How To Get Pregnant By Timing Intercourse For Gender Selection

Trying to influence the sex of your baby has been something couples have done for generations upon generations. A popular method for gender selection, the Shettles Method, was developed by Landrum B. Shettles in the 1960s and outlined in his book How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby.

Most methods for gender selection during conception rely on variations in the timing of intercourse, sexual position, and female orgasm. There are no guarantees and only observational data that suggest things you can do to increase your chances of one gender type over another.

Let us reiterate, there are no guarantees. You can read through the following sugges- tions for trying to conceive one either a boy or a girl and judge for yourself.

KEY INSIGHTS FOR HAVING A BOY:

Both the Shettles Method and Toni Weschler, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, make the following suggestions for trying to have a boy:

• Male sperm tend to be faster, so having sex closer to the day of ovulation increases the probability that one of the faster male sperm reaches the egg before the heavier and slower female sperm.
• Artificial Insemination favors having a boy because the procedure is done closer to ovulation
• Younger men and women seem more likely to have male babies. The hypothesis here is that younger couples have higher sperm counts and favorable cervical fluid which is an advantage to the male sperm
• Based on fertility awareness practices, intercourse should be timed for the peak day and day after to increase the chances of having a boy.
• If you are using ovulation tests, you should test two times a day and have sex 12 to 24 hours after an LH surge

KEY INSIGHTS FOR HAVING A GIRL:

Weschler adds these suggestions to in- crease your chances of having a girl:

• Low sperm count tends to favor the female sperm because they tend to be heartier.
• Men exposed to hazardous chemicals, unhealthy environments, or other activities that cause the testicles to overheat are more likely to have girls. Again, the reason is believed to be that the female sperm are heartier and survive some of the activities that destroy the male sperm.
• Where the artificial insemination procedure favors boys, the in vitro fertilization procedure favors girls. The hypothesis behind this observation is again related to the idea of the female sperm being heartier and surviving the stress of the IVF extraction and procedure.
• Based on fertility awareness practices, intercourse should be timed 2 to 4 days before your Peak Day. The female sperm are the ones more likely to live 3 to 5 days giving you a better chance of having a girl.

As a reminder, there are no guarantees no matter what you try. In fact, scientific studies have failed to show a correlation with these techniques and the resulting gen- der of the baby. With that in mind, you may want to ask yourself which do you want more?—a boy? a girl? Or is it more important to have a baby no matter the sex?

If you are focused on having either a girl or a boy, you are limiting your conception efforts and therefore significantly lowering your chance of conception each month. That is an important factor you should consider before trying to influence the sex of your baby with no guarantee of success.