May it be for personal preferences, cultural beliefs, or social pressures, parents always have varied reasons for deciding on their upcoming babies’ gender. Perhaps the most ancient technique to determine a baby’s gender is the Chinese birth calendar.

Ever since, the Chinese culture has always preferred a male gender because he can carry the family’s surname throughout his lifetime, while a girl cannot. When a girl marries, she is considered to be her husband’s family member. Besides, a boy is much stronger and can be expected to work harder than a girl. In the ancient times, it was believed that a boy’s ancestors were hunters. And, because of this particular preference, the ancient Chinese devised a birth calendar or gender prediction chart to guide couples who want to have a baby. The chart works by finding the mother’s age based on the Chinese lunar calendar and the month of her conception; wherever the intersection of these two points fall shows the gender of the baby. The mother’s age is computed as her current age plus one more extra year, which represents the time she was in her own mother’s womb.

This birth calendar was formed after many years of collected data and is said to be a hundred percent accurate. Evidence of such a calendar, which was discovered on a scroll more than seven centuries ago, is now kept at the Beijing Institute of Science. Even up to the present, the Chinese birth calendar is used by many. Not a few non-Chinese couples also use this calendar because some people testified to its accuracy.

Aside from the Chinese gender prediction chart, there are the age-old tales and myths that have been passed on from one generation to the next. One of the prevailing myths says that the baby’s gender depends on the amount of morning sickness a woman suffers during pregnancy. Accuracy of these tales, however, still remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, a couple can do some practical methods of deciding on their baby’s gender by scheduling their sexual intercourse according to the woman’s ovulation period. If they want a boy, it is advisable to engage in sexual intercourse as early as 24 hours before ovulation to no more than 12 hours after ovulation because during this period the Y chromosomes, which are smaller, weaker, but faster, tend to get to the egg first. If the couple, however, decides for a girl, they must have their sexual intercourse three days or more before ovulation because the X chromosomes, which are bigger, stronger, but slower, will now have accumulated when the egg is released, while the Y chromosomes will have died, considering its weak characteristic. Learn more about pregnancy symptoms as well to assist you in the future.

Other possible method that a couple may try is douching the vaginal environment with water and vinegar shortly before intercourse to make it more acidic and kill the weaker Y chromosomes first, leaving a plentiful amount of the X chromosomes, and thus, favoring a baby girl; or, they may douche it with water and baking soda to make the environment more alkaline and favor for a baby boy.

In addition, position in sexual intercourse and depth of penetration matter in determining the baby’s gender. If the couple wants to have a boy, a deep penetration is advisable because it deposits the sperm closer to the egg, allowing the faster chromosomes the advantage of fertilizing the egg first. A shallow penetration favors for a baby girl. Also, a high sperm counts is more likely to favor for a boy.

Having orgasms during sexual intercourse would likely produce a baby boy because the contraction that goes with an orgasm pushes the sperm up and into the cervix, allowing the male chromosomes the advantage of fertilizing the egg first. Besides, orgasms stimulate the body to produce substances that make the vaginal environment more alkaline. No orgasm is likely to produce a baby girl.

On the other hand, couples may also submit themselves to medical tests for safe and surer results. Perhaps there is nothing more accurate than the medical experts’ advice or findings. Ultrasound is seen to be one of the most frequently used, safe, and precise computerized technique that can be done at any stage of pregnancy to find out a baby’s gender. It would be most accurate, however, when the ultrasound is done between the eighteenth and twenty-sixth week of pregnancy.

A couple may also try amniocentesis, a prenatal diagnostic test done on a pregnant woman, particularly on one who is at higher risk of chromosomal abnormalities like Down syndrome. Through the same test, a baby’s gender can also be determined.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites