What the Old Wives' Tales Say About Whether You'll Have a Boy or a Girl

Old wives' tales are little more than super-circulated rumors. Never proven to be true, they're sayings and adages that generations of women have passed down to one another regarding family health ("Eating carrots improves your vision"), safe parenting ("Wait an hour after eating before swimming"), and -- most popularly -- pregnancy.

Little is known about the origins of the following old wives' tales regarding how to guess baby's sex, but many pregnant women today still swing chains above their bellies and examine how they're carrying to determine what they're having. Whether you're trying to guess your own baby's gender or looking for shower games for a friend, read on for the top ways women have guessed: boy or girl?

Body Changes

• If you prefer sleeping on your left side, you'll have a boy. Right side? A girl.
• Extreme nausea means you are having a girl.
• If your hands are dry, you are having a boy; soft -- expect a girl.
• If you're craving citrus, you're having a girl.
• If your skin breaks out, expect a girl.
• If you feel graceful during pregnancy, you'll have a girl. Clumsy? It's a boy.
• If you gain weight in your face, it means you're having a girl.
• Craving salt? Expect a boy. A little something sweet? You're having a girl.
• If your right breast is larger than the left, you are having a girl. If the left is larger, a boy.
• Feeling extremely moody? Expect a girl.

How Are You Carrying?

• If baby is low, expect a boy. High, it's a girl.
• If you're carrying in front, it's a boy. All around your middle? A girl.

Boy or Girl: How Genetics Determine Your Baby's Gender

• Dangle a chain with a charm over your palm. It is swings back and forth: boy. In a circle: girl.
• How would you show someone your hands? Palms up? It's a girl. Down? A boy.
• Hang a ring on a chain over your belly. Swings back and forth? It's a girl. In a circular motion, a boy.
• If a toddler boy shows interest in your belly, you'll have a girl. If he ignores you, it's a boy.
• Guess the baby's sex by eating garlic. If the smell seeps out of your pores -- boy. No scent -- girl.
• If you pick up a key by the round end, you're having a boy. If it's by the long end? A girl.

• If your age and year of conception are both even or odd, it's girl. One even, one odd means a boy.
• If the baby's heart beats more than 150 times per minute, you'll have a girl. Less than 150, a boy.
• A child tends to be of the same sex as the parent who is less stressed at the time of conception.
• If you dream about having a girl, you will wind up having a boy and vice versa.

Originally published on AmericanBaby.com, July 2006.

All content here, including advice from doctors and other health professionals, should be considered as opinion only. Always seek the direct advice of your own doctor in connection with any questions or issues you may have regarding your own health or the health of others.