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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it's more difficult/less common to conceive a girl?

137 replies

bmrising · 23/10/2023 20:56

I just found out today my second baby is a boy. Still over the moon of course, but have that feeling that one of each would have been lovely.

Lots of couples I know have boys and more than one at that. And they have gone on to try for another just to have a girl. There's not many people I know who have DD's. My DH is also 1 of 3 boys.

AIBU to think girls are in the minority?

OP posts:
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6
UndercoverCop · 23/10/2023 21:48

My dad has seven brothers and a sister, cousins on that side are really even split 6 boys 7 girls including me and DB.
My mum has 4 brothers and 2 sisters, my cousins on that side 4 of each plus me and DB.
My brother has two girls and I have a boy.
I can't get into the detail of my cousins' children there are just too many! It's fairly mixed though.

Anecdotally I do seem to have more friends who have two girls or two boys than one of each, but actually more of my friends have one DC than any more.

SpruceMoose · 23/10/2023 21:50

My son has just started Reception there are soooo many girls compared to boys. I'm talking out of 2 classes of around 25 kids in each, there's about 7 boys in each class. Been the same every group I've taken him since he was a baby, all girls and hardly any boys. My second child is also a boy😂

TeeedleDum · 23/10/2023 21:51

I know 10 couples with babies born this year and 8 were boys and 2 were girls but I know it's a 50/50 chance and must even out across the population. I was sure I'd have a girl as we already knew so many couples with boys but we had a boy too 😊

Changednamesforthis22 · 23/10/2023 21:52

I don't know if this is true, can't remember where I got it from and probably rubbish. But I've heard/read that sperm to make girl babies can live longer in the vagina than sperm which will make boy babies, so if you want a girl you could have sex a few days before ovulation and then all the boy sperms would have died off for when ovulation happens.
Again, I'm aware that might be rubbish. I have one child, a son who was not planned🤣

Banana34 · 23/10/2023 21:54

I’m 1 of 3 - all girls. I’ve got two girls…

Ashtara10 · 23/10/2023 21:56

I don't think so?

I have one boy and then 3 girls. I'm one of 4 girls and I have 5 nieces and 3 nephews

HumphreysCorner · 23/10/2023 21:56

I had 2 girls then a boy with 2 miscarriages between.

Fawbs89 · 23/10/2023 21:58

My mum would disagree I'm one of 4 girls. My sister now has 3 girls...I think it runs in the family!

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 23/10/2023 21:59

I know the statistics are there etc, just in my circle and people I know don't seem to conceive girls!

So what you reckon about some people you know trumps whole-world population statistics? Yep, makes total sense Hmm

queensonia · 23/10/2023 22:02

there was a thing on Radio 4 recently about why more boys were born right after the war. Apparently if you have sex more frequently so that you’re likely to get pregnant earlier in your cycle the hormones at that time are more conducive to producing boys. I’m not remembering it very well, but search for it on the iplayer

LemonLight · 23/10/2023 22:07

Everyone I know has had girls, and everyone in my family has had girls. Funny how chance works out isn't it! Eventually there'll be a boy but not today. Wondering if when my little sister starts having children she'll have the first boy in our family for 70 years, you just never know though. Her husband is one of 4 boys and 1 girl.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 23/10/2023 22:10

I have fifteen cousins. Fourteen are female, one is male. All of their offspring, bar one, are male.

Ibizafun · 23/10/2023 22:11

I just want to say op.. I was also fixated on one of each. What actually happened was I did get one of each.. and they hated each other as children and young adults! My dd is like my ex and nothing like me.

What I'm trying to say is that once you have them, you begin to realise it's all about their personalities not their sex.

HipTeens · 23/10/2023 22:13

Our nct group of 7 women has seen 12 boys and two girls. Nobody has one of each.

TheBirdintheCave · 23/10/2023 22:14

Changednamesforthis22 · 23/10/2023 21:52

I don't know if this is true, can't remember where I got it from and probably rubbish. But I've heard/read that sperm to make girl babies can live longer in the vagina than sperm which will make boy babies, so if you want a girl you could have sex a few days before ovulation and then all the boy sperms would have died off for when ovulation happens.
Again, I'm aware that might be rubbish. I have one child, a son who was not planned🤣

Tis indeed rubbish I'm afraid!

KnittedCardi · 23/10/2023 22:16

We've ended up with a generation of girls on both sides. I have three brothers, those brothers had equal numbers of buys and girls, but those children have all had girls. DH had two sisters, we and them have had all girls. The girls who have children so far, all have girls. Both sides of the family name have therefore died out.

Oh, and my mother had a sister and a brother, but he also had girls, so that name has gone too. Quite sad.

LimePi · 23/10/2023 22:16

I got a second girl and thought the opposite 🤣
(totally in love with her though and can’t imagine not having her!!!!)

BarbaraofSeville · 23/10/2023 22:16

bmrising · 23/10/2023 21:00

I know the statistics are there etc, just in my circle and people I know don't seem to conceive girls! I know lots who have more than one DS

Because the people you know aren't representative of the population as a whole. The sample size is too small.

You need to look at thousands of families. Maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands before the male/female split will be roughly even with only a small statistical uncertainty.

You could demonstrate this to yourself by tossing a coin multiple times. Any snapshot of a few tosses will contain far more heads than tails or vice versa.

SamAndEIIa · 23/10/2023 22:20

Changednamesforthis22 · 23/10/2023 21:52

I don't know if this is true, can't remember where I got it from and probably rubbish. But I've heard/read that sperm to make girl babies can live longer in the vagina than sperm which will make boy babies, so if you want a girl you could have sex a few days before ovulation and then all the boy sperms would have died off for when ovulation happens.
Again, I'm aware that might be rubbish. I have one child, a son who was not planned🤣

I think it’s more to do with male sperm cells being slightly faster, but female sperm cells having more longevity.

I know the closer to ovulation you have sex, the more likely you are to conceive a boy, whereas earlier sex is more likely to conceive a girl.

Saying that, I conceived my son on a month I only had sex 6 days before ovulation, and I’m certain of those dates being accurate. So it’s definitely not an exact science.

Mydogmybestfriend · 23/10/2023 22:24

No because if that was the case Henry 8th wouldn't have divorced/killed his wives for not producing a boy (the one boy died yes I know)

Cm078 · 23/10/2023 22:26

My side of the family are all girls. 5 nieces, and i have the only boy. I am now pregnant with a girl. I expect he will be the only boy on my side. On my DP side there are 3 boys and 4 girls. All depends on who you know I guess. My nan (dads mum) had 8 boys, 2 girls.

LakeTiticaca · 23/10/2023 22:30

Male sperms swim faster but female sperm survive longer so it's all about the timing (allegedly)
My mum and her mum had all female siblings so when my mum had my older brother, first boy in a couple of generations, she was over the moon
And didn't we bloody know it for the next 50 years 😉😡

Whyisitsosohard · 23/10/2023 22:30

All relative. In my mother's group there's 2 girls and 10 boys. All born within weeks of each other in the same postcode.

Didimum · 23/10/2023 22:33

In my ‘baby group’ back when my twins were newborns, there were 27 of us and only 3 boys born. It was crazy. I also have the first boy in my family immediate family - my dad had 4 sisters, my parents and 3 girls and my sisters have only girls.

Mavissdaviss · 23/10/2023 22:36

Congratulations OP! We kept churning out girls and are done with babies now so no hope of a boy. It’s fine to feel a little disappointed, doesn’t change how much you will love him.

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