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Ask your granny to predict your baby’s gender. She would take a few minutes, and say whether it is a boy or a girl in your womb. And don’t be surprised if she predicts it right. Gender prediction folklores have been there since generations as we did not always have a nifty technology to know the baby’s gender. One such bizarre gender prediction test is the ring on a string game.
Predicting the gender of your baby is interesting and helps you and your partner connect to the baby. So, try this ring on a string gender test. Momjunction helps you understand the accuracy of the ring test and also shares other folklores on gender prediction. However, let us tell you that these have no scientific backing.
How To Do The Ring Test For Gender Prediction?
If you are game for some guess work, you should try the wedding ring test. It can even be a great game idea for a baby shower party.
This is how you can play it to know whether the baby in your womb is a boy or a girl:
- Tie your wedding ring to a piece of thread.
- Hold the thread over your belly as you lie on the bed.
- You may also ask your partner to dangle it over your belly.
- Allow the string to move without any external interference.
There are also a few alternative ways to do the ring on a string test. Those variations include: –
- Use a strand of hair in place of thread.
- Use needle in place of a wedding ring.
- Hold the ring over the wrist instead of the belly.
- Place the threaded ring in your palm for some time, and then raise the string so that it swings over the palm.
- Hold the string in front of the belly while you are standing.
You can also use an engagement ring or promise ring instead of a wedding ring. Apparently, most women use their wedding rings.
[ Read: Gender Prediction During Pregnancy ]
Interpreting the results
Explicating the results of ring test in pregnancy is easy when compared to other methods, which use chemicals.
- If the ring moves in a circle, you are carrying a girl.
- If it moves to and fro, you can expect a boy.
How Accurate Is The Ring Test In Gender Prediction?
If you are looking for scientifically proven gender predictors, the ring test is not for you. It is part of folklore. How it works, nobody knows. It may seem illogical, but for hundreds of families, the wedding ring gender test has been more than just a game.
[ Read: Symptoms Of Baby Boy During Pregnancy ]
Though this is a free ring trick to determine baby’s gender, there are some problems when you interpret the result because of the subconscious working of your mind and ideomotor movements.
What are these ideomotor movements?
They are subtle muscle movements which occur without any conscious effort. The ideomotor effect happens when an individual has expectations regarding the result. For instance, if the mom-to-be expects a baby girl, she may automatically make the string move in a circle. She may not be aware of these movements as they occur involuntarily.
Dr. William B. Carpenter introduced the phrase “ideomotor action,” which means muscle movements responding to outside influences.
[ Read: Chinese Gender Prediction Test ]
Ring On A String: The Safe Gender Prediction Test
Safety is of utmost importance during pregnancy. Eagerness to know the gender of the baby can sometimes lead to unwise decisions. However, string test is the right option as it is safe and simple.
The test is also an excellent way to entertain yourself, but do not try to buy gender-specific items based on the results. The result may not be accurate always.
[ Read: Symptoms Of Baby Girl During Pregnancy ]
Other Fun Ways To Predict Baby’s Gender
Why just stop with the string gender test? There are some other fun gender prediction tests you can try. Here are a few of them:
1. Where is the baby?
How you carry your baby can predict its gender. Or so says a popular folklore! If you are carrying low, it’s a girl. If you are carrying high, you are having a boy. But don’t go looking for logic here. Because if you ask the experts, they will tell you that where you carry your baby has nothing to do with the baby’s gender but with your muscles, weight, and body shape.
[ Read: Nub Theory Gender Prediction ]
2. Listen to the tiny heart:
Another popular way to predict your baby’s gender is through its heartbeats. Anything over 140 bpm is a girl. A heartbeat lower than that indicates a boy. Interestingly, a recent study has indicated that a girl’s heart beats faster than a boy’s heart after 30 weeks of pregnancy. But we need more relevant studies before we declare this folklore is scientific! The fact is that there’s no difference between male and female fetal heart rate in the first trimester (1).
3. Pregnancy cravings:
So, what are your food cravings during pregnancy? Make a note because what you want to eat may indicate your baby’s gender. If you can’t stop eating sweets, get ready for a boy. If it is sour food that you are craving for, it’s a baby girl for you!
4. Pregnancy glow:
If you are glowing, you are carrying a boy. Looking down in the dumps? Well, that’s your baby girl stealing your beauty!
[ Read: Scientific Methods Of Gender Determination ]
5. How bad is your morning sickness?
If you are going through a bad bout of morning sickness, blame it on your baby girl. If you are not getting that sick, thank your little boy.
Remember that these are just fun ways to predict your baby’s gender. Don’t try and throw a gender reveal party based on these tests!
If you are feeling bored or looking for some fun quotient in your baby shower, you can try these old wives tales ring test and others. If you need to know the gender of your baby to decide the color of your nursery, stick to science!
Gender-prediction methods are only for fun and do not replace medical examinations. MomJunction believes in gender equality; we do not support or encourage sex determination nor entertain any queries on finding the sex of the baby.
Did you try to predict your baby’s gender? Did any of the tests work? Let us know in the comments section below.
