Ovulation calculation for conceiving a boy

The ‘quest’ for determining genders goes back to pre-historic times, although perhaps the reasons for gender selection today has totally altered, at least in most parts of the world, the yearning for a couple to have if not all but some control over the gender of their child remains. Perhaps, the ‘wisdom’ passed down through generations in different cultures have not proven to be very successful, we now turn to science for the answer.

Before moving on, let’s look at some basic overview of how gender selection takes place. When a woman releases an egg, it carries the X chromosome. A sperm would either carry the X or the Y chromosome. The gender of a child is determined by the type of sperm that fertilizes the egg. If the X chromosome sperm fertilizes the egg, the embryo will develop into a girl (XX). If a Y chromosome carrying sperm fertilizes the egg, the embryo will develop into a boy (XY). Once an egg is ready for fertilization, there might be more than one sperm in the same vicinity competing to penetrate the egg, the first sperm that penetrates the ovum causes a reaction where the outer later of the ovum thickens to prevent competing sperms from penetrating the egg. Therefore, it is like a race and the aim is to increase the odds of a particular type of sperm reaching the egg before the other type of sperm does.

The Shettles method, developed by Dr Landrum Shettles in the 1960s’. The theory explores the different characteristics between a X-chromosome and a Y-chromosome sperm. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, so by understanding them, we can therefore manipulate the environment to increase the odds of determining the gender of your baby. A girl-producing sperm (X-sperm) move slower but last longer in the uterus. Whereas the boy-producing sperm (Y-sperm) move faster but die faster. By applying the Settles method, sexual intercourse such be performed as close to your ovulation as possible if you would like to conceive a boy. As for the opposite, have sex 2-4 days before your ovulation, since by the time of ovulation, boy-producing sperms would have expired and what’s left waiting for the matured egg in your uterus would be female-producing sperms.

However, this is only one-half of the equation. To implement the Settles method, we need to know when your ovulation takes place and the more accurate the prediction of your ovulation period, the higher the odds of The Shettles method working.