Once you are pregnant and the good news is out, the thought uppermost in your mind and of your dear ones would be about the gender of the baby. Are you going to have a baby boy or baby girl? Earlier, people would just wait till the delivery day for the surprise to be known. But now with all the modern technologies around us, knowing the gender of the baby isn’t a big deal. But then, if you took the high road and said NO to gender reveal but still would like to have fun guessing out the gender, then you can have a go at old wives’ tales and the Chinese gender calendar.

 

First, let us try guessing the gender with help of old wives’ tales.  If the mother’s food craving is headed to sweets, then there is a high chance for a baby girl whereas a desire for salty & sour items for a baby boy. The position of the belly can also be examined for this exciting guesswork.  A lower position means boy whereas a high one means you are carrying a baby girl.

Now, another method that millions of parents swear by is the Chinese Gender Calendar. The Chinese gender calendar is an ancient tool that was used by Chinese to determine the sex of the conceived baby. According to legends, it was found in an ancient tomb in Beijing about 700 years back. The ancient calendar is said to have 90% accuracy but there is no scientific evidence to prove the same.  But then, this is 100% fun for sure.

The Chinese gender calendar predicts the gender of the conceived baby based on the lunar month the foetus was conceived and mother’s age as per the Chinese lunar calendar. The calendar resembles a chart as it has 28 rows and 12 columns. The rows refer to the conception month and the columns represents the age of conception. The results are shown either by initials such as G & B, or by pink and blue colour or by images of baby’s head.

The Chinese calendar stresses more on gender prediction and conception time. the calendar has two functions; predict and predetermine. The Chinese calendar is able to predict the sex of the conceived baby based on the month the mother got conceived. This calendar can also be used to predetermine if you are eyeing for a particular gender as it specifies the time period as to when you need to get intimate.

Confusion while using the calendar

The first mistake that people make when using Chinese calendar is that they consider the months in the chart as the same one they are using on a regular basis. The Chinese calendar is based on the Chinese lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is different from the Gregorian calendar that we use. Gregorian calendar is primarily based on the position of the sun. The Chinese one, on the other hand, is a ‘lunisolar’ calendar which means that both sun and lunar positions are considered in this calendar. The second mistake is when people consider the age number of the mother to be. The ones in the lunar calendar are calculated based on the traditional Chinese calendar and do not correspond to the regular ones that we use. Moreover, the months in the Chinese calendar vary in duration and age. The beginning and end period can differ each year.

So will it be a baby girl swaddled by a pink towel or a baby boy in blue one for you?