Whether a baby will develop into a boy or a girl depends wholly on whether the father’s sperm cell that fertilized the mother’s egg had a dominant female X or a dominant male Y chromosome. Expectant mothers must wait until the second trimester to let an ultrasound test determine the gender of their babies. Many attempt to find out early, however, with an old-wives-tale test that involves mixing some urine with boiling red cabbage. Results of the cabbage gender test are supposedly guaranteed to be at least 50 percent accurate.
An ultrasound at about 18 to 20 weeks should reveal a baby’s gender. At this time, technicians can determine whether more than one baby is coming and if any abnormalities are present. For generations, a way to try and at least satisfy the curiosity about a baby’s gender has been to come home with a head of red cabbage and pull out a knife to administer the cabbage gender test.
In a pot, pregnant mothers mix a half a head of chopped red cabbage with about 2 cups (about 475 ml) of boiling water, using just enough cabbage to fully immerse the vegetables. The heat is lowered once the cabbage and water are boiling again. After 10 minutes at a simmer, the cabbage water will be a deep purple and ready to perform its rudimentary test of a mother’s urinary pH.
Mothers should strain the liquid of all the cabbage. Then, a mixture is made of equal parts urine and cabbage water. According to several Web sites, many mothers use a morning sample to mix with the cabbage water, since its concentration will be highest. According to popular legend, the cabbage gender test causes the water color to fade to pink or red if a boy is on the way, but will remain purple if the baby is a girl. Others wives tales insist the color coding is the other way around — faded means a girl and purple means a boy.
Medical experts have shied away from settling the matter of the cabbage gender test. Many cite a stark difference in pH levels across all women, particularly during pregnancy — a factor that can either fade or leave some cabbage water purple. An ultrasound appears to be the only established means of determining gender.
A range of Web sites claim to help expectant mothers determine a baby’s gender. These sites rank mothers on how they answer several questions pertaining to physical symptoms, alleging that mothers of boys and mother of girls experience pregnancy in slightly different ways. The sites refer to characteristics like whether mothers are carrying their babies high or low, if their legs have gotten hairier, and if they are craving meats or fruits, sweets or savories.