There is a common myth among parents that boys tend to develop slower than girls. But is it true? Generally speaking, the answer is no. While girls and boys might develop certain skills on different timelines, the differences likely are not because of gender alone.
Physical growth
There aren't notable differences between the sexes until late elementary school – that's when girls start to grow taller faster, although boys catch up and exceed them within a few years.
By most measures of sensory and cognitive development, girls are slightly more advanced: vision, hearing, memory, smell, and touch are all more acute in female than male infants.
Research indicates that the slower development of baby boys' brains is likely due to the male hormone testosterone2.
Boys grow faster than girls from an early stage of gestation, even from before implantation, and this makes them more vulnerable if their nutrition is compromised (Pedersen, 1980; Tanner, 1989).
The truth is your baby's sex has very little to do with the length of pregnancy.
When we look at the statistics the chances of having a boy or a girl are almost the same and there's no medical evidence to suggest we can influence this. You may, however, have heard about the 'Shettles Method'. In the 1970s Dr Shettles found that female and male sperm had different characteristics.
Studies have shown that language development varies between the sexes, with males generally gaining language skills at a slower rate. Prenatal testosterone is known to influence fetal neurodevelopment, and preliminary studies have suggested that the hormone is associated with language delay.
Boys talk later than girls.
It is true that boys produce their first words and sentences later than girls. However, these differences are only in terms of a matter of a few months. There is a normal range within which children acquire certain language milestones.
Females typically mature earlier than males, where females start the adolescent period around 10–11 years, and males at around 11.5 years old (Malina and Bouchard, 1992).
Male fetuses are more fragile and are statistically less likely to be conceived or survive pregnancy when food is in short supply. Female sperm are more robust and baby girls are hardier early in pregnancy, so in leaner times they may be more able to survive.
Women carrying a male fetus have significantly increased maternal weight gain during pregnancy when compared to women with a female fetus. The increased sex ratio remains when adjusting for each newborn weight group.
Anecdotally, many parents say boys reach gross-motor milestones like sitting up, cruising and walking earlier than girls, but some pediatricians swear the opposite. Yet both are wrong: Studies show no significant differences between boys and girls when it comes to these motor skills in infancy.
Boys start growing later than girls, but they are not entering puberty later. Rather, their growth spurt comes at the end of puberty, not the beginning. This delay gives boys the advantage of an extra two years of normal childhood growth before their final growth spurt.
Girls usually stop growing by around age 15. They reach their adult height when puberty comes to an end; this process happens earlier in girls (children assigned female at birth) than in boys.
Boys tend to develop language skills a little later than girls, but in general, kids may be labeled "late-talking children" if they speak less than 10 words by the age of 18 to 20 months, or fewer than 50 words by 21 to 30 months of age.
Across the globe, boys have a 14% higher risk of being born prematurely, the research found. Prof Lawn said: “Baby boys have a higher likelihood of infections, jaundice, birth complications, and congenital conditions but the biggest risk for baby boys is due to pre-term birth.
When Does Puberty Start? Most females will start puberty when they're 8 to 13 years old, and most males will start between 9 and 14. But it can also be normal to start earlier or later. Hormones from the brain trigger the start of puberty.
Common causes include premature birth, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, vision problems, and cognitive delays. If you suspect a delay in motor skills, your pediatrician may recommend physical therapy for gross motor delays or occupational therapy for fine motor delays.
Research over hundreds of years has consistently found that boys naturally outnumber girls at birth. The speculation is that this is nature's way of countering the relatively high mortality rates of males, and creating more of a gender balance in the population.
Best positions: deep penetrative sex is preferable. This helps to deposit the semen and sperm closest to the woman's cervix so they are given the best opportunity to get to the egg in the fallopian tube. Twelve hours before ovulation is thought to maximise the chances of conceiving with a boy.
Among 132 families that had three children of the same sex, 69 went on to have another child of that sex, and 63 went on to have a child of the opposite sex. The chance of having a girl after two boys was about 48 per cent and the chances of having a boy after two girls was slightly lower, at only 46 per cent.
Male baby pregnancies are more likely to result in complications, possibly because they grow faster in the womb and require more nutrients and oxygen than supplied by the mother through the placenta -- the temporary organ that attaches to the wall of the uterus during pregnancy to help the fetus grow and develop.
Why Are Some Babies Born Early? Babies born before 37 weeks are premature. A premature birth is more likely to happen when a mother has a health problem — like diabetes — or does harmful things during her pregnancy, like smoke or drink. If she lives with a lot of stress, that also can make her baby be born too early.