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Conception

When's the best time to get pregnant? Use our interactive ovulation calculator to work out when you're most fertile and most likely to conceive.

Original poster

Do you believe in the baby dust/shettles method to conceive a boy or girl?

34 replies

Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 19:56

We already have a little boy and are now ready to try for baby #2. Ideally we hope to have three children so I would be delighted with a boy or girl this time but I would (in theory) like to experience both if I was lucky enough to have another so it would be nice to have a girl now then leave the last one up to fate.

I’ve been loosely following the babydust method and ‘trying’ 2 days before ovulation with only one attempt. It says boy’s are conceived closer to/on ovulation day so you should go no closer than 2 days out for a girl. This could be a load of nonsense and I’ve seen so many mixed reviews on it. I’m aware this could be lowering our chances of conceiving though and we’re on cycle #3 so far. Should I just forget this method and do it every other day or is there any truth to it do you think?

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Grinchinlaws · 10/01/2024 13:05

It’s a load of rubbish. I have fertility issues so ovulation was triggered meaning I timed sex exactly on day before and day of ovulation and it resulted in 2 girls.

Outliers · 09/01/2024 23:40

DTD bang on ovulation with first child, came out a girl.

If you a flip a coin wherever it lands is the same likelihood of the method working.

Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 09/01/2024 23:34

Just in case anyone else sees this old thread - I’ve just read back what I was originally trying. I got a negative 3 months in a row doing that so decided on the 4th attempt to still leave it 2 days before ovulation but to try a few days in a row prior to this. I thought if the male sperm was going to die off anyway in the 2 days then it wouldn’t harm anything to have a couple of extra goes (The baby dust method said not to do this I’m sure because it altered the PH environment). Did it anyway, got pregnant and sure enough had a girl 😊 My friend mentioned on the month she was successful (just in getting pregnant) they only tried once 3 days before ovulation. She also had a girl. Hardly conclusive evidence but it worked for me and if I ever do go on to have a third I’m not going to do any swaying and would just have a surprise when baby is born (for the first time) so it has worked out perfect 😊

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Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 09/01/2024 23:28

Emzi1992 · 09/01/2024 20:41

How did things work out OP?

My little girl is sleeping beside me 😊 it works! (Or does for me anyway) 😂

OP posts:
Emzi1992 · 09/01/2024 20:41

How did things work out OP?

CakeBox · 24/10/2022 23:31

It's exactly the same as flipping a coin but standing on one leg hoping for a tails.

If it lands on tails do you really believe its because you stood on one leg? Or is it just tails because half the time it's going to be tails?

CakeBox · 24/10/2022 23:21

Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 22:42

@SaulHudsonDavidJones oh that’s interesting, people will say it’s just chance but it does seem to work for a lot of people 🤔

How does it work when there's only 2 outcomes 😂

It's going to 'work' half the time! 😂😂😂

Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 22:44

@middleofthelittle I had no idea boys were more likely to be miscarried!

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Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 22:42

@SaulHudsonDavidJones oh that’s interesting, people will say it’s just chance but it does seem to work for a lot of people 🤔

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DramaAlpaca · 24/10/2022 22:41

Well, I can tell you that I have three sons, all conceived on or about ovulation day.

I still don't believe in the Shettles method, it was pure chance.

CakeBox · 24/10/2022 22:32

ChagSameachDoreen · 24/10/2022 22:25

It worked for me both times!

Wanted a girl so we had sex 5 days before ovulation.

Wanted a boy next time round, so we did it the day before ovulation.

You have absolutely no way of know if it worked for you. You could have never heard of the method and had the same outcome. There's no proof or correlation between when you had sex and your babies sex. It's a 50/50 chance.

It's called confirmation bias.

It was chance that you got the result you hoped for so now you 'believe'

ChagSameachDoreen · 24/10/2022 22:25

It worked for me both times!

Wanted a girl so we had sex 5 days before ovulation.

Wanted a boy next time round, so we did it the day before ovulation.

middleofthelittle · 24/10/2022 21:09

Think the stats are 57% ish for male and 43% female but males are more likely to be miscarried.
Either way you can't choose by timing sex

SaulHudsonDavidJones · 24/10/2022 20:49

Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 20:10

@Fleur405 the theory is that the male sperm are faster but die off quicker so if you go a few days before then they will no longer be viable and the female sperm will be there waiting when the egg is released. There’s a book on it and a lot of studies to back aspects of it up but also a lot of people saying the opposite so it’s hard to know what to think. I think while we’re still not in a massive rush we’ll keep trying it for a month or two longer

We tried this after having 2 boys. We absolutely would have been happy with either boy or girl but thought we'd see if the theory worked....and we had a girl. With both boys we DTD right on ovulation and with our girl it was about 3 days before. Who knows if there's any scientific basis 🤷🏻‍♀️

PinkButtercups · 24/10/2022 20:44

@canyoutoleratethis exactly that.

twinkleteas · 24/10/2022 20:42

If you don't care how long it takes to get pregnant and you don't care with sex the baby is then there's no harm at all spending a few months only having sex s few days before ovulation day to see if it results in a girl. It's obviously not a foolproof method but if it slightly increases your chances of an x sperm getting to the egg then why not. DD was conceived similarly to a PP by DTD immediately after a period, outside the alleged fertile window so who knows

Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 20:32

@1994girl yip as stated above 😊

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1994girl · 24/10/2022 20:31

Absolute nonsense. Be grateful with whatever sex you get.

canyoutoleratethis · 24/10/2022 20:31

Roseandrose20 · 24/10/2022 20:10

I tried to conceive a girl and it worked. Look at Luisa Zissman blog on it too

No, you had a 50% chance of having a girl, and you had one. There was no method. You just won the odds (which isn't hard - it's literally 50/50), and you are using that to reinforce your misguided belief that some random woman in the internet determined the sex of your child.

OP, if you want to keep reducing your overall chance of conceiving every month by limiting sex, then crack on, but it seems rather foolish to me.

babyyodaxmas · 24/10/2022 20:30

We used the shettle methods as did my BFF we both got what we hoped for.

PurBal · 24/10/2022 20:11

DS was conceived by DTD 5-6 days prior to ovulation. Pretty sure he should be a girl based on that theory. Currently pregnant with DC2 conceived on ovulation day, I’ll let you know.

Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 20:11

@Roseandrose20 ohhh, heading there as we speak! Thanks

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Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 20:10

@Fleur405 the theory is that the male sperm are faster but die off quicker so if you go a few days before then they will no longer be viable and the female sperm will be there waiting when the egg is released. There’s a book on it and a lot of studies to back aspects of it up but also a lot of people saying the opposite so it’s hard to know what to think. I think while we’re still not in a massive rush we’ll keep trying it for a month or two longer

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Roseandrose20 · 24/10/2022 20:10

I tried to conceive a girl and it worked. Look at Luisa Zissman blog on it too

Original poster
Sparklythings1 · 24/10/2022 20:08

@bumpertobumper interesting! 😂 it probably is just 50/50 and proves itself in that people want it to be true then it is. I feel like there’s no harm in giving it a shot though if I’m not getting majorly stressed about TTC yet anyway

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