Determining Baby Gender

Some of us Mums want to sway the odds in favour of either a baby boy or baby girl next time around. There are mixed opinions out there about this. Some say playing with god!


The majority (including me) think it all depends how you go about it - yes, some methods are really intrusive but others are swaying the odds naturally.

Some of the less intrusive methods or old wives tales (whichever of these you would refer to them as) can be found below:

FOR A BOY
- try to conceive on the odd days of the month
- the guy wears lose boxers
- eat lots of bananas

FOR A GIRL
- try to conceive on the even days of the month
- the guy wears tight fitting undies
- drink lots of milk

Not sure whether I would rely solely on these Old Wives Tales!

Photo Courtesy of CharlotteSpeaks

WHEN TO TRY AND WHY

According to Shettles timing is the main factor when wanting to sway the odds. It can be more difficult using this method to help with conceiving a girl. (It was for me!) This is due to the fact that the best time to try to conceive is prior to ovulation and to stop trying at least 2 days before ovulation (peak fertile time).

The reason for this is the girl tadpoles (calling them this because squidoo doesn't like me calling them there normal name) are slower swimmers than the male and the further away from ovulation that they are deposited the greater chance they have of still being around at the crucial time. Whereas the male ones according to Shettles will have long gone.

Photo courtesy of forumyonly1's

WHEN TO TRY AND WHY

When looking to sway the odds towards conceiving a boy Shettles reccomends that you try to conceive close to ovulation - the perfect timing is 12 hours before. This is much easier to pinpoint then when trying for a girl. However the diary/notebook still needs to come out and the womans cycle should be recorded. Again this is to help determine when ovulation takes place.

The conception chances are much higher at this time giving the weaker male tadpoles better odds at reaching the egg. They have a shorter life than the female so if trying to conceive at this peak fertile time then they will arrive just in time for conception. During ovulation the environment is more alkaline favouring conception of a boy.

Dr Landrum Shettles worked with helping people with infertility who could not get help using IVF. He was one of the first Dr's to work with conception outside of the body. Shettles also worked on photographing in pregnant womans womb at only a few weeks into the pregnancy.

Shettles performed experiments sperm and eggs in the 1950s, at a time when no one believed it was possible for fertilization to take place outside of the human body. He was not successful in creating the first test tube baby - but he did get very close.

He also worked on looking at being able to determine baby gender. Dr Landrum Shettles book entitled 'How To Coose The Sex of Your Baby' was first published in 1984.

Trying to work out when ovulation takes place can be a tough task in itself. There are things available to you to which will determine when ovulation takes place. This could be anything from a monitor to a watch to ovulation sticks that you use like a pregnancy test - wee on them! Shettles reccommends tracking your cycle for a few months before trying to conceive your chosen gender. This will allow you to get a better understanding of when you ovulate. However, the tools below will allow you to pinpoint ovulation straight away.

Some women experience a stomach cramp type of pain when ovulation takes place. Most womens mucus (sorry for gooey details) changes at ovulation. There can be a surge of mucus at the point of ovulation. It goes sort of like egg white. There will also be a rise in the womans temperature (only slightly) after ovulation.

More on when Ovulatation takes place can be found at my squidoo lens entitled When Do You Ovulate?

I use Preseed and I can't rave about it enough. It is a lubricant that does not hamper fertility. Without going into too much detail it just makes it all more comfortable for both the man and the woman.

Be aware of using other lubricants as most of them out there will actually decrease the fertile tadpoles.

Whether your baby is born a Baby Boy or Baby Girl you can be assured the day of the birth is when your life starts all over again.

Ten little fingers, Ten little toes, Boy or Girl, No one knows!



Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How we wonder what you are

To be a child is to
know the gift of living.
To have a child is to
know the gift of life.

I thought that I would include a section on this lens just to say that if you are trying to sway the odds in favour or either a boy or girl with timing (only trying to conceive on certain days) then it will reduce the chances of actually getting pregnant. Now if you are not in any hurry to get pregnant then this is not a problem.

We tried to conceive a girl with the timing and diet for 6 months, but because I am now age 37 and nothing happened we decided that more than wanting a baby girl, we want a baby. Now another 6 months on I am on Clomid and seeing a fertility specialist to try to help us conceive. However, I have a friend who is a couple of years older than me who tried to conceive a girl and it happened for her the first month - she now has an 18 month little girl.