Pink Or Blue? How To Plan Your Baby’s Gender

Mark Wealth

Joining the long list of sources of anxiety before and during childbirth is the couple’s anticipation of their baby’s gender. Will the baby be a boy or girl?

While some plan baby’s gender for sentimental or socio-cultural reasons which is either wanting to balance the gender of their offsprings or preferring one gender to the other, others do it for medical reasons – perhaps to prevent hereditary genetic diseases that are more likely to affect a particular gender than the other.

Here are a few known methods of planning your baby’s gender…

Sperm Sorting

This is where doctors try to separate male sperm cells from female sperm cells.

This process is illegal in the United Kingdom except for medical reasons but legal and expensive in other countries.

Basically, it involves adding fluorescent dye to the sperm sample and observing how the dye interacts with the sperm; male binds different from female.

Once sorted out, the mum is implanted with the chosen gender cell through Intrauterine Insemination (IUI).

This method is considered to be 92% effective for a baby girl and 82% for male. That means it’s not 100 sure.

READ ALSO: 4 Classic Tips To Conceiving A Baby Boy

Timing method

There are two theories to this method. The Shettles method and the Whelan method.

Shettles Method

This method is based on the idea that male sperm cells swim faster than female cells but don’t live as long.

To get a boy, have intercourse as close as 24 hours to or on the day you ovulate. To get a pretty baby damsel, get all romantic with your partner 2 to 4 days before your ovulation.

This method is 75% effective for girls and 80% effective for boys.

The Whelan Method

This method suggests you should have sex 4 to 6 days to your ovulation for a bouncing baby boy because male cells live longer than female sperm cells.

To get a girl, have sex 2 to 3 days before you ovulate.

Apart from these, there are other methods or theories that range from credible to outright superstitious and silly. Some include:

*Eat lots of meat, salty food, fish and certain veggies to conceive a male child but go for dairy products like yoghurt, milk & cheese as well as unsalted foods for a female child.

*Make love in the night for a male child, do it in the afternoon for a female child. (Why? Because the female lights up the man’s life? Sweet!)

*You’ll conceive a boy if your husband initiates lovemaking and a girl if you initiate it. (Seriously?)

*Have deep penetration like from behind (doggie style) for a boy and shallow penetration for girls. (Is this why they call guys ‘dog’? Like “I’m going to hang out with my dogs yo!”)

*You’ll get a boy if you reach orgasm before your partner, as this releases an alkaline fluid, thought to be more male-sperm friendly than the vagina’s natural acidity delay or gas. That supposedly makes the male cells die, leaving the girls to run the world.

*You’ll get a boy if your partner has high sperm count and a girl if it’s low. This is also from the idea that male sperm cells are faster but die quicker.

*You’ll get a boy if you make love on odd days of the month and girl on even days. Who has heard this before?

*You’ll get a girl if you put a wooden spoon under your bed and a pink ribbon under your pillow. (Whaat? And what do we do for a boy, silver spoons and soccer-boots shoelace?)

What do you think? Share your experience and opinions below.