How to Try to Plan the Gender of a Baby

Try these methods for a boy or girl baby.

While the chances of conceiving a boy or girl are roughly 50/50, that doesn't stop parents from trying their best to conceive one or the other. Gender selection is possible through in-vitro fertilization, but these procedures are costly. Most people want to select the gender of their baby naturally at home. Though hotly contested in the scientific community, some studies have shown that there are ways to increase your chances of conceiving the gender of your choice, even though it increase the odds only slightly. Some methods center on the timing of intercourse based on your ovulation--based on the idea that "boy sperm" is fast, but dies quickly and "girl sperm" is slow, but lives longer. Other evidence suggests that your diet may play a role in gender selection.

Instructions

Timing Method

1. Chart your basal body temperature to determine the date of ovulation. Purchase a basal thermometer, which is more accurate. You must take your temperature at the same time every morning--as soon as you wake up and before you drink water, go to the bathroom or do anything. You'll know that you've ovulated when your temperature rises .2 degrees Fahrenheit for three consecutive days after six consecutive days at a lower temperature. By charting over the months, you should begin to see a pattern for when you ovulate, allowing you to predict your date of ovulation. Unfortunately, the rise in temperature is only a sign that ovulation has happened.

2. Check your cervical mucus for signs of ovulation. Using your fingers, collect the mucus from your vagina. If it looks like egg whites and will stretch between your fingers, you are approaching ovulation. This is the physical sign that predicts your ovulation is coming.

3. Use an ovulation predictor kit if you're not sure when you're ovulating. This is a test that measures the luteinizing hormone in your urine. Use the test in the middle of the day, around 2 p.m. When you get a positive result, you know that you'll ovulate between 12 and 48 hours later.

4. Time your intercourse. If you want a girl baby, you should have sex during the days leading up to ovulation, then refrain (or use a condom) from sex on the day of ovulation. If you want a boy baby, you should refrain from sex in the days before ovulation, then have sex on the day of ovulation. This is a method popularized by Dr. Shettles.

Diet Method

1. Track the calories that you are currently eating. Assuming that you are not gaining or losing weight, the number of calories that you eat per day can start as a base point.

2. Eat more calories if you want to have a boy. A study in England by the University of Exeter and the University of Oxford showed that diets that are slightly higher in calories (about 180 calories) and higher in potassium were more likely to result in boy babies. If you want a boy, eat an extra banana each day.

3. Maintain a healthy diet for a girl baby. The study found that women who skipped breakfast were more likely to have a girl baby because they ate fewer calories overall. This doesn't mean that you have to skip breakfast--breakfast is a part of a healthy diet. However, you can try to maintain your healthy diet while limiting calories.

References

• Baby Center: Choosing Your Baby's Sex--What the Experts Say
• Proceedings of the Royal Society: You Are What Your Mother Eats
• StorkNet: The ABCs of Basal Body Temperature Charting
• Women's Health: Physical Signs of Ovulation