If you’ve been doing any research online to improve your chances of conceiving a girl then you no doubt have found that most of the different methods are contradictory. Some claim you should have sex as close to ovulation as possible for a girl and other’s suggest trying to conceive at least 5 days before and no sooner. So which method is right?
This article will look at some of the more popular gender selection methods on how to conceive a girl and their success rates so you can decide which one is best for you.
Shettles Method of Conceiving a Girl
By far the most well known method for conceiving a girl or boy baby is the Shettles Method. It relies on timing and says that for a girl you should aim to have intercourse at least five to three days before you ovulate and no sooner as this gives the stronger female sperm a greater chance of surviving long enough to fertilize the egg.
He also favours sexual positions that allow for shallow penetration like the missionary position since that will mean the sperm has to travel further and therefore the weaker male sperm will find it harder to reach and fertilize the egg than the stronger girl sperm.
He also recommends that the woman doesn’t orgasm during sex so that the vaginal environment remains acidic. This is the reason that many say that it’s far more fun conceiving a boy (because the woman can orgasm) than trying for a girl.
The Shettles Method boasts a 77% success rate for getting pregnant with a female child.
Whelan Method for Conceiving a Girl
The Whelan Method also relies on timing intercourse around when the woman ovulates, but contradicts the Shettles Method in saying that the best time to conceive a girl is when you notice a rise in temperature using charting methods. Using basal body temperature as a guide, Whelan suggests than as soon as you notice the half degree rise in temperature that means that you have just ovulated and therefore you should aim to have intercourse as soon as possible afterwards to get a girl.
The Whelan Method boasts a 57% success rate for a girl which is why it isn’t as popular a method as Shettles or the O+12 Method.
The O+12 Method to Conceive a Girl
A variation on the Whelan method, this was developed by a New Zealand woman who after six boys using the Shettles Method (she was trying for a girl each time) found the Whelan and adapted it to her own use by saying that you had the best chance of getting pregnant with a female child if you had sex 12 hours AFTER ovulation.
The theory being is that the stronger female sperm are the only ones able to fertilize the egg at that time because the egg environment as it moves down the fallopian tubes gets harder to penetrate.
The O+12 Method is said to have a 90% success rate (although no clinical trials have ever been done using this as it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact ovulation time unless you have an ultrasound machine).
All of these methods rely on knowing the day you ovulate, and there are many ways to do determine the time of ovulation. Probably the most common ways of doing this are:
1) Charting your Cervical Mucus
Right before you ovulation your cervical mucus (CM) will change from dry or sticky to wet and elastic. Many people say that its consistency is similar to that of raw egg whites. Egg White Cervical Mucus (EWCM) is considered the most fertile time of woman’s menstrual cycle and it will indicate that you are about to ovulate. Once you ovulate, then your CM will dry back up again so keeping records of what your body is doing each day up to the day you ovulate will help you determine your ovulation day.
2) Charting your Basal Body Temperature (BBT)
The temperature of a women’s body is different in the days before ovulation to the days after by a small amount due to the progesterone and other hormones that are released during the menstrual cycle.
Usually you will only notice the increase in temperature after you have already ovulated, so you will need to chart for a few months prior to assess your usual ovulation day.
3) Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs)
Ovulation Predictor Kits work similar to pregnancy tests in that you’ll need to pee on a stick, and then they will show a positive result in response to certain hormones in your body. With OPK’s they are looking for Luteinizing Hormone (LH) which surges in a women’s body approximately 24 hours before the egg is released.
Most tests recommend that you use them twice a day: once in the early afternoon, and again in the evening to look for the LH surge and ensure that you don’t miss it.
OPK’s can be an expensive way to determine your ovulation, but are probably the most popular.
There are more methods for conceiving a girl such as the Ericsson Method and even the Chinese Gender Chart on this blog about how to get pregnant, so feel free to have a look around.
Of course none of these natural methods are 100% effective at getting a baby girl, but they are far less invasive, controversial and expensive than going to a fertility clinic and asking for gender selection – which many clinics will not do on ethical grounds anyway unless there are medical reasons.
A lot of women have been asking me about how to conceive a girl. This would be a nice reference for my subscriber.
Thanks!
I wonder: does Shettles or Whelan method has better results in practice…?