Pick Your Baby's Gender Naturally?

[BabyMae09]

I saw this book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Guarantee-Sex-...3972916&sr=8-5

And am wondering if anyone knows about this/has tried it. Does it actually work? We are going to try to start having our 3rd (and hopefully 1st homebirth!) in a few months, and I really would love another little girl

Opinions, thoughts, personal experience?

[Xerxella]

Here's the product description (the bolding is mine):

"For many people, having a large family isn’t a reasonable option. Fortunately, medical science has ushered in a new era of family balancing where couples can determine their baby's gender. The Revolutionary Science of Sex Selection guides prospective parents step-by-step through the maze of options currently available — from the unpredictable (and now outdated) timing method, to highly effective sperm sorting, to the preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which guarantees accuracy.

The author describes the most advanced methodologies in simple lay terms so that they are easily understood. But The Revolutionary Science of Sex Selection does more than explain how the technology works — it prepares the reader for the personal experience of fertility drugs, artificial insemination, and/or in vitro fertilization. A bonus chapter details the added medical benefits of genetic testing, including preimplantation screening for single gene defects like cystic fibrosis, B thalassemia, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle cell disease, and Huntington's disease."


So basically, the only guaranteed way of gender selection is through a doctor testing your embryos and then implanting them and all the psychological trauma that goes with it.

AND, it's A LOT of money.

[K-Mom3]

I read Taking Charge of Your Fertility and there is a chapter in there about choosing the gender of your child. I think there is some validity in it, but of course, not foolproof. I would suggest getting this book (or another similar) from the library rather than buying a book so if you decide it is bunk you haven't lost your money.

Here's my experience with the TCOYF method. I've had two children since I read the book. During both, I wasn't trying for a certain gender but after I got pg I went back and looked and my chart and it was easy to conclude, according to this chart we'll have a girl. We DTD 4 days and 6 days before O and not again until after O. Both times, we had a girl.

So yes, I think there's some truth in it, even though they take some science and then extrapolate from it. There are often other things affecting your fertility, though. If you have only a day or 2 of fertile CF, you're less likely to have a girl. If your dh is subject to something that might compromise his sperm, you're less likely to have a boy. My dad is a radiologist and (no surprise) has only girls.

I think it would be worth reading that book, or another on the same subject.

[Smokering]

I've also read theories - I don't know how scientifically robust they are - about sex selection via diet in an attempt to make the pH of the vagina more acid or alkaline. IIRC "girl" sperm do better in an acid pH (or more accurately, it kills off more of the weaker "boy" sperm), so some people recommend douching with diluted vinegar after sex.

The boy-sperm-are-weaker thing has also led to a lot of advice for the husband do things that are bad for sperm, like wearing tight briefs, taking hot baths etc. That mentality kind of makes me twitchy, as I wonder whether it could result in a damaged sperm fertilising the egg (leading, maybe, to miscarriage or birth defects or whatever). Possibly damaged sperm wouldn't be able to do the job, so it may not be an issue, but... I dunno. Makes me cringe to think of deliberately killing off sperm, somehow.

If you decide to go any of the natural(ish) routes, you should know it might take a while to conceive. Timing sex to 3-4 days before ovulation is HARD; and that plus all the other things I've mentioned could well lead to killing all the sperm in a cycle and/or reducing your DH's fertility, leading to no conception at all. Trying to conceive a girl is just more tricky than trying for a boy.

Then there are the high-tech methods, but they're expensive and, for a lot of people, morally problematic. That book certainly doesn't advocate "natural" anything, judging by the product description.

[BabyMae09]

Oh, I <3 TCOYF!

I forgot about that chapter, thanks! I read the book after checking it out from the library, now I need to buy it