How can I try for a boy or girl?

There are a few ways to try to determine the gender of your baby, and only one way is a sure thing. You can go the Kim Kardashian/Chrissy Teigen route, particularly if you’re undergoing IVF, where you can select the boy or girl embryos to implant. This is known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and it’s a fool-proof way of selecting the gender, particularly for couples already undergoing genetic testing. 

There’s also sperm sorting, which involves separating X (girl) sperm and Y (boy sperm) in the lab and inserting the sperm of your preferred gender via intrauterine insemination (IUI). According to recent studies, x-sorted sperm produced female fetuses at a rate of 87% and 74% for y-sorted sperm. 

For a more low-key approach, a few other methods exist, like the Shettles Method, which theorizes that because X sperm are slower but live longer than Y sperm, which are faster but die quicker. Therefore, if you want a girl you should have sex before you ovulate so that the X sperm can get there later but wait around for the egg. If you want a boy, however, you should have sex as close as possible to ovulation, since the Y-sperm will get to the egg quicker. To the contrary, the Whelan Method dictates the opposite, stating that biochemical changes in a woman’s body and her cycle will dictate what she’ll conceive, but that to have a girl, you should have sex before or on the day-of ovulation. Whatever route you choose, happy baby making and you’ll most likely get what you get!

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