The first thing to realize, if you are trying to influence the sex of your children, is how nature chooses a baby’s gender. The gender of your child is determined by what type of sperm fertilizes an egg. Not only does sperms chromosomes dictate a child’s gender, some dads might have an predisposition to having more boys or girls.
Looking at how sperm cells influence the gender of babies is crucial in understanding why some women only have boys while others only have girls. We all know the X chromosome and Y chromosome decide if the woman will have a girl or boy. We realize that sex and gender are terms that are evolving in our world, so before going further, we want to make it clear that when we are talking about sex in a child in this article, we are talking about only one baby’s chromosome, namely, an XY combination, which is considered masculine.
Short of having an embryo surgically implanted with what is known to be male, there is no guarantee when it comes to your child’s sex. Many couples trying to conceive have at least some hints about whether they want a girl or a boy. Sometimes parents who strongly prefer one gender over another decide to wait and discover the day of birth. Keep in mind, even though you are waiting to learn the sex of your child the day of birth, you may still be susceptible to gender frustration.
A parent experiencing gender frustration might feel like they should be completely fine with their child being of whatever sex, so long as that child is healthy. Others have a medical reason to want either a boy or girl, such as genetic illness that only affects one gender but not another. Maybe you are worried about a sex-linked genetic disorder, or perhaps you simply have your heart set on either a girl or a boy.
If you are trying to get pregnant, but are worried about a sex-linked genetic disorder, high-tech gender selection may appeal to you particularly. Sex selection could be appealing to parents who have had one child or children by one gender and wish to have one by another, e.g. So far, at least in the U.S., there is no evidence that giving couples the choice to choose their children’s sex could result in an overabundance of girls or boys.
One study suggests looking at the family tree may provide some insights as to why some couples continue having only girls or boys. Interestingly, one study in 2008, which looked at 927 family trees, suggested that it is possible because you only get boys or girls to be determined by your dad, and not just one of those ways. The accepted view is that a fathers’ semen is the primary determinant of the child’s gender. One study suggests an unidentified gene controls whether the male’s sperm contains more X chromosomes or more Y chromosomes, affecting his children’s sex.
Whether it is eating specific foods, or the time in the ovulation cycle you are having sex, there is no shortage of theories about how to have a baby boy or how to have a baby girl. If you have not yet conceived, you might have heard some rumors of things you could try to influence the gender of your child. Maybe you just started looking into ideas that might help you deliver a boy.
Imagining the gender of your child may be one way for some to bond with their baby son before they even come. People often try to guess the sex of their unborn child by calculating how many boys and girls there are already in the household, or how many brothers or sisters each parent has. There is no evidence to suggest that position when sex influences a child’s gender, so simply go with whatever one is most comfortable for you at that moment.
Ultimately, whether you end up having a whole lot of boys or girls, every health care professional will tell you having a healthy baby of any sex is the most important. Currently, the only surefire way that parents can balance their families about their baby’s sex is via IVF – though you can select by gender, to an extent, using IVF, which is done with separated male and female sperm. Some families only want a single child with one sex, or they have a particular order in mind.
For couples who want one child, advice is to only have sex the day of your ovulation. Having sex on the day before, or on the day you ovulate, increases the chances that you can have a boy, since usually, male sperm reaches the egg first. Female sperm is heavier and lives longer than male sperm, so if you have sex days before ovulation, then refrain from having it (while the male sperm is dying), that should increase the chances of having a girl. If sperm is released two to three days before an egg is released, Y (boy) sperm will have died off and there will still be plenty of X sperm waiting for an egg to emerge, and fertilization would probably result in a girl.
If you have sex immediately or close to the time that the eggs are released, the faster moving Y (boy) sperm will get to the egg fast and you will likely get a boy. According to theory, if a woman can confidently predict the day that she is going to ovulate or release the eggs, and so has sex 3 or 4 days before, then again only shortly after the ovulation, then the chances are good that a woman is going to produce a girl. It is crucial that you pinpoint the timing of ovulation precisely to have a boy child.
