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Original poster

so, eating cereal for breakfast makes you more likely to conceive a boy?

42 replies

CatIsSleepy · 23/04/2008 10:44

heard it on the radio this morning and have to say my gut reaction was 'bollocks'

here for what the times has to say about it

ok maybe it's not complete bollocks but still

am slightly worried that women who are trying to conceive girls are going to half-starve themselves thinking this will help in some way

actually I think 'trying' to conceive a baby of either sex is a bit daft

but that's another subject

OP posts:
FluffyMummy123 · 23/04/2008 10:46

Message withdrawn

SoupKitchen · 23/04/2008 10:47

And obviously posh spice consumed a huge amount of calories when she conceived her boys.
I hope she doesn't read this now she may be trying for a girl!!

strange, i thought it was due to the XY chromozone from the man

ROSEgarden · 23/04/2008 10:48

Bollocks..i ate cereal allthe way through my PG in fact it was all i could keep down and i had a dd!..incidentally dd is a huge cereal eater now..esp branflakes which was my crving/safe food

nowwearefour · 23/04/2008 10:48

i have a healthy relatively high cal diet and have had cereal every day of my life for at least 25 years. i have two girls!

ROSEgarden · 23/04/2008 10:48

LOL only read title didnt realise everyone would use same phrase BOLLOCKS LOL

Dragonbutter · 23/04/2008 10:48

I eat cereal and I have two boys.

FluffyMummy123 · 23/04/2008 10:49

Message withdrawn

Original poster
CatIsSleepy · 23/04/2008 10:49

the bit I heard on the radio sounded completely counter-intuitive
the woman they were interviewing said that there were more girls being born in the west and this may be to do with calorie intake
but everything you hear about calorie-intake and the west suggests the complete opposite ie we are complete lard-arses stuffing our faces the whole time
so by that logic we should all be conceiving boys

OP posts:
FAQ · 23/04/2008 10:49

I rarely eat breakfast, usually if I do it's when I'm staying away from home and have a cooked breakfast (no cereal) and have 3 DS's.....

Fennel · 23/04/2008 10:49

I eat LOTS of calories including cereal, though not every day, and I have 3 girls. But I don't eat bananas.

Original poster
CatIsSleepy · 23/04/2008 10:51

well I never eat bananas for breakfast (bleurrrgh at the very idea) and I have a girl

AHA! it does make sense after all

OP posts:
CaptainKarvol · 23/04/2008 10:52

"All of the women were pregnant but were unaware of the gender of their foetus when they were asked to supply details of what they ate in the weeks before and after conception. " Retrospective food diaries Quite a big difference between 'more boys born to women who eat cereals' and 'more boys born to the type of women who are keen to tell you that they are well behaved and always eat a healthy breakfast'... Have an urge to go and read the research now, anyone know where it was published?

ButterflyMcQueen · 23/04/2008 10:53

never eaten cereal never

got 4 boys!

Original poster
CatIsSleepy · 23/04/2008 10:54

published in the snappy-sounding Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

OP posts:
Psychomum5 · 23/04/2008 10:55

so how would it stand of you have boy/girl twins????

MrsBadger · 23/04/2008 10:58

must read the science behind this - will report back once I have

there is a little bit of evolutionary basis for this but I'd have thought you have to be really starving to make a diff

Psychomum5 · 23/04/2008 10:58

and FWIW......I never eat breakfast and have 3 girls and then 2 boys.....

my only differnce in diet between the girls and boys is that I use to hate coffee.......discovered (and no idea how now) that I liked it and then feel for my first boy and craved the stuff.

maybe tho somehow my body knew I was to be having sons soon and sent me the 'liking coffee tastebuds' to help me cope

fedupandisolated · 23/04/2008 11:01

Am I being a bit thick here? Surely the man determines the sex of the baby so How on earth can it make a difference with what the mother eats?

MrsBadger · 23/04/2008 11:01

ah no

depends on the state of, among other things, your cervical mucus, pH of uterus etc whether it favours X or Y sperm.

Psychomum5 · 23/04/2008 11:03

maybe they should study what the men eat for breakfast then

PinkTulips · 23/04/2008 11:09

possibly the men in the relationships are on a similar diet and produce more Y sperm if on a high calorie diet? would explain beckhams as he must eat well as an 'athlete'

just a thought.......

Beelliesebub · 23/04/2008 11:10

I never eat breakfast and I've got four boys.... In fact with ds1 all I could keep down was chicken soup and cheese and onion crisps...

Original poster
CatIsSleepy · 23/04/2008 11:16

I think it's really the breakfast cereal part of this that I don't get
and they did find a strong association between breakfast creal consumption and producing a boy

I can sort of understand an evolutionary thing going on with high calorie-intake and producing a boy ie boys are generally a bit heavier so it makes sense you are more liely to produce a boy when food generally is plentiful

oK fair enough but breakfast cereal??
how is that more likely to lead to a boy than a couple of slices of toast and a boiled egg?

OP posts:
ButterflyMcQueen · 23/04/2008 11:49

maybe it is just that cereal is the most oft consumed breakfast

cupcakesinthesnow · 23/04/2008 11:52

I never ate breakfast before i fell pregnant with ds1 and from that day throughout the pregnancy I ate philidelphia and bananas on wholemeal toast every morning and a banana and raspberry smoothie

Same for ds2.

And I was very slim so not consuming HUGE amount of calories beforehand.

Why do people do this research? What is the point???