Have a Girl

There are many reasons that hopeful parents might wish to have a baby girl. Perhaps you already have a son (or two or three!). Perhaps you are worried that you might pass along a gender-specific genetic disorder. Or perhaps you just have a personal preference about the sex of your baby. The only guaranteed methods of ensuring a baby's sex take place post-fertilization in a medical facility or laboratory, under the care of medical professionals. However, there are a number of folk remedies and pre-fertilization techniques that some people say might help influence your baby's sex. Perhaps you'll find that, though these techniques are disputed, they're worth a shot. But no matter what: a 50/50 chance isn't so bad, right?

Steps

Using Dietary Changes to Try to Influence the Sex of Your Baby

1. Talk to your doctor about making dietary changes. Dietary changes remain a controversial method of influencing a baby's sex. Many doctors and scientists doubt that diet can exert any strong influence on a child's sex and consider the sex of a baby to be based on random chance. Nevertheless, if your doctor says that it is safe for you to adjust your diet to promote having a girl baby, there is little harm in trying a "girl diet."
2. Change your diet to change your body chemistry. Dietary changes can supposedly affect your likelihood of conceiving a girl by altering the mineral content and acidity of the uterine environment. According to this theory, a woman's diet in the weeks leading to conception can make her body more "friendly" toward X chromosome sperm (which lead to a baby girl) and less "friendly" toward Y chromosome sperm (which lead to a baby boy).
3. Eat a diet high in calcium and magnesium. Recommended foods on a diet conducive to having a girl include low-sodium dairy products, eggs, rice, and low-sodium breads and crackers. Fruits and vegetables might also help you conceive a girl.
4. Avoid potassium and sodium-rich foods. A recent study found that women who ate potassium-rich cereals were more likely to conceive boys. Other potassium-rich foods include bananas, salmon, mushrooms, beans, tuna, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

Timing Conception to Influence a Baby's Gender

1. Track your ovulation cycle. You can time your ovulation in many ways. The most accurate method is to use an ovulation predictor kit (OPK). If you have a regular menstrual cycle, you can also predict the date range of ovulation by counting back 12-16 days from the date your last period started, though the prediction might not be entirely accurate.
   • Keeping track of ovulation can also increase your likelihood of conceiving at all (regardless of gender) because women are usually the most fertile in the few days prior to ovulation.
   • Other signs of ovulation include abdominal pain, changes in vaginal fluids, and changes in basal body temperature. Consider tracking your cycle carefully on a calendar in order to understand how your body responds to ovulation.
2. Have sex 2-4 days before ovulation to conceive a girl. Female sperm carry more genetic material, making them heavier and slower than male sperm. Having sex at least two days before ovulation gives the slower female sperm more time to move up the uterine canal before the egg arrives. This is known as the "Shettles Method."
   • There is an alternate theory known as the "Whelan Method" that suggests that sex should take place 2-3 days prior to ovulation to conceive a girl and 4-6 days before ovulation to conceive a boy.

Using Medical Procedures to Conceive a Girl

1. Determine what you are willing to spend on sex selection. While medical procedures are the most foolproof method for having a girl, they are also the most expensive. They can cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Sometimes these procedures are not available in every country, leading to additional travel costs as well. Create-a-Budget in order to plan how you might pay for the procedure.
2. Discuss options with your doctor very carefully. While side effects from these procedures tend to be mild, these techniques are relatively new and involve a certain amount of risk. Talk to a trusted doctor to decide what risks you are comfortable taking on.
3. Pursue sperm sorting techniques with a clinic. It is possible to sort sperm into Y-chromosomal and X-chromosomal sperm using a technique known as cytometric sorting, after which an egg is fertilized with the desired sperm using artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. Because X chromosomes are slightly larger than Y chromosomes, sperm that lead to girls are able to absorb more fluorescent dye than sperm that lead to boys. The sperm can then be separated, and the desired sex of a baby can be chosen. Sperm sorting is highly effective, though it is not 100% effective. It can, however, be costly and might not be available for all prospective parents.
4. Look into the "swim up" method of artificial insemination. Many reproductive clinics offer to sort sperm by their speed of movement. Because sperm carrying female genetic material tend to be heavier (and therefore slower), this sorting can make a specific sex much more likely, though not guaranteed.
5. Pursue Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). This procedure can be done on embryos created using in vitro fertilization. It allows doctors to identify embryos of a certain sex, thus providing gender selection prior to embryonic implantation. In addition to identifying (and potentially selecting) embryos of a certain sex, chromosomal disorders and conditions can be identified using PGD.
   • Though highly effective, the procedure is costly and invasive, and it raises ethical dilemmas about the appropriateness of sex selection of embryos. In fact, gender screening is banned in some places. Certain countries, like Britain, make exceptions only when there is a medical necessity to screen for gender, such as gender-specific genetic diseases.
   • Other doctors similarly support post-fertilization sex selection in cases of medical necessity, but reject post-fertilization sex selection practices because of personal preference.
   • The procedure works by identifying the gender of an embryo while it is still in the lab before it is placed in the womb, and claims 100% accuracy.

Tips

• Unless you pursue post-fertilization sex selection, the chances that you will have a baby girl will always remain roughly at 50/50. Try to approach your baby's sex philosophically and don't have your heart too set on any particular gender. Remember that the most important things are the health and happiness of your child.
• If you are sad that you did not end up having a girl, that is known as "gender disappointment." It is a common condition, and you should not feel guilty about experiencing it Instead, you should embrace your feelings and talk about your disappointment with a close friend or doctor. Usually the feelings of sadness pass after you bond with your baby, no matter what gender it is. If the feelings do not pass, you should reach out to your pediatrician.
• If having a child of a particular gender is important to you, you might consider alternative ways to raise a daughter besides giving birth to one. For example, you might consider Adopt-a-Child or Become-a-Foster-Parent. Not only would you have the experience of raising a girl, but you would also be giving your home to someone who needs one.

Warnings

• Talk to your doctor before making any drastic dietary changes (including taking new vitamin/mineral supplements) to make sure that they are safe and do not interfere with any medications you might be taking, or with any preexisting medical conditions you may have.
• Although many reproductive specialists offer sex selection procedures for any reasons, some consider it unethical to select for sex based on preference alone.
• Many medical professionals do not believe it is possible to influence a baby's sex through such means as dietary changes, sex positions, or timing the ovulation cycle. Even so, some companies claim that they have found the key to sex selection. Be wary of any pre-fertilization services that guarantee your baby's sex: they can be expensive and might not be effective.
• There are certain black-market sex-selection drugs that not only are ineffective at influencing a baby's sex but also have the potential to actively harm a fetus. Do not take any medications or supplements without discussing them with a licensed physician.
• Biological sex is not equivalent to gender expression or gender identity. Even if you conceive a biological girl, it is possible that your child will reject feminine gender expression and will prefer to express a more masculine gender. Similarly, a child who is born as a biological male might grow up to be a girl or woman. Be sure to support your child, no matter what gender he, she, or they might express.
• Some of the most surefire methods of ensuring a baby's sex are also the most controversial and might raise ethical questions and concerns. Be sure that you think carefully about the implications of your reproductive choices.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Know if You are Pregnant
• Get Pregnant Quickly
• Know the Earliest Pregnancy Signs
• Recognize Implantation Bleeding
• Get Pregnant With PCOS
• Prepare Yourself for a Healthy Pregnancy at 35 Years Old
• Tell Implantation Symptoms from PMS Symptoms
• Raise the Chances of Having a Boy
• Increase Fertility in Men
• Determine if You Are Pregnant

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