Sneak Peek Test
Sneak Peek is a DNA blood test that allows you to find out the gender of your baby as early as 6 weeks. It claims to have a 99% accuracy with only a few drops of blood, and results are provided within 1-2 weeks. The cost is $109 CAD, and the shipping is free both ways. Finding out the gender of your baby early on is appealing for those who are impatient or love to plan early, but is this kit worth it?
I had heard about this kit a few years ago and knew if we ever decided to have another baby that I would want to give it a try. We didn’t have a preference for the gender, but we were still eager to find out the gender of our last baby as soon as possible- especially since I was only 3 weeks pregnant when we got the positive pregnancy test! Waiting until the 22 week ultrasound they do at the hospital seemed like very a long time to wait, and even private ultrasound places usually aren’t able to tell you the gender until around 17/18 weeks.
Gender confirmation ultrasound from 14 weeks.
I ordered this kit knowing that if there were males in the household there was a higher chance of contamination and a false “boy” result. With my husband and 2 sons this made the contamination risks higher, so I made sure the bathroom was fully cleaned before opening the kit, and I washed my hands often while using it. This kit is supposed to be very simple to use and takes around 15 minutes total- but that wasn’t the experience I had. In total it took around 45 minutes for me to collect all the blood required in the tube, and it was a sh— show.
(TW- blood and having to cut my finger are mentioned below).
They provide you with 3 lancets to prick your finger with, but if your blood coagulates quickly then 3 isn’t enough to get the amount of blood required for the test. I wasn’t aware that my blood coagulated so quickly prior to taking this test, and what a terrible time to find that out 😅. Had I known that I would have opted for the test to be done in a clinic versus at home in my bathroom.
Pricking my finger with the lancet
I followed the directions completely, but the amount of blood my fingers gave before coagulating was nowhere near the required amount. Knowing we had spent over $100 for the kit I was determined to make sure I was able to send it in to get results, which meant I needed to get my fingers to bleed more somehow. The lancets are each only for a one time use, so I ended up having to cut my finger in the previously pricked spots with a knife to get more blood. The sharpest knife we had for me to use was our biggest kitchen butcher knife because it was from our old set of knives that were in need of replacing. It wasn’t easy, after awhile I was feeling unwell and had to sit down, and the bathroom looked like a forensic files episode due to me having to make several cuts on my fingers and attempt to quickly get more blood into the small tube each time (sometimes missing the tube). Again, it was a sh— show.
My husband came to check on me in the doorway every so often, and the scene of blood in the sink and me cutting my fingers with a big kitchen knife, desperate to fill a tube, was not what he had in mind when I told him about the quick gender test I could take. He assured me I didn’t need to keep trying as I sat there defeated, but there was no way I was going through all of that, losing over $100 on the kit, and still not finding out the gender. I was finally able to fill the tube to just under the required line and all I could do was hope it would be enough to get results. Overall it was a pretty stressful experience. I mailed the package back to them (which was the easiest part of the whole experience) and waited for the email with the results.
Collecting blood for the tube
In the days leading up to receiving the results I was feeling very excited- and nervous, hoping they had enough to test. I looked up more reviews online, but the further I looked into it the more I worried about accuracy. It seemed like there were many reviews claiming people got “boy” results but ended up having a girl (and many were certain they did not contaminate the test with male DNA). Reading the reviews about all the false results worried me and my husband and we felt like if we got our result and it was “boy” that we wouldn’t be able to trust it as much.
When we received the email saying the results were in we expected to open the email and have a little envelope open that showed what the gender would be, but instead it took us to a page where a video played and said “it’s a boy!”. I was disappointed at the reveal of it, the way they previously did it (that I had read about) with the envelope opening once you open the email would have been better and seemed more personal. It seemed very “cheap” to open up a link to a video with the result.
Screenshot from the video link that was sent to my email
We were excited to know the gender, but we didn’t feel like we could be confident with the result until we had an ultrasound confirmation (which defeated the purpose of paying $100 to find out earlier). As previously mentioned, we usually would have had to wait until around 17/18 weeks to confirm the gender. We had scheduled a private ultrasound at 14 weeks just to see our baby, but were lucky enough to get an early confirmation at that time- which was about a month after doing the sneak peek test. The ultrasound technician said the fluids were very clear and the baby was really cooperative, so she was able to tell us with certainty that he was a boy! 🩵
Overall, the sneak peek kit wasn’t worth the cost to me. It was cheaper to get an ultrasound where we got to see our baby, we were able to feel confident in the gender we were told, and there was no stress of pricking a finger trying to get a required amount of blood. The private ultrasound cost us $75 (around $30 less than the kit) plus we received 10 digital images of our baby.
I am glad I tried the kit as it was something I had been curious about, but it isn’t something I’d recommend to other expecting parents. I think it’s overpriced, and if your blood coagulates quickly like mine then it is not a simple test to do at home. It has its benefits, but I don’t think the price matches up with what you’re provided.
Quick Summary
Easy to use- 🟡 can be simple if your blood does not coagulate quickly or if you choose to do it at a clinic. I think for most people it would be easy to use though, based on other experiences I read.
Cost- 🟡 $109. Not terrible, but in comparison to actual ultrasound costs it’s too high for what you get.
Accuracy for me- 🟢 in my personal experience it was correct, but I wasn’t able to feel confident with the results until receiving the ultrasound confirmation.
Worth it- 🟠 No. I think the price is too high for what is offered, and if you look into reviews online (and in mom groups) you’ll find many stories about false results. Their website states a 99% accuracy rating, but I don’t believe that’s correct. Even the ultrasound technician had told us she had heard several stories about this test kit giving false results when we mentioned this test to her.
