# Food cravings predict gender?



## lunarlady (Jan 4, 2010)

So last time I was pregnant, I craved sweet foods. Ice cream, chocolate, you name it I wanted to eat it. I was told craving sweet was a sign I was having a girl, and what do you know, I had a girl.

This time, I'm craving sour foods and fruits. Pineapple, crisp apples, pears, grapefruit. If it grows on a tree, I'm ready to eat it. I'm being told that craving sour food and/or fruit is a sign I'm carrying a boy.

So I'm curious to see from all you moms out there what you craved and the resulting gender of your child. Does the sweet/sour divide hold out?

(And according to those that "know" this is true, it's where we get "Girls are sugar and spice and everything nice..." although I'm certainly not craving snails and puppy dog tails!.)


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## MaerynPearl (Jun 21, 2008)

With DS I craved junk food. Fast food, jelly donuts, cappucinos, ice cream.

With DD I craved healthier foods, tomatoes... strawberries... oranges... italian tomatoes on french bread... italian beef sandwiches (and could not find a good one to satisfy me until a week after she was born! ugh!)

I think it has more to do with the mom and baby than an old wives tale.

My mom had 5 kids and always proved, girls she craved fish and fruits, boys she craved meats and chocolate.


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## JennTheMomma (Jun 19, 2008)

I've craved opposite things and I'm having my second boy.


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## cocoanib (May 14, 2009)

I don't think this rings true.
I have gone all around on cravings in my pregnancy.
I've had junk food weeks, sweets weeks, lot's of sour fruit weeks, anything green weeks, etc...
BTW- I'm having a girl.


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## is it puppies? (Oct 30, 2009)

Mine seems like weekly cravings, too, canned chili one week, pb&j another, extra spicy pho another, honey crisp apples, mcdonalds... it really varies. Lots of junk and eating out and processed foods though







, unfortunately, and veggies and chicken are hard to choke down since the beginning.







but ice cream has been a necessity almost daily!
Not that my answer actually helps since I don't actually know what I'm having yet and this is my first.


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## BabyWang2010 (Nov 24, 2009)

I've heard the girls are sweets and the boys are sour/salty as well. That's part of why I think mine is a boy. The other day I severely craved sour patch kids which required a special trip to the store, lol.


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## Plummeting (Dec 2, 2004)

Not true at all. Remember, whatever old wives' tale someone says predicts the gender of your child, they have an almost 50/50 chance of being right (I read there are something like 105 boys conceived for every 100 girls, but I'm not sure if that's true). Whenever people are right, they insist it proves the theory true. When they're wrong they either say that you're an exception and then they move on and forget about how often they're wrong. My MIL is currently insisting this baby is a boy, based on its heart rate, despite the fact that DD's heart rate was slower and she's a girl (the story is that boys have heart rates below 140 and girls above). And if she turns out to be right, she'll insist it proves you _can_ guess based on the heart rate, nevermind that it was proven wrong for DD. People only remember confirming evidence. It's literally a screwy function of our brains to look for confirming evidence and completely ignore disconfirming evidence.

FWIW, I never craved sweets with DD. I craved salty foods. With this baby I haven't craved anything consistent at all.


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## Homebirth_Mom216 (Oct 10, 2008)

Does anyone know what strong cravings for BACON indicate? I've been tempted for days and days to fry up a whole bunch of bacon and eat it myself for a snack. Today I actually almost did that (excusing myself on the grounds that I saved some for DH's supper). Eeek - I mean, I like bacon, but not normally that much! I think it's gonna be a girl, but don't know for sure!

Last time with DS I wanted Ceasar Salads. I literally ate one almost everyday and well into the PP months.


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## coffeegirl (Jan 1, 2008)

Plummeting: Now I'm confused lol. Everything I've read says the opposite of what your MiL says...faster heartbeat is supposed to predict a girl; slower is supposed to predict a boy. But like you said, I suppose she has a 50/50 chance of being right!









I haven't experienced the sweet or sour thing, but I'm having some very weird things happen to me as far as cravings go. I do not crave or want ANYTHING sweet, ever. That includes fruit, candy, ice cream, any kind of baked goods, etc. I have always had a *notorious* sweet tooth pre-pregnancy, seriously. So, it's weird. (Oh and I can't even drink coffee anymore-- it's also too sweet!)

I do crave things like chips and salsa, anything hot and spicy like buffalo wings, jalepeno-cheese poppers...tartar sauce....Hamburgers with crispy, salty fries; BACON by itself or with anything; and cold cereal with milk.

Quote:

Last time with DS I wanted Ceasar Salads. I literally ate one almost everyday and well into the PP months.
Oh wow. Ceasar salad. Sounds soooo good!


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## lunarlady (Jan 4, 2010)

I haven't experienced the sweet or sour thing, but I'm having some very weird things happen to me as far as cravings go. I do not crave or want ANYTHING sweet, ever. That includes fruit, candy, ice cream, any kind of baked goods, etc. I have always had a notorious sweet tooth pre-pregnancy, seriously. So, it's weird. (Oh and I can't even drink coffee anymore-- it's also too sweet!)

That's me too! With DD I loved anything sweet, and had to watch out as I was tempted to indulge all day long. My DH joked that being preggo was just an excuse for me to indluge my notorious sweet tooth. It's another reason that this pregnancy is weird. For once in my life, I actually don't want dessert. So strange!


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## MaerynPearl (Jun 21, 2008)

I have found with this pregnancy... oddly enough... I crave non-sweets but handle sweets better. I had a delicious shaved prime rib sandwich yesterday and wanted to throw up until I had a scoop of ice cream and then suddenly I felt fine?!


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## Tiffanoodle (Nov 10, 2007)

With dd1 I craved sweet. With ds I craved salt. With dd2 I craved everything. Sweet, salty, pretty much anything. With this one I'm not really craving anything. Sour, I guess. I always joked that dd2 was some mysterious third gender because my pregnancy was nothing like either one of the first 2.


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## DoulaLMT (Feb 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeegirl* 
I do not crave or want ANYTHING sweet, ever. That includes fruit, candy, ice cream, any kind of baked goods, etc. I have always had a *notorious* sweet tooth pre-pregnancy, seriously. So, it's weird. (Oh and I can't even drink coffee anymore-- it's also too sweet!)

This was me with DS. Couldn't even be near a dessert, it would make me sick. A few bites of fruit now and then was ok. Clif bars or anything like that was WAY too sweet. Muffins, yogurt, anything that had sugar of any kind was yuck yuck yuck. For me, it only lasted through the first trimester.

I can eat chocolate this time around, though I don't crave it. Most other sweet things are kind of gross but not as bad as with my last pregnancy. Don't know what gender I'm having...so we'll see.


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## Dena (May 29, 2006)

My theory, based on watching my kids, is that the cravings are based on the child's personality.

With dd1 I craved sour and citrus and extremely healthy food. She LOVES veggies and tangerines (I ate about 15 lbs of them my first tri alone with her) and anything sour. She is a very healthy eater.

With dd2 I craved sweets and junk food. I would actually pass Taco Bell and think, Mmmmmm.







She is my junck food eater. She would eat candy all day long if I let her, and will barely touch greens. Doesn't like citrus either.

This time (two more girls) my cravings seem to vary - spicy one week, carbs the next, meat the week after that. Still can't do cooked veggies, but salads taste wonderful. So, maybe the two have distinct tastes and take turns making them known?


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## ann_of_loxley (Sep 21, 2007)

I CRAVED sour foods like never before with my sons preganncy = and he was obvioiusly a boy! hehe...

I did also crave sugar too - but the sugar craving for me is there no matter if I am pregnant or not and has more to do with my kidney yang imbalance than anything else. ...

This time around - I am not realy craving anything. As my son was huge and I put that down to the amount of sugary carbs I ate (like a cake a day - no joke lol)...I am really watching what I eat. Perhaps I am not having any real cravings simply because I am getting enough of what I need? ...No idea! My sugar cravings have drastically degreased but I am having no sugar (so have 'weaned' my body off it quite a bit) and am seeing an accupuncturist.

But I am not craving sour either! lol


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## Plummeting (Dec 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeegirl* 
Plummeting: Now I'm confused lol. Everything I've read says the opposite of what your MiL says...faster heartbeat is supposed to predict a girl; slower is supposed to predict a boy. But like you said, I suppose she has a 50/50 chance of being right!









That was exactly my point: DD's heart rate was slower than this baby's is at the end of my pg with her (the only time I know what it was), so according to the theory, DD should have been a boy and this one should have been a girl. But DD was a girl and that doesn't slow my MIL down at all. Neither does the fact that this baby's heart rate has been slightly below 140 and slightly above 140. The old wives' tale (which has been proven not to be true) is that boys have heart rates below 140 and girls above 140. So according to that, this fetus must be both...or neither...or??? And DD should've been a boy. No one cares about that, though. They only care that they might be right this time, and if they are, they'll say the theory is true and they knew it all along, because our brains are hardwired to ignore disconfirming evidence (that DD's heart rate disproved the theory) and search for confirming evidence (that this baby's heart rate is sometimes under 140, so it must be a boy). It's all ridiculous. lol


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## tarasattva (Feb 6, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Dena* 
My theory, based on watching my kids, is that the cravings are based on the child's personality.

With dd1 I craved sour and citrus and extremely healthy food. She LOVES veggies and tangerines (I ate about 15 lbs of them my first tri alone with her) and anything sour. She is a very healthy eater.

With dd2 I craved sweets and junk food. I would actually pass Taco Bell and think, Mmmmmm.







She is my junck food eater. She would eat candy all day long if I let her, and will barely touch greens. Doesn't like citrus either.

This time (two more girls) my cravings seem to vary - spicy one week, carbs the next, meat the week after that. Still can't do cooked veggies, but salads taste wonderful. So, maybe the two have distinct tastes and take turns making them known?

I think this is so interesting (and I totally love your idea that the girls have distinct tastes that they are expressing!).

I have seem some studies that suggest that the influence may go the other way also - babies are conditioned in the womb to like those things we are eating. (http://www.parentingscience.com/pren...bout-food.html references one for example).

But I have noticed the same thing. I could not get enough SPICY foods while I was preggo w/ DD (very strange for me). And it turns out she is such an adventerous eater! In general the spicier the better (although the other day she did say "Too spicy" after her fourth jalapeno slice w/ seeds!).


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## makeuptalk (Sep 14, 2005)

I definitely had a difference in the cravings. I craved sweets, ice cream etc with my daughter. With the boys all I wanted was spicy foods and vinegar and anything salty. I love chocolate but couldn't eat it in the beginning with the boys.


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## kalamos23 (Apr 11, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DoulaLMT* 
This was me with DS. Couldn't even be near a dessert, it would make me sick. A few bites of fruit now and then was ok. Clif bars or anything like that was WAY too sweet. Muffins, yogurt, anything that had sugar of any kind was yuck yuck yuck. For me, it only lasted through the first trimester.

I can eat chocolate this time around, though I don't crave it. Most other sweet things are kind of gross but not as bad as with my last pregnancy. Don't know what gender I'm having...so we'll see.

OMG! I thought it was just me! I have the biggest sweet tooth ever but now everything tastes sickeningly sweet - it's so weird. So anyone else that had this as a symptom, was it a boy or a girl? I'm just really curious - I didn't have this with DD.


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## coffeegirl (Jan 1, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kalamos23* 
OMG! I thought it was just me! I have the biggest sweet tooth ever but now everything tastes sickeningly sweet - it's so weird. So anyone else that had this as a symptom, was it a boy or a girl? I'm just really curious - I didn't have this with DD.

Well I'm so glad that a few of yall have chimed in that you have this too. Now I don't feel so weird.

It's still to early for me to tell the gender (15 weeks), but I have been getting "boy vibes" this whole pregnancy. Of course I don't know if that means anything at all, since this is my first so I don't know if it's instincts or imagination or what.









As for heartrate, the first reading at 8.5 weeks was 182, and now at 15 s/he's at 156.


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## Plummeting (Dec 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeegirl* 
As for heartrate, the first reading at 8.5 weeks was 182, and now at 15 s/he's at 156.

Which is another reason you can't tell the sex by heart rate.







The heart rate in the earlier weeks is generally faster than it will be later, and it tends to get even slower towards the end of the pregnancy. The old wives tale doesn't account for that. So in my situation, for instance, my MIL comparing my baby's heart rate to the heart rate of a baby who is about 14 weeks younger, and claiming that this comparison proves my baby is a boy, makes no sense. That baby is at a completely different stage of development and its heart rate will have changed by the time it's as old as my baby.


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## nia82 (May 6, 2008)

I didn't crave anything in particular. Just could suddenly eat (I usually don't feel hunger at all unless I focus on it). Only postpartum I started to crave bloody steak (must have been DS's cravings via breastmilk, lol).
My mom craved different things in all pregnancies and she has three girls.... But I have heard of moms who had distinctively different cravings with each gender.


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## MissE (May 12, 2007)

With both kids I didn't really have any cravings but rather wanted cold food, salads, melon, sushi etc. I have a boy and a girl.


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