If your heart melts each time you see a teeny tiny pink frilly tutu, you may be wondering how you can guarantee yourself a daughter. In truth, there is no way to naturally determine the sex of your baby. There are two scientific methods that claim some degree of success for gender selection, but these methods are contradictory in nature and may not work for you. Of course, the most important thing is a healthy baby. If you want to try to conceive a girl, here are 9 tips: How To Conceive A Girl Tip #1: The Shettles Method This method has been around since the 1960s, and claims a 75 percent success rate for couples hoping to conceive a girl. Dr Shettles believed that the most important factor in gender determination, was timing. The baby's gender is determined by the chromosome carrying sperm. Boy sperm swim faster, but survive for shorter periods of time than their female producing counterparts. Girl sperm are stronger and more resilient, yet swim slower than boy sperm.
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 fertilise 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. How To Conceive A Girl Tip #2: The Whelan Method The other commonly used method was created by Dr Whelan, and claims a 57 percent success rate for couples who wish to conceive a girl. Dr Whelan's theory has slightly different timings, and to have a girl, she advises you to have sex two to three days before ovulation. For a boy, she suggests four to six days pre-ovulation to be the peak time. The Whelan and Shettles method are contradictory, and both have cheerleaders claiming success, but it is difficult to judge whether these successes were truly a result of the method, or simply that the outcome remained the same regardless of the method used. There is a limited amount of research in existence to support the two methods above. For the advice below, however, the proof is even harder to come by. The following factors are often cited by couples claiming to have successfully determined their baby's sex, but there is no scientific proof to back up these statements. The following factors may in fact just be myths circulating of how to conceive a girl: How To Conceive A Girl Tip #3: Make It Your Mission To conceive a boy, deep penetration is key, but for a girl, the opposite is true. 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 fertilising the egg.
