How to make sure you conceive a boy baby?
For centuries parents have tried to manage the gender of their babies. Some of the pressures for this have been cultural, such as in ancient societies where boys were valued for their hunting skills. Today in China, boys are more prized than girls.
The desire to manage a baby’s gender has led to some fantastic folk methods. For instance, some “old wives tales” counsel that in order to conceive a boy baby, wives should eat lots of red meat and salty snacks and drink lots of soda. These folk remedies also contend that lovemaking for conception should focus on the man’s pleasure, so that he reaches orgasm first, ensuring a boy.
Science has progressed farther along with gender prediction, but not necessarily with gender selection. For instance, there is now a procedure known as Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. This process works by in-vitro fertilization. Embryos are created outside the body, tested for genetic disorders and gender, and then the embryos with the desired gender are implanted inside the woman’s uterus.
There are two disadvantages to PGD. First, it’s an expensive process, costing nearly $20,000 per round. Second, as with any in-vitro fertilization, multiple viable embryos can result and sustain after implantation, leading to multiple births. In other words, parents who choose this method so they can manipulate their baby’s gender may get much more than they bargained for – a virtual jackpot of boy or girl babies!
Two methods similar to PGD for gender selection included processes called MicroSort and Ericsson, both based on procedures developed in 1975 by Ronald J. Ericsson, Ph.D. Dr. Ericsson came up with methods by which X and Y sperm can be separated through a filtering process. Parents who want a boy baby would then have Y sperm inseminated into the woman to fertilize the egg at ovulation. This method is now used in about half of the IVF centers in the United States. It is less effective than PGD, but also less expensive.
An at-home method that is controversial, but doesn’t involve artificial insemination, is known as the Shettles method. Developed by Dr. Landrum Shettles, this method involves timing intercourse to ovulation based on characteristics of sperm.
The Shettles method requires that prospective parents chart the condition of cervical mucus and basal body temperature and use an ovulation prediction kit. The theory suggests that to conceive a boy, prospective parents should have sex the day before or the day of ovulation. It’s based on Shettles’ study findings that Y sperm survive less time in the womb, but are faster swimmers. The study also recommends that sex should involve deep penetration and orgasms at the same time, since the woman’s orgasm produces substances that make the vaginal environment more hospitable to male sperm.
While there are countless women worldwide who say the Shettles method enabled them to conceive the boy baby they wanted, medical science has been unable to duplicate Dr. Shettles’ results. Since reproducing a study’s same results independently is a cornerstone of the scientific method, this has led many medical experts to counsel against the Shettles method for gender selection.
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