Don’t let all of your hopes and dreams ride on conceiving a specific gender, but there's nothing wrong with trying to 'sway the sperm.'

The Basic Breakdown of Boy versus Girl Conception:

Men carry both X (female) and Y (male) sperm. A woman’s unfertilized egg is considered an X (because she’s female). When the X sperm fertilize the egg, you get a girl. When the Y sperm fertilize the egg, you get a boy. Doesn’t sound that complicated does it? It’s not, until you decide you’d like to shoot for a specific gender to conceive. I’ve compiled a breakdown of all the methods (and crazy ideas) on how to strengthen female sperm, kill off male sperm, and create the perfect environment for the little girl egg to implant.

Eat a Girl Diet

Eating more fruit and vegetables can improve your chances of conceiving a girl.

Foods to Include:

• Spinach
• Nuts
• Broccoli
• Leafy Greens
• Most Fruits
• Rice
• Fish: Cod, Salmon, Mackerel, Tuna, Haddock, Carp, etc
• Meat: Poultry, Lamb, Beef, Turkey
• Whole Dairy: Cheese, Butter, Yogurt
• Eggs
• Flaxseed
• Figs
• Sunflower Seeds and Pumpkin Seeds
• Oranges, Berries
• Oatmeal
• Beans
• Peas
• Chocolate

Foods to Avoid:

• Apples
• Almonds
• Cucumbers
• Avocados
• Salted Meats
• Olives
• Blue Cheese
• All Processed Foods
• Caffeine

Nutrients to Include:

• Calcium
• Magnesium

Know Your Ovulation

You MUST know when you ovulate. If you truly want to increase your chances of pregnancy occurring AND possibly conceive a girl, you need to know the exact day of ovulation – NOT your ovulation/fertile window. Girl sperm are slower and live longer than boy sperm, so being able to time sex to ensure the girl swimmers are already in place as your egg is released will help sway a girl pregnancy.

You can use any of the following methods to nail down your exact ovulation day:

• Basal Body Temperature Charting
• Ovulation tests (A positive result means that you are likely to ovulate within the next 1-2 days.)
• Cervical Mucus

Notes on cervical mucus:

• Not fertile: The sensation in your vagina is dry, and there is little or no visible mucus.
• Fertile: You have a moist or sticky sensation. Your mucus resembles milk or starts to look like egg white, but it breaks when stretched.
• Most fertile: The sensation is wet and slippery. Your mucus is abundant, resembles raw egg white and can be stretched between your fingers without breaking.
• Post-ovulation (not fertile): The sensation is dry or sticky. The mucus is thick, opaque or white, and much sparser than before ovulation.

The Sex Part

Sex Timing and Ovulation: Timing intercourse for having a girl may be more challenging than trying for a boy. You will want to have sex several days before you ovulate. However, if you have intercourse too close to ovulation you may end up conceiving a boy. Sperm can live up to five days. You want to time intercourse so that you are having sex as far from ovulation as possible but still close enough that the sperm will still survive. The female sperm live longer than the male, so if you time things right, the male sperm will not make it to the egg to fertilize it. You want to try not to have sex during the two days before your peak day. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a regular cycle or if you ovulate earlier than you normally do, you may end up having intercourse close enough to ovulation to conceive a boy.

Sex Positions: Having sex in the missionary position is said to increase your chance of conceiving a girl, because it limits the depth of penetration. This in turn, restricts how close to the cervix, the sperm are ejaculated. Boy sperm swim very fast for short periods, so by preventing deep penetration, you may be able to prevent the boy sperm from reaching and fertilizing the egg. (Another reason for this is the pH level of the vagina; it is more acidic to the entrance, which is favorable for the girl sperm.)

Sex Advice: NO ORGASM.

Avoiding an orgasm may be another key to conceiving a girl. The female orgasm releases an alkaline secretion which may help boy sperm to survive longer, by creating a less hostile environment. Without these secretions, boy sperm may find it harder to survive, and have less chance of reaching the egg. Rather than restricting your sex life to specific times, when trying for a girl you should aim to have more sex. In the days leading up to your key conception time, you should have as much sex as possible. This will reduce your partner’s sperm count, and mean there are less fast-swimming boy sperm available to join the race for fertilization.

Chinese Calendar: It has been around for hundreds of years. The Chinese calendar uses the mother’s age and the month in which she conceives to determine the baby’s gender. You can use the calendar to determine which month you should try to conceive in to get the baby gender that you are hoping for. (Some lunar calendar experts say this method is up to 99% accurate!)

Shettles Method: According to the Shettles method, you should have sex two to four days before ovulation if you are hoping to conceive a girl. By the time ovulation occurs, only the girl sperm should be left to fertilize the egg. Dr Shettles advises that if you wish to conceive a girl, you should avoid intercourse when you have clear, egg-yolk like vaginal mucus, as this is a sure sign of ovulation. It should be noted, however, that avoiding intercourse during this time can reduce your likelihood of conceiving at all. You have to have sex every day for 2-4 days prior to your ovulation. You should abstain from sex 1-2 days before ovulation and several days after that. (This method claims a success rate of 75%.)

Traditions/Rituals:

• Have sex in the afternoon.
• Have sex with your partner during the even numbered days of the month.
• Try to have sex during the full moon.
• Traditional beliefs say that women who initiate sex are more likely to give birth to girls.

How to Help the Girl Sperm: The Man’s Side

• Avoid caffeine in general, but especially before sex
• Wear fitted underwear
• Take warm baths