Categories: Baby Care

Does Intelligender Really Work?

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Intelligender says it can help you predict whether you’re going to have a boy or a girl well before the doctor confirms it. They’ve also branched off into providing pre and post-natal vitamins, as well as other baby-related products. But the main product we’re taking a look at is their gender prediction test to see if it really can give you a heads up just 56 days after conception.

Overview
It can seem like a rather long time from the time you conceive your baby to the time your doctor tells you what you’re having. For those that just can’t wait that long there are a few methods available that might assist in letting you know whether to paint their room blue or pink.

The Claim
Intelligender claims that it’s a way to fill in the gap between conceiving your baby and going in for the ultrasound at the 20th week. It’s important to note that they use the word “fun” a lot in their pitch, which is trying to prevent buyers from relying too much on the results they get from this, and rather just treat it as a novelty and something to do while you’re waiting for the final call.

To Know, or Not to Know
Some parents put a lot of emphasis on the gender of their babies, and want to know right away what they’re having so they can start the planning process. Others don’t want to know at all and want to keep it a surprise until the delivery day, the old fashioned way. If you fall into the former category you probably don’t want to wait until month nine, and are even antsy about waiting for the doctor to tell you what you’re having.

The Cost
At the official Intelligender site you can get it for $28. Amazon has it for $22, with free shipping if you add three more dollars to your order. Walgreens has it for the same price, which is the lowest we could find it online.

The Commitment
There isn’t much to do on your part, and if you took a pregnancy test to find out you’re pregnant you’ll have no problem using this. All it requires is a sample of your urine, and it changes color based on what you’re having. It’s apparently easy to use, and easy to read, without a lot of ambiguity so you should have an definite answer after taking the test.

Evaluation
What’s interesting is that any method to predict gender is going to be accurate about half the time. So in order to say that Intelligender works it would have to work almost every single time, with a margin of error to adjust for false positives or negatives and user error. What we’re seeing here is that in most cases it’s getting it right, but of course there are some instances where it gets it wrong. That’s why you wouldn’t want to put too much stock in the results you get, and not make any major purchases or start changing the decor until you know for sure.

It’s not just Intelligender that doesn’t get it right every time. Even competing products like the Gender Maker are not 100% accurate. That’s why you should take it with a grain of salt and just use it as a strong hunch and not a set in stone answer. That way if your doctor confirms it, it will act as a spoiler, and if they tell you the opposite you won’t have to save face. They say that in their clinical trials they achieved an accuracy rating of 90% but they’re quick to point out that this is under ideal conditions and using the product exactly as directed. Using it at home creates the possibility of getting something wrong, reducing the accuracy rate, and accounting for the wrong reads.

Final Intelligender Review

If you’re using Intelligender simply for fun and as a novelty, you’ll probably like it and it has a good chance of getting it right. But if you’re

thinking of using this as a way to start picking out colors for the baby’s room or to get their first clothes, you might want to hold off until the ultrasound. We’re surely on the verge of having a way to perfectly tell what gender you’re having, and this represents a step in that direction, but if you need to know without a doubt this isn’t the way to go.

Our Recommendation
If you don’t want to spend the $20 or so, you can take the baking soda test. This involves adding a bit of your urine to baking soda to see the reaction. If there’s fizziness, like the effervescence from a soda, you should be having a boy. If there’s no fizz you could be having a girl. This seems to have an accuracy rating around 70% so perhaps not as accurate but a lot cheaper, and if it’s just for fun why not go the cheap route?

What do you think? Does Intelligender work or not?

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View Comments

Felix M says:

February 18, 2013 at 8:40 am

I didn't really want to know the gender of our child, but my wife certainly wants to and even though I was against it at first, I kind of changed my mind about it now. What's it got to hurt, right? My wife just wants to know if it's a boy or a girl and it's not like she's got a preference. She's just curious and I understand her now. It's not like the gender of our child would change if we took the test anyways.