Choosing the sex of your baby

In some people's eyes, the idea of a perfect family is one boy and one girl. Of course, in real life, families don't come made to order and, whether you have all boys, or all girls, it doesn't matter, as long as they're healthy and happy.

Thanks to advances in fertility treatments that allow doctors to create or identify embryos of a certain sex, sex selection is technically possible, although not offered in New Zealand.

Then there is always the Shettles Method. Shettles' Method is based on his theory that sperm bearing Y chromosomes (for boys) swim faster but don't live as long as the slower swimming, longer-living sperm bearing X chromosomes (for girls). It is said to be about 75 percent effective and involves timed intercourse on specific days of your cycle.

Want a boy? Have sex as close as possible to your time of ovulation. For a girl it is best to have sex around 2-4 days before you ovulate.

Bear in mind, though in the boy/girl lottery of conception, you always have about a 50 percent chance of getting what you hope for anyway.

For more information, read 'How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby', by Landrum Shettles, M.D., and David Rorvik.

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This article was written by Claire Halliday for Kidspot. Sources include Sydney IVF.




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