GENDER REVEAL! (Do IntelliGender Tests Really Work?)

How accurate is IntelliGender? We take the test, and then check the results against a MaterniT21 test, a non-invasive blood test that is highly accurate.

GENDER REVEAL Do IntelliGender Tests Really Work by Mama Natural Featured

Have you ever heard of gender swaying? We did a little bit of planning around baby no. 2, so we were definitely excited to find out the sex of the baby. We wondered: Is there really something to swaying?? Maybe the IntelliGender Test could help us find out a little sooner than we normally could via ultrasound?!

What is IntelliGender?

First, let’s back up just a bit. The IntelliGender is an over-the-counter test you can buy on their website and at select drugstores.

It’s a simple urine analysis test—similar to a pregnancy test. You take the test first thing in the morning (or at least 2- 1/2 hours after you last urinated), and it uses first morning urine combined with a proprietary mix of chemicals that reacts with hormones to reveal the gender of your baby.

When Can You Take the IntelliGender Test?

The IntelliGender urine test can be used as early as six weeks after the first day of your missed period—that’s at least three weeks earlier than other early gender tests, like blood tests.

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Does IntelliGender Work for Twins?

If you are having identical twins, the test works exactly as it would if you were having a single baby. But if babies are fraternal twins, it gets a little trickier. If the test reads girl, you can generally assume that both babies are girls. However, if the test reads boy, you can generally assume that at least one baby is a boy. To confirm the gender or both babies, you’ll likely have to wait for a blood test of ultrasound to get the most accurate results.

How to Read the Results

Once you’ve urinated in the sample cup provided, simply swirl it rapidly in a circular motion. Then, place the kit on a flat white surface. Leave it undisturbed until the testing period is over. At this point, you will be able to visually see your results.

  • If you’re having a boy, the urine in the sample cup will appear a dark greenish-blue.
  • If you are having a girl, the urine in the sample cup will look yellowish-pink.

What Our Results Said

So… is baby no. 2 a boy or a girl? Find out in this video!

In this video, we take the IntelliGender test, and then we check the results against a MaterniT21 test, a non-invasive blood test that is highly accurate.

Check it out to see us get our results in real time!

How Accurate is IntelliGender?

According to even the IntelliGender website, this gender predictor is just for fun. There is no accuracy rate listed on the product or their website. Here’s what the site says about the accuracy of IntelliGender:

“Please remember that the test is not 100% accurate. IntelliGender is committed to providing fun products for moms along their pregnancy journey.”

“IntelliGender does not recommend making any financial, emotional or family planning decisions based on the test results. This includes painting a nursery!”

Note: According to the IntelliGender website, there may be a link between false boy results and recent intimacy. For the most accurate results, they recommend abstaining from intercourse for at least 48 hours before taking the test.

Genevieve Howland

About the Author

Genevieve Howland is a childbirth educator and breastfeeding advocate. She is the bestselling author of The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth and creator of the Mama Natural Birth Course. A mother of three, graduate of the University of Colorado, and YouTuber with over 130,000,000 views, she helps mothers and moms-to-be lead healthier and more natural lives.

74 Comments

  1. I found out at 13 weeks 2 days I was having a boy, at a place called the baby connection in Sacramento, Calif. And Indeed it was a boy!!

  2. I am currently 9 weeks pregnant and I just dream of having twins! The odds are against me because of the lack of twins on my maternal side. That doesn’t stop me from praying though. I just feel like I am having them. My hubby says that’s because I want them so bad. 3 more weeks and then we find out. Pray for me.

  3. Baby gender determination before birth and conception.
    Baby gender determination by photo of parents only.
    To do this in Facebook I have an account and a group.
    The group is called Baby gender by parents photo.

  4. I have a MAT21 test set for early October. They said nothing about gender confirmation being part of it! Did you have to ask/pay extra?

  5. hi,I’m 16weeks pregnant I bought the I.G. when I was 11 wks it said boy,then I bought another one at 13wks said girl did again for the lsst time at 13/half pregnant said girl.I followed directions. so wat you think bout that? could it be the ph or wat? I go for us when I’m 18wks

  6. Congrats!!! I have a 7 month old girl and LOVE her! Girls are so much fun. I found out she was a girl at an u/s at 16 weeks. I had bleeding which was an SCH so they were doing an u/s to see if it had resolved (it had)! Then they asked if I wanted to find out the sex so it was a surprise to find out then! I thought I was going to have to wait for the anatomy scan. You are going to love having a girl!

  7. First of all, congratulations! Girls are so much fun!

    I just have one, but all along, I felt like it was a boy, even though we waited to find out. I was shocked to see she was a girl once she was born 🙂 I love being surprised, so I’m pretty sure I’ll never find out ahead of time. Ruins the surprise for me!

  8. Can’t wait to see your video on the maternity 21 test! I work in DNA sequencing and have been watching the news of the test for some time now. I think it’s fantastic that we now have a much more predictive and accurate way of testing for downs syndrome that is non-invasive. I believe that researchers are working on validating the test for other chromosomal abdormalites. It’s great to hear a real life experience with the test and get the word out to other women.

    • Yes, it’s really quite amazing! Loved it!

  9. Genevieve,

    I am SO happy for you! Having a daughter is a wonderful blessing. I am thrilled to follow along on your journey as we are the same weeks pregnant! We don’t know what our second will be yet, but my daughter is 15.5 months old, so the little ones will be about 20 months apart. Our girl is a happy and joyful being – caring, funny, clever – such a treasured part of our days and life!

    I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for your insightful and helpful posts. I discovered you when we were trying to solve leaks/strip our Bumgenius cloth diapers and have checked for your findings/opinion on a wide range of topics ever since. The little baby up/down core exercises were great, BTW. We did them and have recommended them to friends whose little ones are slower to their milestones.

    It’s so amazing to have such similar age, like-minded people as you and your husband doing posts on a regular basis on all the questions that seem to come up for me! 🙂 Thank you again for sharing your insights and experience.

    Wishing you all the best in the rest of your pregnancy and birth and family life in the years and decades to come!

    Paula P. (Silver Spring, MD)

    • Aw, thank you so much Paula for such a kind and thoughtful note! CONGRATS on YOUR pregnancy… so fun! Before we know it, the big day will be here! XOXOXO

  10. We found out at 21 weeks with an u/s with my son. My husband didn’t want to find out, but he ended up giving in. Now I am almost 8 weeks with number 2 and I think we might let this one be a surprise. I am pushing for a homebirth, so I think I might let him have his way on the gender reveal.

  11. I found out with my four when they were born…it was 100% accurate :)!

    Congratulations on your baby – whether it’s a boy or girl!

    • Ha ha! Indeed! You’re awesome. Always admired those that waited 🙂

  12. I’m curious about this test you mentioned!

    We had an ultrasound at 20 weeks. They said GIRL! I couldn’t believe it–our first thought when we got a positive test was that we’d have a girl. But logically, we were convinced it had to be a boy. Had to have a second US later on and they still say girl. So…we’ll find out 100% for sure when she makes her big appearance in August. We’re super excited! 🙂

    • Woo hoo! Congrats on your baby! She’ll be here before you know it! XO

  13. i also got a boy positive on the intelligender test on my fourth pregnancy (test was only 26 dollars then!). i had a little girl (i was pretty certain it was a girl up til i took the test!)

    so i stick w/ waiting til birth!!! it’s so amazing to see this person come out and then SEE them. my last one was a boy (number 5 baby, second boy) and i just couldn’t believe how happy i was that he was a boy. but i was glad to wait through my pregnancy so i could just enjoy pregnancy. drove people bonkers!

    • Very cool! I think it would be amazing to wait till the big day. Way to go!

  14. I am very disturbed that a company can claim to find out the sex at 6 weeks. How many people will abort to get their preferred gender based on a drug store test? How sad that this happens at all, but what if it’s wrong? Whatever happened to the big reveal at birth?

  15. very exciting news!

  16. Congrats! My only suggestion would be using the correct term ‘sex’ (of baby) vs. ‘gender’ (which is a culture-based construction). We check for our baby’s ‘sex’ – not their ‘gender.’ 🙂

    • You can say that… But no one wants to go to a “sex reveal party”! Gender has only recently been adopted as a social construct. And we don’t have to buy into it.

  17. And now Griffin can play trucks and dinosaurs with his sister! (I’m hoping that you didn’t think he could only play those things with a brother…)

  18. My chemist sister-in-law told me that there is no reason that intelligenger would be accurate. I think even their website says that the chance of it being accurate is close to 50/50 (then just figure for standard deviation). Definitely save your money, and use it to buy a cute little outfit for the babe! Congratulations, and if your girl result is right, then I guessed correctly!

  19. We waited until the big day for both of our kids and I loved waiting. We were pretty sure we were having a boy the first time and we did. We were certain we were having a girl the 2nd time, and we did! My pregnancies were very different and I carried them very differently. Congrats on a girl!

  20. i pegged you for the “wait and see” type… but congrats on your girl. we found out with our first and waited for the second two. now i wouldn’t do it any other way.

  21. At just 13 weeks my OB told me she was positive I had 2 boys, and probably one girl. At 20 weeks it was confirmed that I was indeed getting my boys and a daughter. We were beyond thrilled as we had been trying for 2 years, and were unsure if we would be able to have more children. 🙂

  22. Whoo hoo! Congratulations! I had a feeling it was going to be a girl for you! 🙂

    We waited until the big day for both of my last pregnancies and this time we aren’t sure if we’d like to find out ahead of time or not. On one hand, since we already have a boy and a girl, it would be nice to know which stuff we can start to get rid of but on the other, the big surprise on the baby’s birth day is fun too.

  23. We weren’t going to find out because I didn’t plan to have any ultrasounds at all and I prefer it to be a surprise. My husband, however, really wanted to know, and he’s been really great and supportive through all my struggles with hyperemesis, so we decided to do a 20-week so we could find out. Baby did not cooperate – the tech said she’d put her money on girl due to lack of “evidence to the contrary” but she wouldn’t spend money on paint just yet. We’ve had to have three more ultrasounds since due to complications and in every one, baby has its legs tucked under blocking our view of anything. (At least we know our child won’t be a porn star in the future since it is apparently quite modest!) All the techs have said that probably means girl, but warned us we might get a surprise. I’m very OK with that. Congrats on your girl, and thank you for sharing your journey with us!

  24. I thought you were having a girl because of how different you are feeling with this pregnancy!
    So exciting!!

  25. I found out mine the day they were born! I really loved the surprise. 🙂

  26. Yay!! I have been following your whole pregnancy so far and I had a feeling it would be a girl 🙂

    With both of our babies, we found out with ultrasounds at 19 weeks along. Both boys, and no confusion there! I was hoping a little bit for a girl with our second, naturally, but I was so thrilled to find out it was a boy! And my son loves him already, so we’re all good 🙂

    If we have any more children someday, I do hope we will have a daughter, but boys are awesome! Can’t wait for more updates! When do you reveal the name??

  27. Congrats Genevieve!! Girls are so fun! Having one of each, is definitely great as well. I’d wanted to wait until birth to find out their genders, but we decided to find out at my 20w scan instead. Truthfully I knew before I found out with each of them based on cravings and emotions.
    I’m also super grateful I was able to have had NUCBs with both of them so I can empower my daughter about birth when she becomes a mother, just as my mother did for me.

  28. Oh my goodness a girl <3 you will all love a princess in the house, big hugs to you all.

  29. I went in at 19w 5d for an anatomy ultrasound, only to see a very calm, cross-legged baby! Bah!! Went back at 23wks 5ds for another u/s and that when we discovered girl!
    Going in at 17wks for my second, and hoping to be able and find out!!

  30. Congrats! Girls are wonderful! I loved discovering the gender at birth with both my kids. I happened to have guessed right with both so I wasn’t surprised, but it would have been cool if I was!

  31. We waited to find out til birth with our daughter and any day now (due date was yesterday) we will find out the gender of #2 the same way. 🙂

    • Woo hoo! Any moment now?!?! That’s so awesome that you wait. Congrats!

  32. I used the intelligender test and was really excited when it said boy! At my 16 week ultrasound, we found out sure enough, it’s a boy! I really wanted a boy as my first child. My husband seemed to not have a preference, but I can tell that he’s so happy and proud to be having a son. My son is my mom’s first grandson! Yay!

    • Woo hoo! I loved having a boy first! I have an older brother too 🙂

  33. We didn’t do any of the OTC tests or the folk tale tests and we had zero ultrasounds. We made it very clear that we didn’t want the gender announced if anyone saw before us. I was a homebirth cesarean and my wonderful backup hospital midwife repeated to any and every person that dealt with us that WE wanted to discover for ourselves. SHE arrived wrapped in a blanket in our arms immediately after the 1 minute apgar on the OR table. Interestingly I had to look at an angle to see (my husband was holding her) and i could see where her belly button skin was being stretched (the clamp was tugged a little by the blanket) and I thought she was a boy! I exclaimed ‘aww, hey Marshall!’ (our boy name) and my husband said…’uh, you might wanna look again’. It was priceless. Even weirder–my mom thought I was a boy when she first looked, too. I think the story was it was the dr’s finger and how he was holding me 😉

  34. I am SO happy for you! I was hoping it was a girl 😉 Praise The Lord for his blessings!

  35. We also did a maternity 21 at around 10 weeks and found out we are having our 4th BOY! The 20 week sono confirmed the results of the blood test. It is important to understand that the maternity 21 test is mainly to look for Down’s syndrome and other chromosome abnormalities, I wouldn’t do the test just to discover the sex of the baby. Also, depending on your insurance, it can be really expensive. Some insurances won’t cover it unless you are high risk or over the age of 35.

    Congrats on your little girl! I am super jealous!

    • Amen! Amen! I’m going to do a video on. The gender portion is just gravy. Boys are awesome too! I LOVE MY GRIFFIN! My friends with girls also tell me he’s much easier than girls 🙂

  36. We found on a very interesting way. I had my only ultrasound at 20 weeks and we actually didn’t want to know the gender. So, we asked the techinitian to write it down and seal in an envelope, just in case we changed our minds… a month or so later, my parents were coming to visit us, and being a little bit of a pain in the but about all the mistery with the baby’s gender, so we decided to give the envelope to my in laws and asked them to email my parents with the big news. So, the grandparents knew but we didn’t.
    When my parents were here they tortured me so much about it that I couldn’t resist anymore and I had to know! My husband and I agreed to wait until both sets of parents were together and the could tell us… Well… didn’t work. They teased us so much saying that we would regret knowing, because we really wanted this to be a surprise, blah, blah blah… to make the story short, I ended up blaming my husband (my mom offered to tell me when we were at a baby store earlier that day and my dear hubby suggested the wait), so much so, that he only came into the room once he was sure I was sleeping (lol). The next day we were taking my parents to San Antonio, and when we were having dinner, Roy (husband) had a voice mail from his dad saying that they didn’t tell us because they thought my parents didn’t want to tell us… Guess what… my parents said the same thing. So, if it was ok with my parents would be ok with them… so, my mom opened the email my father in law sent and cover the treasured info! I was speechless when she uncovered it! MY dad filmed it and it is a pretty cute video. We have now a cute, health and smart 6 month old baby girl.
    here is the video: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=473849242632772&set=vb.100000231008037&type=3&theater

  37. I’ve never heard of the maternity21 test! How cool! Congratulations on your girl! I have a two year old boy, and a 1 month old baby girl! Having one of each is so fun! They have so many more clothing options for girls, it’s a little ridiculous! I found out the sex of both of my children at the 20 week u/s. i was able to give birth naturally to my girl, and it was so empowering (had an epi with my son) i love these pregnancy updates, I’m a birth junkie!

    • LOL! I can’t WAIT to shop for cute clothes. It’s always been a bummer with Griffin as the selections are so sparse.

  38. Loved finding out the gender the old-fashioned way…BIRTH! I’m always pumped whenever people find out the gender ahead of time, but remembering the thrill of finding out at birth with my younger six siblings, I knew that was how I would want it! What a high!

  39. YAAYY!!! I’m so excited for you I was hoping for a girl!!!.. I did the IG (which FYI is the same as the drano test) twice when i was pregnant and both times it was wrong. I wanted to wait for the big day to find out and I had fun doing all the old wives tales tricks in the meantime. All but the baking soda test and the Chinese calenders were wrong wrong wrong. Even though I had my heart set on a boy and all the test said it would be one! I got my beautiful baby girl #4 oh well I give up. I love all my little (and not so little) princesses guess I will wait for sons-in-law and grand kids.. Congrats again!

  40. Have you tried the purple cabbage test? Check for it on Youtube and see what it says!

  41. How did I find out the gender of my babies? They were born. 😉 We didn’t do any ultrasounds or anything to find out before hand. I love finding out the time of birth. It’s so very intimate and special to us.

    • That’s amazing! I always admire people that wait till the big day. XO

  42. Hey Mama Natural, congratulations!! I am very, very happy for you. Yes, you’ll share the girl spotlight 😉 and it’s good. I know you’d be happy either way. One of the things I love about it is that you will help usher your sweet pea into the mysteries and honor of being a girl and a woman. Plus, you can relate. I’m sure I’m projecting here.

    I was pretty sure I was going to have a girl and felt “I am one, I understand” and I also thought I’d have the opportunity to do some healing around mother/daughter things. My husband studied our families and saw that I had an 80% chance of having a boy. Pre-dad he had too much time on his hands. 🙂

    I was seeing a specialist b.c of my ripe old “advanced maternal age” of 39. I chose to have chorionic villi sampling. A note: I’m glad I made a clear choice about it, yet it was the first invasive thing I ever had outside of exams, it was very emotional for me, b/c it happened to my body, it was a little scary even though the RN & MD were great, and that it had to do with my child. Not to be taken lightly yet very valuable depending on what one is seeking to know one of them being gender. After a week +…the big news? A boy! As I drove home from work with this news, agog at the change, I began to cry with gratitude. I turned my “teaching a girl the ways of being a girl” into “teaching my boy the ways of respecting girls and women”. So, that’s how I found out. I was unnerved at first b.c I didn’t know how to handle boy things having never been one but I will say that the love of my boy, and his beautiful boy energy has changed my world and worldview of men.

    • Boys are AWESOME! I have such a love crush on Griffin. He’s so sweet and smart and sassy and interesting and loving and happy and funny and I could go on! You’ll love it. Boys are EASY too!

      • So sweet Genevieve. Thank you. I second absolutely everything you say and the emotion you express. I’m actually almost 7 years into my motherhood experience. Auggie is my little guy, my sweet pea. It’s pure love without adult layers. I was, and still am deeply happy to find that my experience of being a mother of a boy exceeded anything I could have dreamed of. Plus, he’s 100% in love with me. Ahhh. 🙂

        Plus to touch on your clothing limitation comment for boys in another post I get it of course. To help me break out of my limited choices I offer Auggie whatever colors and prints he feels like b/c as we say colors and flowers are for everybody. Aside from the blues and greys out there we try to find fun colorful pants. There are some that are ostensibly made for little girls like purple but they fit him and aren’t overtly girly at all. Just a straight leg colored jean. there are some very nice colored pants made for boys out there too. Old Navy I’ve heard has them.

  43. I found out all of mine in ultrasounds. All pregnancies had concerns behind them so ultrasounds were a given, not always a choice. With my 1st I had an ultrasound to check on baby because I had lost 2 pregnancies before. It was early, I was thinking it would be more of just a “yep, still growing!” ultrasound, but at 16 weeks or so we realized, he was a boy! 🙂 Next baby there was some complications, and we realized during an ultrasound we were having a girl. Yay! Pregnancy #3 come along, and all seemed to be going well, but a twin didn’t make it to birth and went home to be with the Lord. Sure enough, during a check, ANOTHER GIRL! Yay again! (really we are happy no matter what we have, just a healthy baby is all we ask for!). Started the weaning process with baby #3 and started feeling funny….went to the doctor and guess what? 2 lines yet again! Surprise! To try and keep track of how far along I was and baby was measuring since there was no period to base a due date off of, we got another ultrasound….and found out it’s another girl! My son is a bit bummed out by this news…at 6 he’d LOVE a brother. I’ve told him don’t give up hope, I don’t feel that the Lord has completed our family so either by my delivering another, or adoption, there still may be a brother in the cards for him.

    • Aw, you’re a super mama! Look at all your babies 🙂 Cute son… he’ll get a brother one of these days.

  44. Congratulations! I would love some baby girl dust 🙂 I’ll probably wait until the 20 week ultrasound, which is the only one I’ll do mostly to find out the sex (and just to make sure everything’s looking dandy.) I did finally get to hear my baby’s heartbeat at 13.5 weeks yesterday, so the whole thing’s starting to feel more real!

    • Woo hoo! Congrats to you! Hope you get your heart’s desire 🙂

  45. The Maternity 21 test. Is that something that my mid-wife could offer? I’d love to learn more about that.

    Also, did you choose to find out the gender with that test because you don’t want to do the ultrasounds?

    Are you still planning to do a 20 week ultrasound?

    What are your thoughts on doppler at 10ish weeks to hear the heartbeat?

    Thanks….newbie here. 🙂 Love your stuff!

    • Yes, the midwife can order and most insurances cover if you’re over 35. I do do the one ultrasound at 22 weeks (as 20 weeks can sometimes not give you enough info). I keep doppler to a minimum and after 20 weeks, go with fetoscope. XO

  46. YAY!! How fun 🙂 We had a girl first and love it. Now my husband says he only wants girls! We just got a positive pregnancy test this week 🙂 So thankful and happy! Two faint ones to be exact – I only did one test last time but I think we caught it early this time so my husband wants to do another one before we tell anyone 😉

    • Oooo!!! CONGRATS! The journey begins again 🙂

  47. YAY!!! CONGRADULATIONS!!!! I am so happy for you. I was hoping it was a girl. I found out threw an ultrasound at 22 weeks we were having a girl as well 🙂

  48. I’m curious to see how it compares in a few weeks. I’m skeptical. Seems like a good business model – if it’s bogus, IG will be right 50% of the time, then offer refunds to the other 50%, banking on the fact that a portion won’t bother…

    That said, I haven’t looked into the science behind it at all, so let’s see!


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