How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby

When you get pregnant naturally, you have around a 50% chance of having either a boy or a girl. However, for whatever reason, some parents want a child of a particular sex. Many reasons may come into play: cultural reasons, stereotyped dreams of seeing a son play football for England or of raising a girl dressed in a pretty pink tutu, or more practical reasons such as medical conditions that only affect one sex (such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and haemophilia, which are caused by a defect on the X chromosome).

Whatever your reason behind wanting to choose the sex of your baby, here we explore the variety of methods that have been tried.

Preimplantation Genetic Screening

Do you have £15,000 (about $20,000), and a medical need to have a baby of a specific sex? If so, you may be a candidate for Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS).

With PGS, eggs are stimulated and retrieved in much the same manner that they would be for IVF. They are then fertilised in a lab with the partner's, or donor, sperm. When the eggs have divided into six or eight cells, a cell is removed to screen for abnormalities and gender. Only genetically-normal embryos of the desired sex are selected for implantation.

You'll face the difficult decision of what to do with your unused embryos: destroyed, frozen, or donated for adoption or research.

There is a risk that cell removal may damage the remaining embryo, and it is possible that no embryo will be suitable for implantation.

Undergoing PGS is also no protection against miscarriage. Sex-selection is also no guarantee of getting the child you "want": a child may grow up with traits you don't expect. While many parents will be happy, as long as the child is healthy, there are some who could be disappointed if the child does not have the traits they expect.

Some ethicists are concerned for the future of children born through sex-selection in countries without strict restrictions, raising the question: what will become of children who lack the traits parents expect of children of the "right" gender.

Sperm Counting

Or "Flow cytometry". Illegal in the UK, but used in other countries, this is where doctors separate the male from the female sperm. A dye is added to your partner's sperm sample; how it reacts lets the experts know the sex of the sperm. The sperm of the chosen sex can then be implanted by relatively cheap IUI (intrauterine implantation), which has a high rate of success.

Ericsson Method

Invented by Ronald Ericsson, this technique is used to prepare sperm for AI (artificial insemination). It claims to be up to 85% effective at selecting boys, and up to 75% effective at selecting girls.

Sperm is poured on a layer of sticky fluid in a test-tube. The male-sperm is faster and reaches the bottom sooner. When the fast and slow sperm are separated, you are inseminated with the sperm that will help you conceive the baby of your chosen sex.

This is less-invasive and less expensive than PGS. However, AI is less effective at the best of times, and it generally takes more cycles of AI to become pregnant. Additionally, Ericsson's claims of efficacy have never been corroborated by independent researchers.

READ Trying To Conceive: How To Detect Ovulation

The Shettles Method

The Shettles method, invented by Dr. Landrum Shettles, says male-sperm is faster but short-lived, while female-sperm is slower but long-lived. Therefore, if you want to have a boy, you ought to have sex as close to ovulation as possible (that day); if you want a girl, you should have sex up to four days before. In order to know when you are going to ovulate, you must keep a record of your basal body temperature (it's at its highest two days before ovulation).

A free, safe and painless method to try at home (though some may find it annoying to have to keep a constant record of their temperature), it may be worth trying. Alternatively, you can use ovulation testing strips to track ovulation.

Believers state it's 80% effective at conceiving boys and 75% effective at conceiving girls.

Weird and Wonderful Ways to Choose the Sex of Your Baby

Now we've got the science out of the way, let's look at some of the methods of the fabled "old wives" and find out how we've tried to choose the sexes of our babies over time.

Does any of it stand up to scrutiny?

What goes in must come out

According to the old wives, what you put in at one end affects what comes out of the other after nine months.

So, if you want a boy, you should eat:

• Red meat,
• Salty snacks (like pretzels)
• Daddy-to-be: cola

These foods are high in potassium and sodium, which are thought to help with the conception of a boy. Higher-calorie diets are also thought to lead to the conception of a boy.

If you want a girl, chow-down on:

• Lots of fish
• Healthy fruit and vegetables
• Dark chocolate

These foods are high in magnesium and calcium. Magnesium and calcium are thought to be key in supporting the conception of a girl.

Keep it cool

Men, if you want to have a daughter, you should keep your testicles cool, but if you want a son, you should warm your testicles up in tight trousers.

It's recommended that men who are struggling to father a child wear boxers, rather than briefs, and wear no pants if at home with just their partner to keep their testicles cool and increase their sperm-count. If sperm count is a problem, you should also avoid saunas, hot baths, and hot-tubs.

READ How to Increase Sperm Count and Improve Sperm Quality Naturally

Get into position

According to the old-wives, your sexual position matters when it comes to conceiving a boy or a girl.

For a boy:

• Lie down after making love, so the male-sperm can beat the female-sperm
• Make love from a rear-entry position
• Make love standing-up

For a girl:

• Use missionary position
• Make love with the woman on top

Very superstitious

There are some very weird and wonderful ways that are supposed to guarantee a baby of your chosen sex.

For a boy:

• Have sex only at night
• Have sex only in Autumn
• Have sex only on odd days of the month  - oddly enough, more boys are conceived on odd days of the month
• Make love with your head pointing North
• Have sex under a quarter-moon
• Make love facing the head of the bed

For a girl:

• Do a belly-dance under a full moon
• Be calm when you have sex
• Make love under a full moon
• Have sex in the afternoons
• Have sex only on even days of the month
• Put a pink ribbon under your pillow and a wooden spoon under your bed

And if all else fails, just tell all your friends and neighbours that you're definitely going to have a baby that's the opposite of your secretly desired sex, boast "Call it instinct", and spend a weekend painting the kid's room in accordance with the stereotypical colour of the sex you hope not to have. That should compel the universe to even the score.