Is heart rate a reliable indicator of sex or not?

[fells]

I'm 33 weeks pregnant and my baby's heart rate has been consistently high (around 160) when checked by the midwife. In fact one mid-wife told me it was probably a girl without me asking. I didn't want to know! Is there a chance she could be wrong? I don't mind what I have I just want to get some of the element of surprise back!

not reliable in my experience. DS1 had a low heartbeat and DS2 had a high heartbeat.

Not

No. My ds2's heart beat went up to around 190 when I was strapped up to the monitor!
I think it depends on how active your baby is at the time.

DD1 - consistently high heart rate, bump shape etc. made everyone predict a girl (I thought a boy, secretly wanting a girl) and they were right. DD2 - lower heart rate, different pregnancy and bump totally different - convinced it was a boy, so was MW. Total wonderful surprise as it was a little girl.
I think you would be daft to presume any sex at the minute and just take your mw?s comments as a whim.

Hi fells,

I used to be a midwife and there is some evidence out there that girls do have faster heartbeats than boys. However, this research is based upon lots and lots of heartbeat recordings - not just an isolated one. I think it would be very hard to tell from listening just once to your baby if it's a girl or a boy. If they listened everyday for 30 mins and averaged the heartbeat out over that time they might say "well - it's above this rate which could indicate a girl" but nothing more precise than that.

Interestingly I used to work with a Spanish midwife who would confidently say "that's a girl" or "that's a boy" when checking the heartbeat. I can tell you that she was wrong as often as she was right AND sometimes told the same mother the opposite at a later check!!

no

Yup, pupace has put it much more precisely than me.

when pg with dd, 4 different midwives said "boy" after listening in to the hb. I had agirl

i had a scan at 20 weeks with ds1 and they told me i was having a girl so i went out a bought bags of girls stuff and decorated the room pink. needless to say he was a boy!!!

dd's heartrate constant around 130 (and used up half a rainforest in monitoring so am fairly sure of this !) so no....

I specifically asked my midwife this question - she said it only indicates how active the baby is at the time of monitoring, not the sex. So she has a 50% chance - only - of being right.

However, at your midwife for telling you something you didn't want to know!

DS was consistently around 160

DD was consistently around 140

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dd consistently 150/160

this pg - so far averaging 130/140

who knows?! I WANT A BOY THIS TIME THOUGH!

MW told me at my final visit that i was expecting a boy. When i was in labour and connected to the monitor the same MW said it was a girl.

It was a girl. All a load of guff in my opinion but fun guessing!

not reliable for me either dd2 was consistently low - so much so that the GP speculated that possibly she was a boy - but no - she was a girl!!

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I asked my GP this a fortnight ago (I'm 27 weeks) and he said it was an old wife's tale.

No, my mw said that dd2 was "definitely a boy".

It's a bit like saying that everyone who's 5'8" tall is a man. They may well be but there are many women with this characteristic also.

No! If it was, we'd all know wouldn't we!

yes i think she could def be wrong coz im pg with a boy and his heartbeat has always been high, about 160 like yours. so i wouldn't beleive in that at all.