Didn't work for me this time.  I had hoped and prayed for a girl after three boys and when I heard the heart rate was higher than 140 I thought the ultrasound would show good news this time.  Not so, the ultrasound showed two boys! :(

According to the old wives tales - if the heart rate is above 140bpm, it's a girl, lower and it's a boy.

But from all the research I've done (I'm studying in a birth related field), and from having 2 children of my own, I feel this one is exactly that, an old wives tale.

Scientifically yes, females generally have a higher metabolic rate, which would suggest a higher heart rate, but a baby's heart rate in utero fluctuates from one minute to the next. At various stages of my pregnancies, my baby's heart rates were anywhere between 120bpm - 160bpm.

Hi, there is no way to tell what sex your baby is by the heart beat.the only ways to tell is by ultasound or an amniontises test...

My gyno checked heart rate the night i was due said it will be a boy. It only confirmed what she already knew by the ultrasound. At tht stage i didnt know because i had opted to wait til my baby was born. But " i felt i was carrying a boy" with both pregnancies.

annie xxxx

Well, some midwives swear by it, like one I had, and others will tell you it is rubbish.

Unfortunately, for the midwife I had, my little girl seemed to be the spanner in the works that meant the old wives tale was proven to be not quite true.

A baby's heartrate is going to go up  and down according to their activity, and there is no way to predict the gender of your baby by it.

my midwife told me that a girls is generally slower, boys are normally around the 140 bps, and i think she said 120bps for a girl, as the first relpy said it will rise and fall with the babies movement, so it's very hard to be sure, both my boys have been a steady 140bps right the way through the pregnacy and even through labour

Nup.  The wives' tale is that if the heart rate is above 140 beats per minute, then it's a girl.  Thing is, the heart rate changes as the baby's activity changes, so it will increase and decrease during the day.

I've had two of each, and the measured heart rates for all of them was above 140.