The earliest you can find out the gender of a baby is about 6 weeks into pregnancy using a highly accurate at-home blood test that analyzes fetal DNA in the mother's blood. Ultrasound can start to predict gender as early as 11 weeks but is more accurate between 18 to 20 weeks. Other medical tests like chorionic villus sampling or non-invasive prenatal tests can determine gender from around 10 weeks with high accuracy.
Early Gender Prediction Methods
- At-home blood DNA tests : Detect fetal DNA in maternal blood from 6 weeks with over 99% accuracy.
- Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) : Blood test from 10 weeks.
- Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) : Invasive test from 10 weeks.
- Amniocentesis : Invasive test at 15-20 weeks.
- Ultrasound : Can guess gender with around 70% accuracy at 11 weeks; more reliable (up to 99%) at 18-20 weeks using genital visualization or "nub theory."
Ultrasound Gender Determination
- Around 11-13 weeks, the genital tubercle ("nub") can be examined, with about 70-90% accuracy.
- Accurate confirmation usually happens at the 18-20 week anatomy scan.
- Factors like fetal position can affect accuracy.
Thus, the soonest confident detection of baby’s gender is about 6 weeks using an early DNA blood test, with ultrasound providing visual clues starting around 11 weeks but most reliably at 18-20 weeks.
