Does more morning sickness mean you're having a girl?
Categories: Pregnancy & birth, Medical conditions
Second trimester ultrasounds have taken the guesswork out of pregnancy. If you want to know if you should paint the nursery blue or a sweet shade of pink, all you have to do is ask. But for couples who choose not to find out the sex of their baby or who, for whatever reason, don't get that mid-pregnancy ultrasound (my first OB did only a first trimester viability ultrasound and that was it), trying to figure out what you're having before delivery day can be kind of fun.Nearly every myth about guessing the gender of the baby has been debunked, but scientists who study such things are finding that one of those old wives tales just might be true after all. Women who have the most severe morning sickness symptoms in pregnancy have a higher likelihood of having a girl.
The women who were in the study had been hospitalized with morning sickness or had developed a condition called hypermesis gravidarum. So if you find yourself kneeling in front of the toilet every morning or downing Saltines, sleeve after sleeve, it doesn't mean you should return that little blue onesie. But it is curious that these women with the most severe symptoms were more likely (up to 80% more likely, in fact) to deliver a girl. I wonder why -- any theories?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Madison 8-21-2008 @ 4:29PM
I had awful morning sickness. I threw-up numerous times a day my ENTIRE pregnancy- I was miserable. And guess what? I had twin BOYS!
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the goddess anna 8-21-2008 @ 6:04PM
Me too! In fact, I lost 30 pounds during my first trimester I was so sick. My twin boys made me sick, but my daughter gave me no morning sickness at all.
I think morning sickness has more to do with the woman, and less to do with the baby's gender, but then I don't get paid to do these silly studies either.
ame s 8-21-2008 @ 4:31PM
I've often heard that women who have bad heartburn/acid reflux most often have babies born with lots of hair.
With my first child, a girl, I had a very easy pregnancy. Normal weight gain, no morning sickness or heartburn.
With my second child, also a girl, I had morning sickness almost every day for the first 2 months, and very bad heartburn for the last 2 months. I gained 20 more pounds with my second pregnancy than my first.
Both of my daughters were born with lots of hair. I carried one high, the other low. Yeah, I'm not helping prove any theories whatsoever am I? ;)
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M Andrews 8-21-2008 @ 4:44PM
And I had no morning sickness whatsoever when I was pregnant with my daughter. There's always going to be exceptions to the rule, though.
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Jen 8-21-2008 @ 4:56PM
My morning sickness was so much worse with my 2 boys than it was with my daughter.
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Kellie 8-21-2008 @ 5:06PM
I had horrific morning sickness with my daughter. I would say it was just run-of-the mill with my son.
A girlfriend of mine has 2 girls and 2 boys. She had bad morning sickness with all of them, but with the boys it was the worst.
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rebecca Biernesser 8-21-2008 @ 5:08PM
I had awful morning sickness....thru out all three pregnancies and for the entire time...I have two boys and a girl.
TO be honest, the pregnancy with my girl felt different...i don't know how to explain it though. I just felt like I knew it a girl, but didn't want to get my hopes up after already having two boys. Even the sickness was different. hard to explain....
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diane 8-21-2008 @ 5:12PM
I had severe morning sickness with my daughter for entire pregnancy (forty weeks). On the other hand, when I was pregnant with my son it was the complete opposite; I was rarely sick. From my experience; this article applies to my pregnancy. I gained less weight with my daughter than my son due to sickness. I also had severe heartburn the last two months with by daughter but not with my son.
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Joy 8-21-2008 @ 5:14PM
I had morning sickness all day long with both kids - a boy and a girl. Both times the sickness was equally horrible and lasted about 4 months. In my case the sickness was not any different for a boy or a girl.
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Vivi 8-21-2008 @ 5:58PM
I have 5 children first 3 girls then 2 boys for all 3 girls I was deadly ill for boys no morning sickness at all.
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bremarie03 8-21-2008 @ 7:38PM
My morning sickness got worse with every pregnancy (girl, boy, girl), so I don't think it applies to me.
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Michelle 8-21-2008 @ 8:29PM
Lets, see: #1, sick all day long, but as long as I was downing food, I could at least pretend to keep the nausea at bay: GIRL (ames, I also, had horrific acid reflux, to the point I thought I was having a heart attack late one night, no hair until well after a year old!)
#2: so sick, I threw up every thing that even thought of going in my stomache. Even the expensive prescription didn't help, in fact, made it worse. Couldn't stand to even be near a kitchen:BOY
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SKL 8-21-2008 @ 10:37PM
My mom would agree with this study. She had 3 girls and 3 boys. They were B-B-G-G-B so everyone just assumed the last would be a boy, but it was a girl. Afterward my mom said - I should have known - I was so horribly sick throughout the pregnancy.
My theory? Hormones. Female upon female - seems logical that some hormone-related stuff would be compounded. No?
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Baron 8-22-2008 @ 9:21AM
My thoughts exactly. You have a second set of female hormones that are going to interact with you one way or another.
Sabrina 8-22-2008 @ 9:32AM
I was horrendously sick with my boy, but only did that annoyingly dainy one-tiny-puke-in-the-morning thing with my daughter. I would lay on the floor in the kitchen groaning while my daughter ate her breakfast while I was pregnant with my son. This went on for a few months until I finally got into full swing insomnia, THEN it cleared up just fine. Gah, I was sicker and had weirder things with my boy pregnancy. Basically the girl pregnancy was like a walk in the park compared! My grandma said she was much sicker with her 2 boys than the girls too.
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kelly 8-22-2008 @ 9:41AM
One of my good friends had zero morning sickness with her first child -- a boy. So when she was miserably sick during her second pregnancy, we all assumed this one was a girl. To the point of buying girl clothes. Nope. Boy again!
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Laura 8-22-2008 @ 11:46AM
I have one daughter and one son and had horrific all day morning sickness for the first 24 weeks of both of my pregnancies. With my son, we joked that he had to be a boy because chocolate seemed to make me espeically ill and a girl won't turn chocolate away.
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jen 8-22-2008 @ 2:07PM
I was sick from about 4 days after conception until 28 weeks (28 WEEKS!) with my daughter (my second pregnancy). My son's pregnancy contained only 12 weeks of sickness. All friends who have had girls had long (ie more than 1st trimester) sickness. I didn't find out either of my children's gender on the scan, but I 'knew' anyway.
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Heather 8-22-2008 @ 11:02PM
With my dd I felt fabulous with my son I had morning sickness til the 8th month.
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