Want to conceive a baby boy?

By Hannah Chira

Tales are told of how some couples, in the quest of giving birth to a boy, ended up with up to ten girls and no boy in the picture.

However, how possible is it to influence your baby’s gender?

Although doctors and fertility experts claim it is impossible to influence whether you will conceive a girl or boy, there’s certainly a lot of convincing subjective evidence out there to the contrary.

There are parents who are convinced beyond doubt that a few things they embraced and did helped them conceive a boy, even though medical doctors disregard these mere rituals as old wives’ tales.

According to various sources, here are a few tricks, which some parents and even doctors swear by, you could try if you want to conceive a boy:

Lunar calendar

This mystical calendar holds that a baby’s sex is influenced by the mother’s age and month during which she conceives. Supporters say the chart is 99 per cent accurate. The calendar spells out the months in which to conceive a boy. A few rules apply though; for instance, not trying to conceive during the very beginning or very end of a boy-yielding time frame. To access this calender, visit the Internet.

Boyish diet

Following a specific diet for a few weeks before conceiving is said by some experts to increase your chances of conceiving a boy. Changing your diet alters you body pH balance, which influences the sex of your baby.

So fill up on plenty of salty foods, peas, raisins, red meats, courgettes, mushrooms, beans, bread and fish. Avoid acidic foods and focus on alkali foods to create an alkali environment ideal for the boy bearing sperms to thrive.

Also, maintaining a high intake of foods throughout the day, which in turn increases and maintains high glucose levels, will increase your chances of having a little boy.

This is suggested by a recent study by researchers at Oxford and the University of Exeter in England that suggests maintaining higher level of glucose encourage the growth of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos.

The study recommends consuming wide range of nutrients such as potassium, calcium, and vitamins C, E, and B12. Breakfast, is particularly important, so never skip it!

Sex position

Amidst a horde of myths, science has resulted into more complex theories about positions. According to Dr Landrum Shettles, MD, author of How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby, deeper penetration during intercourse seems to favour boys.

The woman’s vagina, he explains, is most acidic near the entrance, an environment that male sperm don’t fare well in.

Shettles says deeper penetration puts sperm closer to the egg, reducing the distance the sperm has to travel through the acidic vagina. This gives faster-swimming Y-chromosome (male) sperm a head start over the X-chromosome (female) sperm.