Boy or Girl? Mother Can Control the Outcome

Greetings, ATS!

Found this interesting article
and thought I'd share.

It seems, at least among certain animals, that the mother can influence the sex of her offspring.

“It seems likely that when there are large and predictable costs associated with producing and/or rearing either sons or daughters in a given environment, females should bias offspring sex ratios to produce the sex that will perform best in the given environment,” co-author Sarah Pryke told Discovery News.

“Altering offspring sex ratios in response to the quality of the local environment is likely to be highly advantageous to any species, as it should allow mothers to best match the phenotype of their offspring to the prevailing condition, and thus maximize their own fitness,” added Pryke, a researcher in Australian National University’s Research School of Biology.

The studies were conducted on birds, and researchers discovered that when diet was poor, more male birds were hatched than females. Apparently, male birds are better able to survive nutritional deficiencies.

Of course, this study is a long way off from making the same claim about human mothers. But I wonder. I've seen articles about how more males are born during war time than females. I don't know if that's factual, and I can't find the article at present to share with you, but it is interesting.

What do you think, ATS?

I'm by no means an expert..but, supposedly there are methods to up a womans chances for girls/boys/twins. I used the chinese calendar for my two girls and now working on third girl. Everyone I know that uses this method along with shettles methods seem to get the sex they want. If you haven't heard of them you can look up ovulation calculators that will determine when you should have sex for girl or boy. To produce a girl start with the chinese calender for the best month to try for the desired sex..then for say a girl you are supposed to have sex a week prior to ovulation up until 2 days before ovulation. A woman wanting boy should start having sex on the day of ovulation and for two days after ovulation.

To help produce natural multiples a woman is suppose to up her folic acid over 800 mcg/day for 2 months or more before TTC. Also consuming yams, sweet potatoes and carrots, along with upping dairy intake and gaining weight over 20lbs also ups a woman's chances for multiples.

Originally posted by Neopan100
I'm by no means an expert..but, supposedly there are methods to up a womans chances for girls/boys/twins. I used the chinese calendar for my two girls and now working on third girl. Everyone I know that uses this method along with shettles methods seem to get the sex they want. If you haven't heard of them you can look up ovulation calculators that will determine when you should have sex for girl or boy. To produce a girl start with the chinese calender for the best month to try for the desired sex..then for say a girl you are supposed to have sex a week prior to ovulation up until 2 days before ovulation. A woman wanting boy should start having sex on the day of ovulation and for two days after ovulation.

To help produce natural multiples a woman is suppose to up her folic acid over 800 mcg/day for 2 months or more before TTC. Also consuming yams, sweet potatoes and carrots, along with upping dairy intake and gaining weight over 20lbs also ups a woman's chances for multiples.

edit on 1-8-2012 by Neopan100 because: (no reason given)

Wow, any special tips on getting pregnant period?

It seems like I also heard about more boys being born during war times. I'll try to find the article as well.

I think this is pretty cool if true. Though, I have known many women who want a girl, think girl the whole pregnancy, swear they are having a girl, and they end up having a boy. And vice versa. So, I guess who knows?

Edit: Here is an article about the war time boys. Link is from Popular Science.
Interesting idea:

"The family tree study showed that whether you're likely to have a boy or a girl is inherited,” says Gellatly. “We now know that men are more likely to have sons if they have more brothers but are more likely to have daughters if they have more sisters.” Women, however, did not have the same tendency.

This seems to be opposite in my family, actually. We seem to have a generation of men, who had a generation of almost all girls, and now those girls are having all boys.

reply to post by tport17


Start tracking your ovulation very closely. If you don't know (cant feel) yourself ovulating, I recommend buying those kits. Track for two or three months and then try having sex everyday or at least every other day for the entire time after your period. Some women ovulate the day after their period so if you don't know then just do it often.

Another tip -- Lay still and on your back for at least 15 -20 mins after intercourse. Laying still doesn't allow the sperm to leak out. God that was totally TMI

Originally posted by Neopan100
reply to post by tport17

 

Start tracking your ovulation very closely. If you don't know (cant feel) yourself ovulating, I recommend buying those kits. Track for two or three months and then try having sex everyday or at least every other day for the entire time after your period. Some women ovulate the day after their period so if you don't know then just do it often.

Another tip -- Lay still and on your back for at least 15 -20 mins after intercourse. Laying still doesn't allow the sperm to leak out. God that was totally TMI

Thanks, already done and done! I was hoping for some super special trick like the ones you listed for gender.

But, still good to know the gender thing in case I ever do get pregnant.

I think its up to Men to determine if its a male or not because of the Y chromosome they carry. Women will have default female babies. However, i do believe environmental factors may play a role but they have to be extreme.

I will buy that it's possible that environmental factors can influence the gender of offspring. If this is the case, though, I think we need to take a look at the fathers rather than the mothers since they, you know, are the ones with both X and Y and ultimately determine the sex.

reply to post by luciddream


They don't have to be extreme. Changing the pH in a woman's vagina determines which of those sperm get through easier. At different times of month a woman's pH can either be very alkaline or very acidic. Also if a woman has an orgasm during sex will change the pH allowing more of the slower male sperm through..

Originally posted by Neopan100
reply to post by luciddream

 

They don't have to be extreme. Changing the pH in a woman's vagina determines which of those sperm get through easier. At different times of month a woman's pH can either be very alkaline or very acidic. Also if a woman has an orgasm during sex will change the pH allowing more of the slower male sperm through..

That is interesting, but i thought Motility between different sperm was just a theory, they could not agree 100% male travel faster and female travel slower.

reply to post by luciddream


Like I said I'm no expert..this is just the stuff I have come across while TTC. We wanted to continue having girls babies after the first because..well..the fact that we already have "stuff" for girl babies. I kept all the clothes/toys/etc from the first..when we had our second girl we didn't have to buy anything..it was so easy and we both felt good about just using what we had..no pressure or extra expense. In the end though it's still 50/50 I guess. We are trying for one more girl..and that will be the end. I'm getting too old and the risk greatly increase with each year that goes by We used all of the above methods this time so we'll see if it works out again in our favor.

Male sperm swim faster, so if you want a boy, then sex sooner rather than later during ovulation. This is assuming the male partner has male sperm. Some men consistently produce girls, and one of the previous posters is correct when they said, in human babies the male determines the sex.

Originally posted by Neopan100
I'm by no means an expert..but, supposedly there are methods to up a womans chances for girls/boys/twins. I used the chinese calendar for my two girls and now working on third girl. Everyone I know that uses this method along with shettles methods seem to get the sex they want. If you haven't heard of them you can look up ovulation calculators that will determine when you should have sex for girl or boy. To produce a girl start with the chinese calender for the best month to try for the desired sex..then for say a girl you are supposed to have sex a week prior to ovulation up until 2 days before ovulation. A woman wanting boy should start having sex on the day of ovulation and for two days after ovulation.

To help produce natural multiples a woman is suppose to up her folic acid over 800 mcg/day for 2 months or more before TTC. Also consuming yams, sweet potatoes and carrots, along with upping dairy intake and gaining weight over 20lbs also ups a woman's chances for multiples.

edit on 1-8-2012 by Neopan100 because: (no reason given)

What do you do for twins..? Thats what I'm shooting for

If a person has followed their system, with ovulation predicting testers, for some time, and uses the rhythm method, then for the average person who has a relative clockwork system (note some women ovulate twice, and some ovulate twice at odd times, and in some ways Higher Ups/Family above does have the last word).

But the closest you can get to the ovulation, the greater the chance, something like over 80% of a boy. Roughly same day as the ovulation is usually a boy, (meaning you would have used a condom and barrier right up until that day and within so many hours). The day before is 50/50. Two days before, is an 80% girl.

Male sperms are fragile, they don't live long, but they swim fast.