Sex selection Before Pregnancy | How to get pregnant with a boy or girl | Gender Selection | Choosing the Sex of Your Child

Selecting the Sex of the Baby - Sex selection Before Pregnancy - How to get pregnant with a boy or girl - Gender Selection - Choosing the Sex of Your Child

Over decades, the parents were fascinated in determining the sex of their baby according to biological and inherited beliefs, which depend on the human needs. Sometimes a medical situation where there is a disease linked to either the male or female genes.

Since the eighties the researches are done in order to determine the gender of the baby, which is determined by the type of chromosome in that particular sperm (X-Chromosome) or (Y-Chromosome). At the same time the oocyte only contains X-Chromosome so when fertilization occurs between an x-sperm and an oocyte, the embryo will be a female (xx), while if a Y sperm meets the oocyte then the embryo will be a male (xy).

Greeks were convinced that the (y) sperm is located in the right testis and the x-sperm in the left testis, so Greek men tied their left testis to prevent female’s embryos, but the Indian man held his left testis tightly during intercourse for the same reason. At the same period of time, French men underwent left orchiectomy in order to prevent female embryos production entirely.

There were some beliefs that when a fat man marries a thin woman they would produce only females and vice versa. There were also some who believed that if they eat spices, meats or salted fish and testis of animals they were to produce male babies, while others thought that if they had the intercourse during the conjugal day they were to produce male, while during individual days they would produce females.

Here are some methods that can be used to increase the chance of having a male baby.

Following certain Diet to Select the Sex of the Baby

Rajan S. Joshi researches proved that the female diet affects the gender of the baby and this occurs due to its effect on the sperm receptors in the oocyte wall and via these receptors the sperm penetrates this wall and fertilization occurs.

The balance between sodium and potassium versus calcium and magnesium affects these receptors, which change the wall of the oocyte to favor the attraction of either a male or female sperm.

When there is a high sodium and potassium intake, and a low calcium and magnesium in the female’s diet, the oocyte wall will change to attract the (y-sperm) and exclude the (x-sperm) and at the end will produce a male baby.

And vice versa, when there is more calcium and magnesium in the blood and a low sodium and potassium that will attract the (x-sperm), and exclude the (y-sperm) and at the end produce a female baby.

In order to follow this method, the female should follow a special diet for at least 2 months.

Timing intercourse to Select the Sex of the Baby:

This method depends on the molecular Weight of the sperm; researchers found that the y-sperm has a low molecular weight, so it is faster in movement but lives shorter.

On the other hand, the x-sperm has a heavier weight then slower motion, but lives longer.

So, we can calculate the time of ovulation and determine the time of intercourse according to the desired sex. If intercourse occurs 12 hours prior to ovulation, a baby boy is favored but if it occurs several days before ovulation, it will favor a girl.

If you want a better result, you should combine this method with the diet described before, and also you should calculate the time of ovulation precisely, because it differs from one patient to another and from one month to the other in the same person.

Vaginal douches to Select the Sex of the Baby:

An acidic media in the vagina favors the x-sperm, while alkaline media favors the y-sperm. This increases the success rate of having a male baby by 5%, and it is done using vaginal douches that can be bought from the pharmacy.

‘How can the female follow the diet and maintain timing intercourse with the help of vaginal douches under medical supervision?’

The patient should follow the described diet for at least two months before stimulating the ovary, and before that we should complete these investigations:

1- Sodium and potassium level for those who desire a baby boy.

2- Blood calcium and magnesium level for those who desire a baby girl.

So, if the women want to achieve a pregnancy of a baby boy, she should have intercourse after ovulation immediately, and this is combined with alkaline vaginal douche ½ an hour prior to intercourse. But if she wants a baby girl, then intercourse should occur 24 hours prior to ovulation and this is combined with acidic vaginal douche ½ an hour prior to intercourse.

XY sperm separation and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) for Sex selection:

This is done after inducing the female’s ovary by medication to increase the number of follicles in order to increase the chances of pregnancy, then the semen is inseminated into the uterus after treatment and separation of the sample is done in the laboratory.

This method is not 100% accurate, so you can be pregnant with the undesired sex.

To increase the chances of pregnancy with the desired sex, the female should receive the appropriate diet; consider timing of ovulation, in addition to the IUI.

There are many ways to separate the sperm, some methods depend on the molecular weight of the sperm others on electronic activity, others by passing the sperm through albumin. But all these method are inaccurate.

Cytometry /sperm separation flow for Sex selection:

This method of sperm separation depends on the DNA content of the sperm and it is called Cytometry sperm separation flow. It depends on the fact that x-sperm contains 2.8% more DNA than the y-sperm, and accordingly using flow cytometer instruments, they can separate the x-sperm from the y-sperm, to confirm the separation they use FISH method, which gives the y-sperm the green color and the x-sperm the pink-red color. With this method, they can separate y-sperm with 73% accuracy, x- sperm in 88% accuracy.

Usually the semen contains 50% y-sperm and 50% x-sperm, but there are some exceptions.

This sample is used for IUI or IVF or ICSI with a success rate reaching 90%.

This method is only done in certain centers of the world.

Preimplantantion genetic diagnosis for Sex selection:

This method is 99%-100% accurate and before continuing with this method there is several points to consider:

1- The wife’s age.

2- How many children they have and their gender.

3- Medical health of the wife, and the ways of delivery.

4- If the couples can cope with a pregnancy of the undesired sex

This method includes the following steps:

First:

Ovulation induction using injections: During this time, the follicle size is measured till it reaches the appropriated size.

Second:

Pick up of the follicle via the vagina under general anesthesia, and then insemination of the oocyte by the sperm is done under the microscope.

(Some people might ask if it’s possible to separate the y-sperm from the x-sperm before doing insemination, in order to increase the number of the desired sex embryos, but researchers found no difference in the result.)

Third:

Embryos are transferred to the uterus after 3 days in the incubator when they reach the 6-8 cells stage. A cell from each embryo will be taken later on and a chromosomal analysis is conducted to determine the sex of the embryos.

Fourth:

The normal embryos having the desired sex are transferred to the uterus, sometimes we can’t transfer any embryos if they were abnormal or of the undesired sex.

Finally:

The patient should receive some medication and wait 2 weeks before she does the pregnancy test, this methods success rate is almost 100%, without any risk on the fetus regarding dysmorphology, but it is associated with lower pregnancy rate than other methods of IVF without determining the sex of the baby.

Chinese calendar for Sex selection:

This calendar is one of the first methods used to determine the sex of the baby. It dates back to 700 years ago.

Astronomers correlate the age of the fetus and mother age with water, earth, wood, fire, metal. This doesn't depend on any scientific bases, but this method made the chance of having a baby boy 60% (its usually 51%). i.e. there is 9% difference that we can’t ignore.

We attached this table below,

Across- month when the child was conceived

On a vertical- age of mother when she will give birth to the child

The success rate of each method is as the following:

Natural intercourse without following any method 51% baby boy, 49% baby girl

In some countries, sex selection via PGD is forbidden by the law. Unless it is linked to a disease connected to the sex of the baby.

Some question you may ask:

1- Is sex selection by any previously mentioned method affect the health of the baby? No.

2- Is any method associated with dysmorphology or abortion? No.

3- Is there a grantee for these methods? We can’t grantee these methods except what is previously mentioned success rate.

4- What is the privacy in doing these methods? We grantee 100% privacy.

5- When the mother can know the gender of the baby? At the 12-13 weeks of pregnancy through 4 dimension ultrasound.

Chromosomal Sex Determination Video

Dr Najeeb Layyous F.R.C.O.G

Consultant Obstetrician, Gynecologist and Infertility Specialist