Anyone else TTC a girl?!

[KelseyK]

I would love some buddies who are TTC a girl this cycle Whether you are doing something to increase your odds or just crossing your fingers!

Anyone out there hoping for a ?!

 

[amandakelley]

I am! I have a 3 year old son and now I'm ready for a girl. We just now officially became TTC and this is our first month trying.

 

[mummyyshearer]

Im TTC#2, already have a boy so i am hoping for a girl. I use a app that pin points days where im likely to concieve a girl/boy. Only problem is us girls only carry the female gene...where boys sperm carries boy and girl....there for its technically the guys sperm that determines the sex of the baby and there isnt really anything you can do to help convince what you want.

 

[amandakelley]

Im TTC#2, already have a boy so i am hoping for a girl. I use a app that pin points days where im likely to concieve a girl/boy. Only problem is us girls only carry the female gene...where boys sperm carries boy and girl....there for its technically the guys sperm that determines the sex of the baby and there isnt really anything you can do to help convince what you want.

With that thought in mind about our men, I can just imagine all the women in here TTC a girl threatening their OHs in the middle of DTD.

 

[KelseyK]

I was searching swaying last night and this is what I found...


Swaying pink

The most important things for a sway seem to be:

1. Diet (including low blood glucose).

Diet can make the body think times are hard and that a girl is a safer bet because male embryos are more vulnerable to a less-favourable environment. Diet lowers blood glucose (XX embryos are better at absorbing glucose than XY. If you keep glucose low, XX will thrive).

Weight loss has been shown to sway pink in some studies, probably because it means there are less resources are available so the body is having to use up its own reserves.

A diet low in particular nutrients will cause your body to produce less hormones. Studies have shown that women with high testosterone levels are more likely to produce boys. Diet can lower testosterone levels.

Diet can also change the CM that you have, making it lower pH and making it more scant. These things can alter how well the sperm thrive in/travel through the CM and lower sperm count (see below for more info).

Skipping breakfast keeps blood sugar low for longer, as does avoiding carbs in the form of wholegrain/nuts, etc. If you can't keep this up for the whole cycle, at least try and stick to it during the 2ww. The Oxford study showed that those who ate breakfast every day were significantly more likely to have a boy.

Snacking raises glucose repeatedly, so you should try to avoid it when you can, too.

For more info about the foods permitted/diet options available, see below.

2. Low sperm count. (Including frequent release/abstaining, gels/douches to lower pH, jump&dump(J&D), hot baths/tight underwear for DH, less CM - antihistamines, DH avoiding caffeine before BD)

Studies show that men with lower sperm counts father more daughters. There are a few ways of lowering sperm count.

First is the BD frequency. Abstaining for at least 7 days is proven to lower sperm count, but it might not be a good option for a DH older than 35. Frequent release (FR) means BDing (or releasing) every day for at least 7 days before OV. This also lowers sperm count, but if you're BDing frequently make sure you get pH low again before the next attempt. Compressed FR is when DH releases once or twice and then you BD within 12 hours or as soon as you can. This is shown to drastically lower sperm count and is better for women with irregular cycles or where the DH is incapable of FR for so many days in a row. You can simply wait until you get a pos OPK and then start releasing/discarding.

Low pH is a traditional part of a sway. A good pH for girls is said to be between 4 and 5. There is no evidence that X-sperm swim through certain pHs better than Y-sperm, but what is proven is that ALL sperm thrive better in a higher pH environment so it's more likely that a lower pH CM will simply kill off some more sperm and lower sperm count, swaying that way. You can use a lime douche (although that risks infection/ectopic), although more recently certain gels such as RepHresh are available that will lower pH to the girl range (4.5) and keep on working for 3 days, lowering any higher substance such as semen back down to 4.5. There is no need to keep pH down for hours after BD, within 5-15mins most sperm that are capable of fertilising the egg are already in the cervix and long gone. The pH when they arrive is the important part, not the pH afterwards.

Jump and Dump is when you get up soon after BDing and wipe away/squeeze out any semen to reduce the amount in there. You can do an immediate jump+dump, or wait 5-10mins to give the swimmers more of a chance to get into the cervix. This also clears you out of high-pH semen after BD.

Antihistamines can reduce CM and make it more difficult for all sperm to make it to the egg, lowering sperm count. You'll want to take a dose of it before BD (a few hours before), but consult the packaging first for dosage and safety information, including side effects. Don't take any from OV day onwards, as this might increase the risk of an ectopic because the egg needs some CM to move through the fallopian tubes.

3. BD. (Shallow release/penetration, no big O for the lady. )

The theory is that the further the release is from the cervix, the more difficult it is for the swimmers to make it into the cervix and head for the egg. Also, the longer the time they will have to spend in a low-pH environment if you are lowering pH. This will cause less to survive, and low sperm count is known to sway pink (see above).

Having a female big O causes testosterone levels to raise (swaying blue), more CM to be produced (swaying blue), CM of a higher pH (swaying blue), and, possibly most key, the contractions of the uterus during a female big O is shown to suck the swimmers up through the cervix and into the uterus, raising sperm count inside you too.

4. Number of attempts.

How many attempts you have might affect your chances too. Typically, studies seem to show that only one attempt sways pink more. However, if you are lowering your sperm count and fertility so much, you might NEED more than one attempt in order to conceive at all. If you decide to have multiple attempts, try and lower your pH again before the next attempt.

5. Supplements.

Multivitamins- sway blue, so don't take them. If your body has more nutrients, it might not think that times are hard and studies have shown that those who consume more nutrients are more likely to have boys.

Folic acid - Increased amounts of folic acid sway pink. Because the diet is the most important bit, you will likely be getting less folic acid through diet than normal, so you should take more folic acid. Aim to take 800-1200mcg of folic acid.

Calc/mag - this is a traditional pink sway combination, but it might actually sway blue by providing the body with additional (potentially unncessary) nutrients.

Clomid/soy - Clomid is known to sway pink, your doctor would have to prescribe it. Soya isoflavones are said to be a natural clomid, but I've not seen any evidence that those sway pink.

Vitex/vit B6 - Take only if you need it in order to conceive, and beware of the safety implications of your dosage. Taking too much Vit B6 can cause permanent nerve damage.

Cranberry/low dose aspirin - A traditional way of lowering pH... but more nutrients could sway blue, so only take if you really need it.

6. Environmental factors. Ions, stress, hormones, etc.

Women with stressful careers are shown to have more daughters, probably to do with the way the stress hormones affect fertility.

High testosterone women are shown to have more sons. Doing certain exercises can build muscle and raise testosterone levels, as can doing competitive business/sports, etc.

Ions are another traditional part of a sway, and quite cheap to include in your sway. You theory is that you want to surround yourself with negative ions to try and charge the egg to attract the positively charged XX sperm. I don't think there is any actual scientific evidence behind this, but generally it won't do any harm and negative ions are meant to be good for you! Things that contain negative ions are rose quartz, rock salt lamps, running water, breezes, woodlands, etc. Things that create positive ions are computers/electrical devices, air conditioning, etc.

Conceiving during a new moon has been shown to sway pink and a full moon sways blue (but it was only a small study).

7. A note about timing in relation to ovulation. Traditionally, this has been a part of a sway but it is an area that has been heavily researched and unfortunately the studies do not seem to agree with each other. One found that DTD several days before OV was more likely to result in a girl, but more disagreed and found that DTD on OV day was more likely to result in a girl. Because they conflict so drastically, we now assume that timing doesn't sway at all. If it did sway, you would expect them all to be finding the same (or similar) thing.

When Shettles was researching his cut off theory, he made some assumptions about how long X and Y sperm last and how they swim. Science has recently proven that in fact X and Y sperm last the same amount of time and swim in the same way. What he was looking at was capacitated and uncapacitated sperm (sperm must capacitate - undergo changes- before they are able to penetrate an egg). Also, during his study he asked women to do other things that are known to sway girl such as avoiding a big O, and abstaining. It is much more likely that his results show the success of those techniques than the timing itself.

For some women, timing is something they cannot let go of. They feel comforted by the thought of a cut off because it was accepted for such a long time. Unless you need to conceive as fast as possible, there is no harm in trying a cut off but be aware that it will significantly decrease your chance of pregnancy. If a healthy couple DTD on OV day they have a 30% chance of conceiving each month. If they DTD 3+ days before OV this drops to less than 10%. If you are swaying pink, you can expect your chances to be even lower than this because most of the aspects that sway pink decrease fertility and make it harder to conceive.

If you want to keep a small cut off, you could always BD when you get a pos OPK and then stop. You will then definitely have sperm waiting for the egg when it arrives in 1-2 days time.



Pink diets

There are a few options, depending on how hard you want to sway. With most of the diets you should be doing them for at least 6 weeks before TTC.

1- French Gender Diet (FGD) - The traditional swaying diet. Studies claim this has an up to 80% success rate. There is a limited food list, the diet is healthy to do for up to 6 months. Details available on the GenderDreaming private forums,

2- In-Gender Diet (IG) - Based on the FGD, the IG diet is even stricter. You have to restrict your diet even further to cut out more foods which might raise testosterone levels or pH. This diet is also not healthy to do for 6 months or more. Details available on the In-Gender forums.

3- Low Everything Diet (LE) - A diet created on GenderDreaming, based more on recent studies and research. The aim is to lower nutrient intake and keep blood glucose low. The permitted foods list is not as strict provided you stay within certain nutrient limits for calories,fat,protein,and sodium each day. Because you can eat more, it is easier and healthier too to do for a longer length of time. You can tweak your limits to lose more or less weight. Details available here: https://genderdreaming.com/2011/09/low-everything-diet-for-ttc-a-girl/ and more info available in the private forum of the gender dreaming forums.

4- Limiting only certain high potassium/sodium foods. Not a swaying diet, but if you aren't capable of doing a strict diet you can at least try to reduce your intake of potassium and sodium rich foods, such as potatoes, bananas, raw tomatoes. If you must eat salt, try and choose low sodium salt. It won't sway as strongly, but it's better than nothing.

5- Vegetarian. Statistically vegetarians have more daughters.

6- Weight loss. If you are losing weight, your condition is declining. Any weight loss diet is better than no diet at all, provided you have the weight to lose.



Foods permitted on all of the FGD, IG, and LE diets:

Dairy: semi-skimmed milk is best, but all dairy contains fat, sodium, and animal hormones as well as other nutrients so be careful not to consume too much. Also be careful when choosing cheese as this is also high in salt/fat/nutrients.

Vegetables: Green beans, leek, mushrooms, beansprouts, courgette (ideally peeled), cucumber (ideally peeled), cooked tomatoes, white cabbage, lettuce.

Fruit: Apples (ideally peeled), strawberries, raspberries.

Meat: Ideally no meat, but if you must have meat try to limit it to 100-125g portion... and try to limit the number of days you eat it. White meat such as chicken is better than red meat such as beef.

Carbs: All white pasta and rice is OK because it's neutral. If choosing white bread, try and watch for the sodium content and choose the lowest you can or bake your own salt-free bread.

Drinks: Caffeine is not permitted on any diet in large doses, but the odd one is OK. Diet drinks that contain aspartame. Weak tea is OK. Peppermint tea or raspberry leaf tea are good and also balance hormones as well as some other pink-sway benefits, especially if you add aspartame-based sweetener. In the US they drink a lot of Crystal Light because it contains aspartame, which you can order online.

 

[amandakelley]

I was searching swaying last night and this is what I found...


Swaying pink

The most important things for a sway seem to be:

1. Diet (including low blood glucose).

Diet can make the body think times are hard and that a girl is a safer bet because male embryos are more vulnerable to a less-favourable environment. Diet lowers blood glucose (XX embryos are better at absorbing glucose than XY. If you keep glucose low, XX will thrive).

Weight loss has been shown to sway pink in some studies, probably because it means there are less resources are available so the body is having to use up its own reserves.

A diet low in particular nutrients will cause your body to produce less hormones. Studies have shown that women with high testosterone levels are more likely to produce boys. Diet can lower testosterone levels.

Diet can also change the CM that you have, making it lower pH and making it more scant. These things can alter how well the sperm thrive in/travel through the CM and lower sperm count (see below for more info).

Skipping breakfast keeps blood sugar low for longer, as does avoiding carbs in the form of wholegrain/nuts, etc. If you can't keep this up for the whole cycle, at least try and stick to it during the 2ww. The Oxford study showed that those who ate breakfast every day were significantly more likely to have a boy.

Snacking raises glucose repeatedly, so you should try to avoid it when you can, too.

For more info about the foods permitted/diet options available, see below.

2. Low sperm count. (Including frequent release/abstaining, gels/douches to lower pH, jump&dump(J&D), hot baths/tight underwear for DH, less CM - antihistamines, DH avoiding caffeine before BD)

Studies show that men with lower sperm counts father more daughters. There are a few ways of lowering sperm count.

First is the BD frequency. Abstaining for at least 7 days is proven to lower sperm count, but it might not be a good option for a DH older than 35. Frequent release (FR) means BDing (or releasing) every day for at least 7 days before OV. This also lowers sperm count, but if you're BDing frequently make sure you get pH low again before the next attempt. Compressed FR is when DH releases once or twice and then you BD within 12 hours or as soon as you can. This is shown to drastically lower sperm count and is better for women with irregular cycles or where the DH is incapable of FR for so many days in a row. You can simply wait until you get a pos OPK and then start releasing/discarding.

Low pH is a traditional part of a sway. A good pH for girls is said to be between 4 and 5. There is no evidence that X-sperm swim through certain pHs better than Y-sperm, but what is proven is that ALL sperm thrive better in a higher pH environment so it's more likely that a lower pH CM will simply kill off some more sperm and lower sperm count, swaying that way. You can use a lime douche (although that risks infection/ectopic), although more recently certain gels such as RepHresh are available that will lower pH to the girl range (4.5) and keep on working for 3 days, lowering any higher substance such as semen back down to 4.5. There is no need to keep pH down for hours after BD, within 5-15mins most sperm that are capable of fertilising the egg are already in the cervix and long gone. The pH when they arrive is the important part, not the pH afterwards.

Jump and Dump is when you get up soon after BDing and wipe away/squeeze out any semen to reduce the amount in there. You can do an immediate jump+dump, or wait 5-10mins to give the swimmers more of a chance to get into the cervix. This also clears you out of high-pH semen after BD.

Antihistamines can reduce CM and make it more difficult for all sperm to make it to the egg, lowering sperm count. You'll want to take a dose of it before BD (a few hours before), but consult the packaging first for dosage and safety information, including side effects. Don't take any from OV day onwards, as this might increase the risk of an ectopic because the egg needs some CM to move through the fallopian tubes.

3. BD. (Shallow release/penetration, no big O for the lady. )

The theory is that the further the release is from the cervix, the more difficult it is for the swimmers to make it into the cervix and head for the egg. Also, the longer the time they will have to spend in a low-pH environment if you are lowering pH. This will cause less to survive, and low sperm count is known to sway pink (see above).

Having a female big O causes testosterone levels to raise (swaying blue), more CM to be produced (swaying blue), CM of a higher pH (swaying blue), and, possibly most key, the contractions of the uterus during a female big O is shown to suck the swimmers up through the cervix and into the uterus, raising sperm count inside you too.

4. Number of attempts.

How many attempts you have might affect your chances too. Typically, studies seem to show that only one attempt sways pink more. However, if you are lowering your sperm count and fertility so much, you might NEED more than one attempt in order to conceive at all. If you decide to have multiple attempts, try and lower your pH again before the next attempt.

5. Supplements.

Multivitamins- sway blue, so don't take them. If your body has more nutrients, it might not think that times are hard and studies have shown that those who consume more nutrients are more likely to have boys.

Folic acid - Increased amounts of folic acid sway pink. Because the diet is the most important bit, you will likely be getting less folic acid through diet than normal, so you should take more folic acid. Aim to take 800-1200mcg of folic acid.

Calc/mag - this is a traditional pink sway combination, but it might actually sway blue by providing the body with additional (potentially unncessary) nutrients.

Clomid/soy - Clomid is known to sway pink, your doctor would have to prescribe it. Soya isoflavones are said to be a natural clomid, but I've not seen any evidence that those sway pink.

Vitex/vit B6 - Take only if you need it in order to conceive, and beware of the safety implications of your dosage. Taking too much Vit B6 can cause permanent nerve damage.

Cranberry/low dose aspirin - A traditional way of lowering pH... but more nutrients could sway blue, so only take if you really need it.

6. Environmental factors. Ions, stress, hormones, etc.

Women with stressful careers are shown to have more daughters, probably to do with the way the stress hormones affect fertility.

High testosterone women are shown to have more sons. Doing certain exercises can build muscle and raise testosterone levels, as can doing competitive business/sports, etc.

Ions are another traditional part of a sway, and quite cheap to include in your sway. You theory is that you want to surround yourself with negative ions to try and charge the egg to attract the positively charged XX sperm. I don't think there is any actual scientific evidence behind this, but generally it won't do any harm and negative ions are meant to be good for you! Things that contain negative ions are rose quartz, rock salt lamps, running water, breezes, woodlands, etc. Things that create positive ions are computers/electrical devices, air conditioning, etc.

Conceiving during a new moon has been shown to sway pink and a full moon sways blue (but it was only a small study).

7. A note about timing in relation to ovulation. Traditionally, this has been a part of a sway but it is an area that has been heavily researched and unfortunately the studies do not seem to agree with each other. One found that DTD several days before OV was more likely to result in a girl, but more disagreed and found that DTD on OV day was more likely to result in a girl. Because they conflict so drastically, we now assume that timing doesn't sway at all. If it did sway, you would expect them all to be finding the same (or similar) thing.

When Shettles was researching his cut off theory, he made some assumptions about how long X and Y sperm last and how they swim. Science has recently proven that in fact X and Y sperm last the same amount of time and swim in the same way. What he was looking at was capacitated and uncapacitated sperm (sperm must capacitate - undergo changes- before they are able to penetrate an egg). Also, during his study he asked women to do other things that are known to sway girl such as avoiding a big O, and abstaining. It is much more likely that his results show the success of those techniques than the timing itself.

For some women, timing is something they cannot let go of. They feel comforted by the thought of a cut off because it was accepted for such a long time. Unless you need to conceive as fast as possible, there is no harm in trying a cut off but be aware that it will significantly decrease your chance of pregnancy. If a healthy couple DTD on OV day they have a 30% chance of conceiving each month. If they DTD 3+ days before OV this drops to less than 10%. If you are swaying pink, you can expect your chances to be even lower than this because most of the aspects that sway pink decrease fertility and make it harder to conceive.

If you want to keep a small cut off, you could always BD when you get a pos OPK and then stop. You will then definitely have sperm waiting for the egg when it arrives in 1-2 days time.



Pink diets

There are a few options, depending on how hard you want to sway. With most of the diets you should be doing them for at least 6 weeks before TTC.

1- French Gender Diet (FGD) - The traditional swaying diet. Studies claim this has an up to 80% success rate. There is a limited food list, the diet is healthy to do for up to 6 months. Details available on the GenderDreaming private forums,

2- In-Gender Diet (IG) - Based on the FGD, the IG diet is even stricter. You have to restrict your diet even further to cut out more foods which might raise testosterone levels or pH. This diet is also not healthy to do for 6 months or more. Details available on the In-Gender forums.

3- Low Everything Diet (LE) - A diet created on GenderDreaming, based more on recent studies and research. The aim is to lower nutrient intake and keep blood glucose low. The permitted foods list is not as strict provided you stay within certain nutrient limits for calories,fat,protein,and sodium each day. Because you can eat more, it is easier and healthier too to do for a longer length of time. You can tweak your limits to lose more or less weight. Details available here: https://genderdreaming.com/2011/09/low-everything-diet-for-ttc-a-girl/ and more info available in the private forum of the gender dreaming forums.

4- Limiting only certain high potassium/sodium foods. Not a swaying diet, but if you aren't capable of doing a strict diet you can at least try to reduce your intake of potassium and sodium rich foods, such as potatoes, bananas, raw tomatoes. If you must eat salt, try and choose low sodium salt. It won't sway as strongly, but it's better than nothing.

5- Vegetarian. Statistically vegetarians have more daughters.

6- Weight loss. If you are losing weight, your condition is declining. Any weight loss diet is better than no diet at all, provided you have the weight to lose.



Foods permitted on all of the FGD, IG, and LE diets:

Dairy: semi-skimmed milk is best, but all dairy contains fat, sodium, and animal hormones as well as other nutrients so be careful not to consume too much. Also be careful when choosing cheese as this is also high in salt/fat/nutrients.

Vegetables: Green beans, leek, mushrooms, beansprouts, courgette (ideally peeled), cucumber (ideally peeled), cooked tomatoes, white cabbage, lettuce.

Fruit: Apples (ideally peeled), strawberries, raspberries.

Meat: Ideally no meat, but if you must have meat try to limit it to 100-125g portion... and try to limit the number of days you eat it. White meat such as chicken is better than red meat such as beef.

Carbs: All white pasta and rice is OK because it's neutral. If choosing white bread, try and watch for the sodium content and choose the lowest you can or bake your own salt-free bread.

Drinks: Caffeine is not permitted on any diet in large doses, but the odd one is OK. Diet drinks that contain aspartame. Weak tea is OK. Peppermint tea or raspberry leaf tea are good and also balance hormones as well as some other pink-sway benefits, especially if you add aspartame-based sweetener. In the US they drink a lot of Crystal Light because it contains aspartame, which you can order online.

Whoa! That is very interesting! Thank you for sharing. Will you be trying any of these?

 

[Twilighter<3]

Hi, I have a 2 year old son and this is our first month ttc and we are hoping for a girl this time