleton X/Y analysis assuming there’s sufficient foetal DNA in your blood.