How to Get Pregnant with a Girl

How to Get Pregnant with a Girl

Choose your baby’s sex

Four Methods:

Shettles Method

Calcium and Magnesium Diet

Ericsson Method

Chinese Birth Calendar

(Wikihow)-The most common reason potential parents want to conceive a girl rather than a boy is the danger of genetic disease, or “gender-linked” disorders that are inherited from the parents. Other people simply would prefer to raise a girl, either because they already have one or more boys, or in the case of a single mother, it might be easier to raise a daughter alone. According to the Center for Human Reproduction, there are only two techniques that can reliably predict gender: One is In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and the other, which is still in the experimental stage, is Microsort.[1] This article outlines other methods that have worked for some couples, although many scientists believe that the following techniques are not guaranteed.[2][3][4]

Method 1 of 4: Shettles Method

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    Determine the time of your ovulation. One way to do this is to chart your cervical mucus daily. Just before ovulation, cervical mucus is watery and elastic, with the consistency of a raw egg white.

    • By charting your cervical mucus for one full month, you should be able to pinpoint exactly when you are ovulating.[5] (Shettles recommends sexual intercourse up to 3 days before ovulation in order to increase your odds of conceiving a girl.)
    • It’s also possible to make cervical mucus more alkaline through dietary choices, including all foods high in calcium and magnesium.
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    Use a basal body thermometer (BBT) to chart your temperature every day.Shettles recommends taking your temperature before you get up each morning, and being extremely careful to lie as still as possible, as any activity can give you an inaccurate reading. The reason for the temperature charting is that at the time you begin to ovulate, your temperature will spike.[6]

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    Use an ovulation predictor kit. These kits will detect when your body has released Luteinizing hormone (LH), which is a precursor to ovulation; which is most likely to start about 24 hours after you get a positive reading for LH.[7]

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    Monitor the frequency and timing of intercourse. The Shettles Method is based on the fact that the Y chromosome (boy) sperm are smaller and less robust, but move faster than the larger X chromosome (girl) sperm.[8] Therefore, having intercourse further away from ovulation will favor the slower moving X (girl) sperm.

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    Have gentle sex and avoid orgasm. Shallow penetration is more likely to deposit the sperm closer to the entrance of the vagina, which is more acidic than the area near the cervix.[8] The theory is that the acidity will weaken the Y (boy) sperm while allowing more X (girl) sperm available for egg fertilization.

    • The female body produces a substance after orgasm that make the vagina more alkaline, which favors the Y (boy) sperm.
    • The contractions produced during an orgasm will help propel the sperm up and into the cervix, which gives the Y (boy) sperm the advantage.

Method 2 of 4: Calcium and Magnesium Diet

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    Know that diet may play a vital role in selecting the sex of your baby. Some research from Maastricht University in the Netherlands suggests that diet can influence whether you have a girl or a boy, although the research is doubted by some.[9]Specifically, researchers say that a diet rich in magnesium and calcium may be helpful in conceiving a girl.

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    Eat plenty of calcium and magnesium. Diets rich in calcium and magnesium may increase the alkalinity of the mother, which may not be as hospitable for male sperm.

    • Foods rich in calcium and magnesium include:
      • Nuts, such as almonds and cashews
      • Beans
      • Vegetables such as spinach and broccoli
      • Yogurt and tofu
      • Oatmeal
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    Avoid salt and potassium, which may create hospitable environments for male sperm. The following foods should be put on the no-no list if you’re adhering to the calcium and magnesium diet:

    • Anchovies, smoked salmon, and shrimp
    • Bacon, salami, and processed meats
    • Breads and pastries
    • Olives
    • Potatoes

Method 3 of 4: Ericsson Method

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    Understand the Ericsson method. Dr. Ronald Ericsson based his gender selection method on the idea that X-sperm (female sperm) swim slower than Y-sperm. Sperm are deposited into a column with albumin, a glue-like substance, and start swimming down the column. After a while, the idea is that the Y-sperm will have traveled further down the column than the X-sperm, and X-enriched sperm can be isolated. The X-enriched sperm are then used to inseminate the mother.

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    Find a doctor who practices the Ericsson method. Check with your local fertility doctor about the Ericsson method, and whether they know any practitioners. Although many fertility doctors don’t support the Ericsson method because it isn’t backed up by widespread scientific support, you should be able to find a practitioner.

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    Expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for the Ericsson method.Although this isn’t cheap, it’s far cheaper than IVF and methods like Microsort.

Method 4 of 4: Chinese Birth Calendar

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    Use the Chinese Lunar Birth calendar. While not scientific, some parents and even some doctors, recommend following the Chinese Lunar Birth calendar. According to this ancient mystical calendar, the gender of a baby is determined by the mother’s age and the month in which she conceives. A simplified example would be if a woman is 25, she should try to conceive in the months of January, April, May or July.

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    Determine the days on which conception would produce a girl. The Chinese birth chart is determined by the mother’s age and the month of conception, so figure out how old you are and which month on the lunar calendar would produce a girl. Read more about how to select the sex of your baby using the Chinese birth chart.

How to Get Pregnant with a Boy

How to Get Pregnant with a Boy

Choose the Sex of Your Baby

By 

Having a baby boy is something that is important to some parents. Enough so that they try to influence their pregnancy and become pregnant with a boy, through a variety of means. This is called sex selection and can be done for boys or girls. Though getting pregnant with a boy is often different than getting pregnant with a girl.

Trying to choose the sex of your baby, boy or girl, is a very old practice. Old customs were centered around the woman, because it was not understood that the determination really lay with the man. Though as wisdom grew, the practices changed to include men in the process of deciding, but the methods were still really out there, like tying up one testicle, believing that boys had one side, girls the other; sleeping with certain objects under the bed to influence the sex of the baby, or even medicines and poultices of an odd combination including animal feces. The desire to choose the sex was that strong.

Today’s desire is just as strong. In fact,some places report that up to 90% of people would choose the sex of their baby if it were easier. The biggest change in the minds of sex selection is that girls are a high priority in some locations now, previously there was a high need for a boy. In fact, in some countries they still have very high preferences for boys. There are even places that have banned ultrasound determination of the sex of a baby to prevent sex selection via termination.

How Sex Selection Works

Each parent contributes half of a baby’s genetic make up. The female or mother is genetically an XX, so she is only able to contribute an X to the future baby. The father of the baby is XY and can contribute either an X or a Y. This means that sperm is the deciding factor in how your baby’s sex is determined.

Over 200 million sperm are ejaculated into the vagina during intercourse, a mixture of X and Y. Most likely only one will be the one to penetrate the ovum.

Shettles Method

Dr. Landrum Shettles is known for his popular book (compare prices) on how to use low tech ways to conceive a baby of a particular sex, but particularly baby girls. Though the method can be used for a girl or a boy. The theory behind this method for having a baby boy is that Y bearing sperm are faster but die more quickly. This means that by the time the egg is released you should have no sperm near the egg and quickly have intercourse to have the biggest concentration of Y bearing sperm. The basics are as follows:

  • First you must know your menstrual cycle and chart it using your basal body temperature (BBT) charts.
  • Once you have done this for a few months you can more accurately pinpoint ovulation.
  • Men should avoid ejaculation for 4-5 days before ovulation.
  • Your goal would be to time sexual intercourse about 12 hours prior to ovulation, based on your basal body temperatures, or other methods.
  • Use positions to place the sperm as close to the cervix as possible, including rear entry positions.
  • Females should have an orgasm to help move the sperm towards the egg.

Previously Shettles recommended certain douches to deal with the acidity issue, but has since backed off that because of the risk of infection.

The Boy Diet

There are some who say that what you eat will determine whether your baby is a girl or a boy. Here are some foods to stock in your pantry if you’re trying to have a baby boy:

  • Meat, particularly red meat
  • Salty snacks, like chips
  • Caffeine

Other Helpful Boy Hints

  • Wear boxers to cool the temperature of the scrotum. (This is typically seen as a generic fertility tip.)
  • Man has an orgasm first.
  • Only have marital relations on the odd days of the month to have a baby girl.
  • Man initiates sexual relations.
  • Man on top or dominate positions. (Sitting or laying.)
  • Have sex standing up.
  • Use the Chinese Gender Chart to help you decide when to conceive.
  • Have sex at night.
  • Avoid sex during the full phase of the moon as well as the new moon, aim for a quarter moon.

Other Forms of Sex Selection:

(It is important to note that many of these are based on old wives tales or loose science. Be sure to talk to your practitioner about sex selection techniques with the best chances of success should this be very important to you.)

Source: about

How to Get Pregnant Fast

7 Tips for Getting Pregnant Faster

Dos and don’ts of increasing your chances of getting pregnant. 
By 

You are ready to get pregnant. Now. Once you are ready to start a family, waiting is the last thing you want to do.

Although Mother Nature has a hand in the timing, there are some things you can do — or not do — to help increase your chances of getting pregnant ASAP. Read on for seven expert-approved tips for getting pregnant.

See How Conception Happens From Egg to Embryo

1. Do get a preconception checkup.

Before you officially start trying, get a checkup. Ask your doctor about prenatal vitamins that have folic acid, which helps protect against some birth defects, such as spina bifida. Folic acid works during the early stages of pregnancy, so that’s why it’s important to make sure you’re getting enough folic acid even before you get pregnant.

“Do this the cycle before you start trying,” says Paula Hillard, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University. “If you have any underlying medical problems, they need to be under control before you can safely become pregnant.”

2. Do get to know your cycle.

How much do you know about your menstrual cycle? Really understanding helps you know when you’re most fertile, says Hillard. Ovulation is the best time to get pregnant. “This is the time to focus on having sex,” Hillard says.

It helps to become aware of the signs of ovulation, such as a change in your cervical mucus. It usually becomes thin and slippery when you are most fertile. Some women may also feel a one-sided twinge of pain.

Ovulation prediction kits can also help you predict the best time to get pregnant, says James Goldfarb, MD, director of the infertility service at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. Not only can they help assure you that you are ovulating, “if you are having infrequent intercourse, this tells you when to have it to increase your chances of getting pregnant,” he says.

Here’s how it works: The first day of your menstrual period is considered day one. “Start testing on day nine and keep going until you get a positive,” advises Joanne Piscitelli, MD, an associate professor of gynecology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Women with a 28-day cycle tend to ovulate on day 14. But many women have longer or shorter cycles, so casting a wide net can help you be sure.

What if you’ve been using birth control? Do you need to wait a while before trying to get pregnant? Not really, says Goldfarb. “Years ago, the conventional wisdom was to wait a certain amount of time after stopping birth control to try to get pregnant but that is no longer true. You can start trying to conceive right after you stop birth control,” Goldfarb says. The only thing to keep in mind is that you could get pregnant before you get your period,  so tracking ovulation may be difficult, and it might be harder to figure out your due date. For this reason, “some people may feel better waiting until they get one period on their own,” he says.

3. Don’t worry about the best positions for getting pregnant.

Myths abound about the best positions for getting pregnant, but they are just that — myths. There is really no scientific evidence saying that the missionary position is better than the woman being on top when it comes to maximizing your chances of making a baby.

“Very rarely, a woman’s cervix is in an unusual position where certain positions can make a difference,” Goldfarb tells WebMD.

Certain gravity-defying positions, such as sitting or standing during intercourse, however, may discourage sperm from traveling upstream. “It’s a matter of gravity [and] you don’t want all the semen to run out — and semen are quick little critters,” Hillard says.

4. Do lay low right after intercourse.

You have probably heard this one — lie in bed with your feet in the air after having sex to increase your chances of getting pregnant. The verdict? Not (totally) true.

“It’s good advice to lay in bed for 10 to 15 minutes after intercourse, but you don’t need your feet in the air,” Goldfarb says. “Your pelvis does not move when you put your legs in the air.” Don’t go the bathroom during this time either, he says. “If you wait 10 to 15 minutes, the sperm that is going to get into the cervix will be in the cervix.”

5. Don’t overdo it.

Having sex every day even during ovulation will not necessarily increase your chances of getting pregnant. “In general, every other night around the time of ovulation helps increase your chance of getting pregnant,” Goldfarb says. Sperm can live up to 72 hours after intercourse. The best suggestion is to have sex regularly — when you’re ovulating, and when you’re not.

Speaking of sperm, “wearing tight-fitting clothing can negatively affect sperm count,” Piscitelli says. So too can spending time in hot tub or Jacuzzi. Your man’s cell phone habits may also also need some work. A study in the journal Fertility and Sterility showed that men who used a hands-free device with a cell phone and kept their phone close to their testicles had poorer sperm quality.

He might want to pass on the edamame and other soy foods for a while, too. Men who eat a lot of soy foods may have a lower sperm concentration than men who don’t eat soy foods, according to a study published online in Human Reproduction.

6. Do de-stress any way you can.

Try not to get stressed out about starting a family. You may roll your eyes if someone says, “Just relax and it will happen,” but stress can actually interfere with ovulation. So the more relaxed you are, the better!

Whatever helps you de-stress is fine, as long as it’s healthy. “There is some evidence that acupuncture can help reduce stress and increase your chances of becoming pregnant,” Goldfarb says. And although drinking too much alcohol when trying to get pregnant isn’t smart, a glass of wine won’t hurt.

7. Do live a healthy life.

Exercising is a healthy habit — especially if it helps keep you at your ideal weight. Just like anything else, though, you can get too much of a good thing. “Too much exercise can cause you not to ovulate,” Goldfarb says.

What’s too much? It may be different for different women. If you are a hard-core exerciser and are still getting your period regularly, your exercise regimen is most likely not a problem, he says. But, Goldfarb adds, your menstrual period is not the first thing to go if you are exercising too heavily. “The first thing that happens is that you have a shorter second half of your cycle. You should have a period 14 days after you ovulate, but too much exercise can shorten this phase.” This would be the first hint that you need to curtail your fitness regimen. He suggests tracking how long it takes you to get a period after you ovulate as the best way to know for sure.

Goldfarb says the best way to increase your chances of getting pregnant while getting the health benefits of regular exercise is to do moderate exercise — think brisk walking — two and a half hours each week (or at least 30 minutes, 5 days a week).

Stop smoking to increase your chances of getting pregnant,” Hillard says. Aside from all the other negative health effects of smoking, this nasty habit also decreases fertility. “It affects estrogen levels and ovulation.

And don’t worry too much about your day planner. “Eighty-five percent of women will become pregnant within one year of trying,” Hillard says.