Baby Sex Prediction

Q: Does eating certain foods help to conceive a boy or a girl?

MAYBE. Studies have shown that eating a diet high in potassium and sodium – foods like bananas, spicy and salty foods and red meat – may increase your chances of conceiving a boy. On the other hand, eating calcium and magnesium-rich foods like milk, cheese, fish, rice and nuts can result in the birth of a girl. This diet method is controversial though and it’s not clear why, or if, it works. Experts agree that it’s better to have a balanced diet with a wide range of nutrients when trying for a baby.

Q: If you have two boy or two girls, are you more likely to have another on in the next pregnancy?

YES. Statistics suggest that you are 75% more likely to conceive another boy or girl if you already have two of the same sex with your partner. Although sex selection is random, it’s possible that some men simply produce better quality X (female) or Y (male) sperm. So, if you’re on your way to creating your own football team, we’re afraid there might not be much you can do about it!

Basically, the sex of your baby is like tossing a coin – heads for a boy, tails for a girl. Having said that you do have a slightly higher chance of having a boy – 51 per cent of babies born in the UK are male. Your partner’s sperm will decide the gender of your baby: your eggs contain just a female, (X) chromosome, but a man’s sperm contains either an X or a Y chromosome. Whichever one reaches the egg first and fertilises it will determine the sex of your unborn baby.

Girl sperm are larger, live longer and swim slowly. Boy sperm swim faster, so have a better chance of reaching your egg first if it’s waiting to be fertilised. If the sperm has to wait for an egg to be released, the boy sperm dies off before the girl sperm so there’s likely to be more girl sperm waiting to fertilise the egg. So can you choose? Not really! But you could try having sex as close a possible to ovulation (when the egg is released) to conceive a boy, or just before ovulation to conceive a girl.