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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

Ways to try to conceive a girl???

38 replies

deaconblue · 04/02/2007 19:53

Our ds is wonderful, but we really would like a daughter to complete the family. Anyone got any suggestions for trying to conceive a girl that they credit for their daughter/s???

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 04/02/2007 19:54

"complete the family"?

Oh, parp.

Sorry.

sasa15 · 04/02/2007 19:56

there is some theory about male sperm and
female sperm...

I don't remember.......
one last longer then another...

so make in love 3 days before ovulation date
if you want a female.......

and make in love the same day of ovulation
if you want a male.....

need to be confirm....

I 'm not sure .........

LIZS · 04/02/2007 20:11

have a friend who followed sasa's theory but then you have a 50:50 chance anyway so doubt it proves anything ! Agree with hunker tbh

Greensleeves · 04/02/2007 20:12

Now, Hunker

imnot27 · 04/02/2007 20:13

Yes, have read the same.... Female sperm last 3 days, but swim very slowly. Cos what's the rush? Blokey sperm swim VERY FAST, very competitive, then DIE very quickly, 12 hours I think.
So, if the egg is already there, blokes get to it first. If the sperm is there waiting for a couple of days, all the blokes have burnt out, whilst the ladies are just strolling on in!
I know one couple who reckon this worked for them, but v hard to be sure.

Original poster
deaconblue · 04/02/2007 20:22

do apologise for dodgy phrasing. We would just like a girl and a boy, can't see anything wrong with that. If we end up with two boys I'll still be a very happy and very lucky woman. Had read about trying before ovulation for a girl, might give that a go.

OP posts:
donnie · 04/02/2007 20:29

I did read somewhere that it all depends on if the woman has a orgasm or not but |I don't see how that could have any bearing on the gender.

charlieq · 04/02/2007 20:31

a word of warning...
I tried to give things an even chance last time (just cos we only have sex about once a month anyway (sad overworked middle classers) and pretty much always on the day I'm ovulating , and I know that usually means boy), didn't mind another boy at all but didn't want to be SURE I was having one, iykwim (you may not).

anyway we tried for about 4 months. First 3 months, stopped having sex 1/2 days before ovulation and nothing happened. 4th month, did it on the day and bang. And we are expecting DS2 in April.

I reckon you have what you're meant to have. And who knows there may be a biological predisposition involved with some people (DH now thinks he doesn't have long lived girl sperm ).

Fillyjonk · 04/02/2007 20:33

hmm

am trying to think of the science behind this

(wont somebody...please...think of the science...)

Original poster
deaconblue · 04/02/2007 20:36

I think you might be right charlieq. We did the same when trying to conceive ds. We "tried" for a girl for 2 months, no luck, then I was just so desperate for a baby we carried onto the day of ovulation and bob's your uncle. As I say if I'm meant to have another son I'd be delighted, we just fancy spending a few months seeing if we can up the chances of having a girl.

OP posts:
contentmum · 04/02/2007 20:39

I have heard the same theory about the differences between the boys and the girls.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but if this were true my DD is a boy and my DS is a girl.
Also heard something about alkaline and acidic conditions in the woman but have no idea what the theory is.
There's a 50:50 chance anyway it'll be a girl.
I had always seen myself with 2 girls and my son was a bit of a shock but I love him to bits and wouldn't change a thing - I was just thankful to have two healthy babies.

MrsBadger · 04/02/2007 20:41

I think there is some evidence that men who work away from home for long periods (deep-sea divers, oil riggers, archaeologists out on digs abroad etc) tend to father more girls - presumably because they're less likely to have sex on the very day of ovulation hence leave those long-lived female sperm hanging around till she does .

Can't find any evidence to back this up but will keep looking...

charlieq · 04/02/2007 20:43

mm I dunno fillyjonk but isn't it biologists who make the claim that male sperm swim faster and die sooner?

(btw I am a gender studies student and my supervisor scoffs at this, says it's basically applying stereotypes to sperm! patient, forebearing female sperm vs. speedy self-destructive male, etc!! so who knows)

shoppingbags my irrational intuition tells me I just wasn't going to conceive a girl- DS1 was conceived in exactly the same way, right on the day (I know cos I always have the pain on 1 side).
There is also some interesting pseudoscience that says if you're a particularly neurotic or dominant woman (DH says I am both heh heh) you are more likely to have a boy!!

At any rate, 2 boys is a gift in itself as you say.... And I feel now, having given things an even chance, that it is definitely 'meant to be' iyswim.

preggerspoppet · 04/02/2007 20:44

I think it's one of the very few things in life that really can't be controlled (well I know it can in a petri dish, but thats another thread...)

I happen to think there is a very good reason for this.

When my 2nd baby was due I was slightly worried that I would be dissapointed to have another boy, but the moment he was in my arms that feeling was long gone, and now pregnant with my third I am really relaxed to know that I will be over-the-moon with whatever comes.

Having said all that, there is a book I once heard of called 'how to concieve a girl/boy', but there was some talk of douching with vinegar so I steered clear!

good luck!

Fillyjonk · 05/02/2007 09:24

now, charlieq

you are surely not going to suggest that societal hegemony does not taint the world of biology.

I have studied psychology and am part way through a chemistry degree. I have done some biology along the way too.

I give you

Sociobiology
IQ testing
The whole male brains/female brains debate
oh god and loads more stuff really.

There are two good books for this. One is "not in our genes" by stephen rose

Another I cannot for the life of me remember the name, but if you are anywhere near Edinburgh Uni George Square library I can tell you which shelf it was on. It bascially goes through loads of common ideas in biology and analyses them for gender bias.

Oh and theres another...the dialectical biologist, i think-lewontin.

Biologists are, IMO, especially prone to introducing societal bias into their studies because they are often being called upon to prove our prejudices.

aaargh want to write more but must go and walk kids

am at gender studies degree though

Fillyjonk · 05/02/2007 09:25

am wondering now if the book might be by hillary rose, stephen rose's wife...

will ponder and perhaps google

hunkermunker · 05/02/2007 09:27

Neurotic? Dominant?

I can't see how any of you would think I'm either of those and I must insist quite strongly that you don't ever speak of me in those terms again.

FioFio · 05/02/2007 09:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

AllBuggiedOut · 05/02/2007 09:30

Apparently you are more likely to have a girl as the mother gets older - because women are more likely to successfully carry a female pregnancy than a male one as we age.

ejt1764 · 05/02/2007 09:35

Hunker - for the aforementioned neurotic and dominant, why not substitute caring and strong?

FWIW, apparently veggies are more likely to have girls ... as are couple where the man is a pilot or anaesthetist - there are other jobs too, but I can't remember them right now ...

me? I've got a ds, and am pg again, and think it's probably another - ds's family is very male dominated!

ejt

charlieq · 05/02/2007 11:57

oh god no fillyjonk that is not what I was saying! (whatever you think it was??) My brain is addled by late pregnancy so who knows what is coming across...

I will happily admit that I know f-all about actual biology. My gender stds degree is an MA, i.e. arts no science (They do exist but there aren't many, mine was at Birkbeck in London). So I can blether on for a while about the social construction of gender. But the 'actual' differences at the heart of it, these are things I have only been able to 'observe'/conjecture through limited experience of DS and his friends. I am still not utterly convinced by the sociobiological arguments I've heard about brain difference because I think, from my position of relative ignorance, that they (perhaps) don't take account of the sheer power of culture to determine behaviour. My innate feeling is that, whatever differences there are, we don't really have a way of pinpointing them that isn't filtered through our innate prejudices and assumptions about male behaviour.

For instance the sheer number of times my DS's behaviour, such as running away from me in a playground as fast as possible, has been greeted by complete strangers with 'well, he's a real BOY, isn't he?' On at least two occasions I have noticed said strangers totally ignoring their own pink-clad dd in the background throttling another child, or swinging with incredible athleticism from a climbing frame, none of which can be noticed presumably because it doesn't prove that princess is a real GIRL.

Well as I age all I really know is that I don't really understand anything, but I am suspicious of a lot of things...

Judy1234 · 05/02/2007 12:48

Anyone can. You just pay, fly abroad and implant a female embryo only. Easy. 100% certain too.

If you don't want to pay then not sure. Various methods tried. After 2 daughters I followed a boy diet which seemed to work but 50% chance anyway so who knows?

Duty of all mumsnetters to have girls as there is a massive shortage in India and China you need to counteract.

belgo · 05/02/2007 12:50

onteresting point Xenia about counteracting the preference for boys in some cultures.

My mum told me to put either bicarbonate of soa or vinegar in my bath, one is for a boy, one is for a girl, can't remember which is which, but she swears by it, and I'm the result

belgo · 05/02/2007 12:52

should read soda.

I ignored my mother's advice about trying for a boy, and now we have two wonderful girls.

bambi06 · 05/02/2007 13:09

i used persona for both my two childrens and planned a boy first[ sex on day of ovulation] and girl second[sex 3 days prior to ovulation] and it worked with both ..im pregnant now and im hoping its a girl as i thnk 99.9% when it was conceived..day 9 and ovulated day12..so lets see if i`m third time lucky?