Anyone tried *Choosing your baby's sex?*

[TranscendentalMom]

I'm curious if this works....anyone tried this?

What's the gist of it? Different positions or something? We thought it might be fun to try if we try for a 2nd baby.

[kofduke]

I didn't try it...but my understanding is that if you are charting BBT for ovulation, and have intercourse 2-3 days before ovulation, you have an increased chance of a girl; whereas if you haev intercourse on the day of ovulation you have an increased chance of a boy. I think there might be a book out there (maybe the one you're referring to, lol) that has more tips.

Kristin
Mama to Aaron, 1/26/03

[Clarity]

parentsoup.com has a gender determination discussion board that is the most active informative place I have found about that...everything from wishful thinking through high tech. Shettles is the author of the book you're thinking of. 0+12 is another popular method. most moms there believe vaginal environment is as, or more, important than just timing. they even have a spreadsheet with tries/results!

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-psgender

[rainsmom]

worked for us

[mojomom]

It has to do with charting your ovulation. I did not do it with any of my kids but my Best friend did had the girl they tried for. My other friend did it had the boy they were trying for. When my SIL told me she was going to do it I told dh if it works for them then I am totally believing it and it did work for them

[galadriel]

We conceived within 24 hrs of ovulation, and therefore should have had an 85% chance of a boy, but we had a fabulous little girl instead!

[mamawanabe]

Thanks for the thread. I know we are supposed to say "healthy baby," but I want girls so damn bad.

[OnTheFence]

I teach fertility awareness and know several couples who have done sex selection. I will be doing natural sex selection for my next child.
My neighbor had done sex selection for all three of her children and plans to do sex selection for her fourth child. All three times worked and she has two girls.

[hvl25]

worked for us too, we got our little princess after our 2 boys

[TranscendentalMom]

For those of you that had success - what book or technique did you use? Thanks.

I agree about the happy baby thing, I feel so guilty sometimes that I want a girl next (I have one awesome little boy). OF COURSE, I want it to be healthy above all & I will love the baby madly no matter what he/she is...but I can't help but dream about my baby girl!

[hvl25]

choosing the sex of your baby. I think it was written by shelton?

[applejuice]

Never worked for us, but I am happy with what we have anyway.

[mountainmommy]

Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Welscher, also has a chapter about this. This is a very comprehensive guide to the fertility awareness method. we found it on Amazon.

[Sandra Dee]

For a BOY ...

Okay, ready?? :LOL

Here we go:

There are many, many ways to influence gender. Shettle's method, for me, did not work. We have three (DH has another, too) girls. We Shettled for a boy with the last baby and nada.

Shettles, to have a boy, is to baby dance as close to ovulation as possible - post-ovulation, that is. The idea is that the swimmers who are male are stronger and faster and if the egg has already been released, the male spermies will fertilize before the females make it up there. If you BD too early, the egg will not yet be out and when it is released the male sperm will already have died (not being hardy or living as long as the females) and the females will be all that is left to fertilize the egg.

There are other ideas as well. (I am a member of a gender determination group). There is the "boy diet" (and the girl diet). For the boy diet, the studies showed diets high in sodium and potassium led to a higher instance of male conceptions. Some say it changes the polarization of the egg. This I haven't tried, but will the two months before we TTC. Potatoes, avocados, and bananas are all high in potassium. Some take it really far and end up eating NOTHING with calcium or magnesium because it is on the "girl" diet. Not sure that's a great idea, but hey - to each his own.

There is also the idea of environment. This is the vaginal walls, essentially. Because an acidic environment is going to be hostile to sperm, it will kill off the male swimmers who lead, leaving only the females. Those of us with lots of girls are believers that if you douche (gently - or drip a few drops) of baking soda water just before baby dancing, it will make the environment more basic and thus receptive to the male spermies.

You can also alter your body chemistry by diet, and I've heard of moms taking Alka Seltzer an hour or so before BDing to change the pH. You can get pH strips from a pool supply company or school supply place (for science projects). Aside from checking pH of your vaginal walls, some check cervical pH and saliva.

I've checked my vaginal pH and it is VERY acidic, so there may be some truth to that.

DH drinking caffeine before BDing is also said to help, as is abstinence for two days before, I believe.

[Clarity]

which one? (GD board?) parentsoup's was the best one way back...is there another hopping place now?

[Sandra Dee]

Diets

Article on Gender Diet

Acidic and Alkaline Foods (alkaline for male conception)

We are a yahoo group that branched from Parensoup.

[Clarity]

I was lisa_joss...I have the msn group addy but it doesn't get much traffic. Can you pm me the yahoogroup, or post if it's public? (unlike ps, you're allowed to do that here...) If it is public it would be nice to have an alternative to send people to, since this topic come up every 3 months or so...

[Embee]

In Toni Weshler's book, Taking Charge of your Fertility, she dedicated a chapter to the "Shettles Method" of choosing your child's sex. The book also discusses the ins and outs of charting in an easy to understand manner. She does mention that although you may be able to play a part in choosing the sex, the method is not of course, anywhere near 100% effective.

That said, we didn't go about trying to choose our baby's sex but due to fertility issues, had to time intercourse as close to ovulation as possible (the evening before and the day of). We had a boy so I guess it worked for us. Shettles mentions that because boy sperm are quicker but have a shorter life span, timing close to ovulation is key. Girl sperm are slower but live longer, therefore timing sex for 2 to 4 days BEFORE ovulation is the way to go about conceiving a girl. "Girl timing" can be tricky because conception at all is less likely when sex in timed several days before ovulation.

Best of luck.

Em

[Clarity]

just thought i'd mention that some people have remarked that the section in TCOYF was too brief to contain enough info for a good "attempt" - so don't use it as your only resource.

[Sandra Dee]

Clarity - the group isn't public...but we're open to new members, as far as I know.

However - we primarily focus on TTC Boys, since we're all mamas of girls. It's called TTCBoysClub on yahoogroups.

The only think is - some women are doing high tech (MS) stuff, so you kind of have to be open to that idea as well. (or at least supportive that others are doing it).