untitled design

Pregnancy, because it would be better to know the sex of the unborn child first

Many couples expecting a baby deliberately choose to find out the sex of your child only at the time of delivery. Others perhaps in particularly advanced pregnancy. A new researchpublished in the specialized journal Biology of Reproduction and carried out on mice, now explains that in fact it would be wiser for parents to know the sex of the child as soon as possible. This is because, according to doctors, future parents will be better equipped to protect their unborn child as well as themselves from potential problems that may arise during gestation.

According to experts, in fact, males tend to have a few more complications during pregnancy than femalesThey grow faster and therefore need more nutrition and oxygen from the placenta. “We are accumulating more and more evidence on which parameters to measure in pregnant mothers such as her initial BMI, her growth, her gestational weight, but we also consider fetal sex. Doctors routinely consider gender when examining ultrasound images, because it is a determining factor in the growth of the fetus “he explains Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, a member of St. John’s College at the Cambridge University Center for Trophoblastic Research, Industry Excellence. “However, we haven’t really understood before how this might be determined; how this might interact with the mother’s environment or how the pregnancy is occurring. So our studies are providing more information to doctors to provide more informed decisions on how to manage pregnancy. “

One in ten women she encounters serious problems during pregnancy that put her health at risk. Fortunately, many of these conditions can be treated successfully if intercepted in time: «Often parents do not want to know the sex of the unborn child, they want it to be a surprise – adds the expert – but knowing gender would help identify whether one pregnancy may be more at risk than another precisely because we know that some conditions like the preeclampsia and the restriction of fetal growth they may be more frequent in women carrying males than females ”. In short, the results of the study suggest that it would be better to forego the surprise.

A second related investigation also showed that theobesity it can affect the structure of the placenta and cause problems with fetal growth. Also in this case, the changes vary according to the sex of the fetus: «The placenta has an extraordinary ability to change the way it forms and how it works – adds Sferruzzi-Perri – this can be seen on multiple levels from the way cells are formed in the placenta, from its genes and proteins, even its mitochondria. All of this can change in response to different types of signals, whether it’s a mother following a high-sugar diet or a pregnancy in which there is sibling rivalry when there is more than one baby, but what I think it’s probably the most interesting thing is that the way the placenta fits it seems to depend on whether the baby is a girl or a boy“. Among other things, the findings of the studies can help us understand, for example, how the very first moments of life of the fetus influence the risk of developing heart disease or Type 2 diabetes, both of which are sex-dependent diseases of the unborn child.

Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you

Egg freezing: how to do it, how much it costs and all the answers on the technique that allows you to preserve fertility

Pregnancy: the importance of music for the emotional development of the baby

Source: Vanity Fair

You may also like

Get the latest

Stay Informed: Get the Latest Updates and Insights

 

Most popular