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Beauty

Should you or could you try to influence the sex of your baby? This is one of those hotly debated subjects that everyone has an opinion on.  Just mentioning that you want to try and influence whether you get pink booties or blue, can bring forward negative and very angry responses from some people.  

However, when you look at the results of a recent Australian study, you really shouldn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed, if you feel this way, as the results showed that 73% of us are secretly trying to influence the sex of our babies.  And it isn’t just the Aussies that want to have a crack at choosing the sex of their child.......  

Worldwide surveys have indicated that in some countries up to 90% of people have indicated that they would try to influence the sex of their child if they could.

Why do people want to choose the sex of their baby?

· Some people have always dreamt of dollies, piggie tails and ballet classes, whilst others dream of cheering their sons on at a football game;

· Some people love the idea of having an older brother to look out for younger siblings of any sex;

· Others may have a brood of one sex, and dream of getting a little bit of balance, and yet others may want to keep the theme going believing having say 3 of one sex, and 1 of another, may leave the later feeling left out; and

· There are some families that are aware of certain genetic diseases that may be passed on to certain sexes and may want to avoid the distress if possible.

There are many reasons why people may want a child of a certain sex, and if people want to try, then why should they feel embarrassed or ashamed about it? No parent would every love their child any more or any less either way, so what is the harm in having a little bit of fun trying to play God?

If you think about it in very simple terms, it is a little like ordering dessert at a restaurant.  You feel like chocolate cake, but also love home made apple pie and cream.  After ordering the chocolate cake, you find they are sold out, so you get the apple instead.  Are you upset or disappointed.  No.  Because realistically you felt like dessert and dessert is what you got. You still have a lovely night out and go home and happily talk about the lovely apple pie you had, forgetting all about the absent chocolate cake.

So now that I have curbed your worries about whether or not you should even be reading this article, let me just remind you, that whilst you can have a little bit of fun with gender selection, at the end of the day, the art of making babies is still really a 50/50 game, and to avoid and heart break or disappointment, you need to lie on the edge of reason here and make sure you don’t get unrealistic expectations about the outcome, just in case it doesn’t work.  Realistically no matter the outcome once you lock eyes with those baby blues, it really won’t matter.

Learning about Gender Selection

So how do I know all about this Gender Selection stuff, well I was actually one of those people that wanted to try and influence the sex of my baby preconception, and I was also not afraid to say so.  Luckily for me, all the hard work paid off and I got what I wanted.  I am over the moon, and honestly, I don’t care what the critics think. In fact, now once people hear that I have done it, they pull me aside at parties (well play dates) and ask me how I did it.

Once I had made the decision that I wanted to have a baby, it was pretty closely followed by my partner and I saying that we would love a little girl.  So I did what I do best and I began researching.  I wanted to know if I really had any chance of getting my little princess or if it was all just a bunch of old wives tales.

What I discovered when I first starting researching was, that despite the taboo surrounding it, there is quite a lot of information out there.  Whether it is in books or on the World Wide Web, there is plenitude of theories and ideas on how you might be able to make this work, which really supports the evidence that the majority of people would give it a go if they could.

So off the theory now, and back to me.  As I really had my heart set on pink booties, I decided to read it all.  I clicked on everything I could find, and now that my friends have deemed me a bit of an expert on the subject, I have decided to try and save you some time and energy by summing it all up for you in a page or two.  I will provide you will all the information and the plan I used as well as giving you some information on some of the popular gender selection methods such as Shettles and Billings.

Getting Started

So you have decided to give it ago.  Fantastic!  Good on you for being your own person.  Now before we get too far the first thing that you need to know is that if you really want to try and influence the sex of your baby, then you will actually have to put some time and effort into the process.  

There are quite a few areas to look at including:

· Pre conception care;

· Stopping contraception;

· Charting your cycle;

· Vitamins;

· Diet;

· PH levels;

· Timing the baby dance (intercourse); and

· Old wives tales and the Chinese Gender Chart

The whole process does take some time, and begins with you charting your cycles, then proceeds to changing your diet and your PH levels, and finishes with you timing intercourse with your ovulation.  

Now before you do anything, you will need to undertake at least 3 months of preconception care and will probably need to chart your cycle for at least three months.  This ensures that you have the best chance of predicting your ovulation dates, and gives your body the best chance of conceiving a healthy baby.  

As both of these components need to be undertaken for three months, you may as well start this part of the journey now.
 
Step One – The first three months

Pre-conception care

Before you even think about trying to conceive you need to think about preconception care.  Preconception care involves improving you and your partner’s health in order to improve your fertility and to ensure you conceive the healthiest baby possible.

One of the most important parts of preconception care is taking preconception vitamins, in particular folate and iodine.  It is estimated that around 90% of women have a deficiency in both of these vitamins, and research has proven that both of these vitamins can have a beneficial affect on your baby, as well as decreasing the chance of some diseases.

As it can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months for the levels of these vitamins to build up in your body, you need to get started asap.  Check out our page on Pre-conception care for more information.

Stopping Contraception

Whilst you are undertaking your preconception care you will need to stop using all forms of normal contraception (accept condoms).  If you have been using the Pill, an IUD or Merinium, you need to stop using them asap, so that the chemicals can start leaving your body, and your body can begin returning to its natural cycle.

Whilst there are mixed views on whether or not your baby’s health will be affected if your fall pregnant directly after stopping a chemical contraception.  If you want to air on the side of caution, and want to try to influence your baby’s sex.  Then give your body a good three months to clean it’s self out.  And yes, these means it is back to condoms for a while.

Begin Charting

Start charting as soon as you can.  To have any chance of this working, you need to be able to pin point the exact day of ovulation.  

Some people are like clockwork and ovulate on the exact same day each month, whilst for others it may change a couple of days each way every month.  

If you are lucky and already know the exact day you ovulate then you are a head of the game and can move on to the other parts of the plan.  However, if like most of us, you wouldn’t have a clue when that egg is coming, then please read my article on charting and how to get things started.

Step Two – The next two months or in combo with the first 3

There are some theories around changing the PH levels of your body, to improve or decrease the chances of a particular type of sperm meeting the egg.  Therefore you need to start trying to change the PH Levels of your body through diet and vitamin supplementation.

Try to allow around 4 - 6 weeks before you start trying to conceive to give your body a chance to adjust.  And really amp up the food changes in the week of ovulation.

If you are in a hurry to get started, then you can combine this with your three months of preconception care and charting, but if you really want to give this a proper go, I would wait, until month 4 before you start incorporating these changes into your diet, so that your body has the best chance of changing it’s PH levels.

Vitamins

Gender Selection Vitamins For a girl

Calcium and Magnesium Tablets

Start taking Calcium and Magnesium tablets 6 – 8 weeks before your first attempt at conceiving.  And keep taking them until you fall pregnant.  Also increase the dairy in your diet.  

Cranberry Tablets or Cranberry Juice

Start consuming cranberry tablets or juice about 7 days before you are due to ovulate.  After ovulation you can stop consuming cranberry until your next ovulation week.

Gender Selection Vitamins For a boy

Potassium

You can either take a vitamin supplement here, or look for potassium rich foods such as bananas.

Vitamin C

Take tablets or get loads of OJ into your system.

Vitamin D, E and B12

Again you can take a supplement or choose foods like red meat, eggs, sunflower seeds, almonds, olives, spinach, and fatty fish.

Gender Selection Diet

For a girl

· Chocolate and sweet foods

· Fresh vegetables

· Fish

· Dairy and other high calcium foods

· Cranberries or Cranberry juice

Avoid salty foods, lots of red meat and bananas

For a boy

· Meat, particularly red meat like steak

· Salty snacks, like chips and salty peanuts

· Potatoes

· Bananas and other potassium rich foods

· Coffee or caffeine drinks

· Cereal

Avoid sweet foods and limit dairy

Step Three – Trying to Conceive

Once you have taken your vitamins, adjusted your diet and worked out how to predict your ovulation it is time to start trying for that baby.

Timing the Baby Dance (intercourse)

When it comes to gender selection, timing is of the up most importance.  This is why you need to have an accurate record of your previous monthly cycles, so that you know when you will ovulate, and can recognise when your fertile times are so that you can time the ‘baby dance’ just right.

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