Tips for Predicting Your Baby’s Sex

Even in modern times, the traditional idea of "male superiority and female inferiority" remains deeply ingrained in many people's minds. As a result, some married couples are especially focused on whether they will have a boy or a girl, often hoping for a son to carry on the family line and bring honor to the family. Influenced by these beliefs, ancient fortune-tellers summarized two methods for predicting a baby's sex, recorded in the "Three Lives Compendium." The methods are quite simple, and those who are curious can try them to see how they hold up.

Method One

Rhyme: Start from forty-nine and ask when she conceived; subtract her age—odd means boy, even means girl; if the odd/even result doesn’t align, the child is said not to live long.

Specific Method: Use forty-nine as the base number, add the month of conception, and subtract the mother's age at conception to get an odd or even number. An odd number indicates a boy, while an even number indicates a girl. If it doesn’t follow this pattern, the child is said to have a short life. For example: If a woman is 31 years old this year and conceived in January (January is 1), then—49 + 1 - 31 = 19, which is odd, so it would indicate a boy.

Method Two

Rhyme: Parents' ages placed at both ends, the month of conception in the center; Qian, Kan, Gen, and Zhen signify boys, while Xun, Li, Dui, and Kun signify girls.

Specific Method: Place the parents' ages in the upper and lower positions, and the month of conception in the middle position to form a hexagram. For example: If the father's age is odd and placed on top (yang), and the mother's age is even and placed on the bottom (yin), and if the month of conception is January (1), which is odd (yang) and placed in the middle, the resulting hexagram is—yang, yang, yin, which is the Xun hexagram, indicating a girl. If this is hard to follow, here is a reference table:

Upper (Father's age): Odd Even Odd Even Odd Even Odd Even

Middle (Month of conception): Odd Odd Even Even Odd Odd Even Even

Lower (Mother's age): Odd Odd Odd Odd Even Even Even Even

Associated Hexagrams: Qian Hexagram, Dui Hexagram, Li Hexagram, Zhen Hexagram, Xun Hexagram, Kan Hexagram, Gen Hexagram, Kun Hexagram

Boy or Girl (Reference): Boy Girl Girl Boy Girl Boy Boy Girl

The author has not studied these two methods in depth and has never made predictions about having boys or girls. If you are interested, you can try them out and see whether they hold true.