“Where is he? Where is the son I always knew I’d have?” “I want to have a little girl dressed up in pink.” “We only want two children and we’d like to experience both a son and a daughter.”
We will discuss in this article gender selection and several scientific techniques, at-home methods, and food diets that can increase your chances of having a boy or a girl.
Gender Selection
Gender is determined by a combination of X and Y chromosomes. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and Y chromosomes. Gender selection started in the 1980s by scientists who initially used this way to screen for genetic disorders. Nowadays, couples are offered this service as a method of “family balancing” which can help them have children of even genders.
Scientific Techniques
Maybe you’re curious and thinking of various ways and methods to have a son or daughter. Aside from having the top priority of assuring the good health of your baby, it is also typical as well to yearn for a baby of one sex or the other. In today’s age of advancement in high technology, would you try and do something which will help you conceive your desired gender of the baby?
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
This is the most sophisticated method which was introduced at the beginning of 1990s as an alternative to prenatal diagnosis, to prevent termination of pregnancy in couples with a high risk for offspring affected by a sex-linked genetic disease. It offers polymerase chain reaction tests for an increasing range of single gene defects, and for aneuploidy detection. The availability of PGD makes it possible to select embryos based on their sex. The process is associated with the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) which is fertilizing the woman’s egg with the husband’s sperm on tissue culture plates.
Using a technique that attaches fluorescent probes to specific DNA sequences, a single cell from each embryo is analyzed. One green strand and one red strand of DNA reveals to be a male while two green strands make it a female. Once it has been ascertained, the doctor implants two of three embryos of the desired gender into the woman’s uterus. It yields a higher success rate of gender selection since only embryos carrying the chosen gender are transferred to the mother. This method approaches as close to 100% as possible, producing a child of their desire gender.
MicroSort or Flow Cytometric Separation
Rather than selecting from fertilized eggs, this technique offers family balancing through sorting sperm. Founded and practiced at the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, VA, MicroSort or sperm sorting is a kind of technology that uses flow cytometric separation of X (female) and Y (male) chromosome-bearing sperm cells. After the separation, the resulting sort is used to impregnate the woman through artificial insemination.
It is the method that seems to be given any validation in the medical journals, possessing true scientific backing especially for the preselection of female babies.
This process also allows a high rate of success in determining gender. Unlike other methods, it avoids some of the ethical problems people have with destroying embryos created for IVF. Fewer embryos are destroyed overall since only embryos of the proper gender are produced in the first place.
Ericsson Method
This method is also called albumin filtration developed by Ronald Ericsson, Ph.D which separates X- and Y-bearing sperm through a solution of albumin or a sticky protein by spinning them in a centrifuge. To identify the gender orientation after separation, the lighter one that rises at the top is the Y-bearing sperm while the heavier one found at the bottom is the X-bearing sperm.
It increases the probability that a boy or girl will be conceived based upon which sperm fraction is chosen. For women who want a girl, a fertility drug called clomiphene citrate or Clomid is prescribed during the cycle of sperm separation.
Couples will undergo an intrauterine insemination cycle (IUI) of selected sperm. Approximately 70-75% of the time a couple will have a baby of the selected gender.
At-Home Methods
Conception cycles with short follicular phases (early ovulation) tended to produce boys, while those with long follicular phases tend to produce girls. So. if you like a girl, you should have sex 2 to 4 days before you ovulate as the X-sperm will be the only sperm alive in your fallopian tubes by the time your ovulation starts in a few days later. For a boy, you should have sex as close as possible to your ovulation as Y-sperm will be more likely to get to the egg first.
Shettles Method
Originated from Dr. Landrum B. Shettles who wrote the book “How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby”, Shettles Method is a popular at-home method for couples in which they need the timing intercourse and the use of particular positions necessary in determining the sex of the baby. From his book, it is stated that the point is calculating the time of the woman’s ovulation and attempting conception during certain times of her cycle. Studies have shown that the length of the follicular phase (from the onset of menses to ovulation) was found to be related to the sex of the baby among 133 pregnancies that survived to delivery.
Whelan Method
Opposite to the Shettles Method, Elizabeth Whelan recommends that because of biochemical changes that may favor Y-sperm early in a woman’s cycle, couples who want a boy should have intercourse four to six days before their basal body temperature (BBT) goes up. Meanwhile, if you want a girl, it is advisable to abstain from sex until a couple of days before ovulation.
This method is reported to have a 68% success rate for producing a boy while 56% for producing a girl. But some critics explained that this method is kind of 50/50 because having sex 4-6 days before ovulation is way too far away from the release of the egg to even get pregnant as the sperm can’t even survive for that long period of time.
Sexual Intercourse
If you want a baby girl, have sexual intercourse in the missionary position. It is a common position for sexual intercourse in which the man and woman lie facing each other with the man on top of the woman. The couple should have shallow penetration during sex and the woman should not have an orgasm.
While if you want a baby boy, try different positions like the woman on top. It is advisable to perform deep penetration during sex and make the woman have an orgasm as it may help push the Y-sperm along. This theory is based on the fact that the secretions in the cervix are believed to be less acidic than those of the vagina. Anything that makes it harder for the sperm to swim through the reproductive tract is supposed to make a conception more conducive for producing a girl.
Gender Food Diet
A French physiologist Joseph Stolkowski founded the theory of gender selection by diet. He believed that if a couple wanted to conceive a boy, the woman should eat foods rich in potassium and sodium such as meat, fish, vegetables, chocolate and salt for at least 6 weeks before conception time. For a girl, the woman should consume foods rich in calcium and manganese such as milk, cheese, nuts, beans, and cereals, as well as take cranberry tablets as supplements.
Dr. Stolkowski is determined that baby gender is influenced by ionic factors which is by controlling the ratio of potassium and sodium ions to calcium and magnesium ions, there will be an alteration in the woman’s ovarian metabolism. Additionally, her internal mineral balance may affect the consistency of her cervical mucus, or some other environmental condition within her reproductive tract, making it more welcoming to one type of sperm or the other. According to other researchers, a gender diet can change the pH level in the woman’s body and change the polarity of the egg.
SUMMARY
Whether you’re dreaming of painting the rooms blue or buying baby clothes and accessories in pink, these are some of the scientific-based techniques and natural methods for you to do in considering the desired gender you always imagine to have. But anything else, your main goal should always be to have a healthy baby, to love and cherish each and every child you conceive, no matter what the gender is. As you continue your journey to parenthood, focus and make it through by doing your best in sharing with your whole heart, your life, with your child.
