The earliest you can find out the gender of your baby is around 6 weeks through a blood test that detects fetal DNA in the mother's bloodstream. This test, known as noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) or prenatal gender DNA testing, can determine the baby's sex with high accuracy (up to 99.9%). Ultrasound can typically reveal the baby's gender around 18 to 22 weeks of pregnancy, with some methods like the "nub theory" enabling guesses as early as 11 weeks, but with less accuracy. More invasive tests like amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling can confirm gender as early as 11 to 15 weeks but are usually done for medical reasons due to their risks. Summary of early gender determination methods:
- Blood test (NIPT or prenatal gender DNA test): as early as 6 weeks, highly accurate
- Ultrasound anatomy scan: commonly at 18-22 weeks, sometimes earlier at 11-13 weeks with less accuracy
- Invasive genetic tests (amniocentesis, CVS): 11-15 weeks, 100% accurate but riskier
This provides the earliest and most reliable options to learn the gender of your baby before birth.
