What affects the gender of the child. Who determines the sex of the child at conception

Since ancient times, families have resorted to all sorts of signs and tricks, supposedly helping to find out who will be born to them. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to determine exactly what the gender of the child depends on. And no diets or horoscopes will give you a 100% guarantee.

Which parent determines the gender of the baby?

There is a theory, not supported by science, that parental relationships affect the sex of the unborn baby. For example, in those families dominated by a man, a boy should be born. And vice versa, if the head is the mother, then she will definitely have a girl. This is because nature "restores" the balance. And it helps the feminine or masculine principle, which is oppressed by the spouse.

There are many incredible theories about what determines the sex of the child.

But if the theory is correct, then it is not clear how children of different sexes appear in families. And then the adherents of this belief find a way out, they say, over time, there is a redistribution of roles, and the woman begins to depend on her husband. Therefore, they have a boy first, and then a girl, and vice versa.

How does gender depend on a man?

As you know, spermatozoa contain 2 types of chromosomes: X - female and Y - male. And in the 60s of the last century, a study was conducted, according to which the "tadpoles" responsible for the birth of boys are more mobile, but live no longer than 48 hours. Spermatozoa "girls" are slower, but can exist in the mother's body for up to 5 days.

Therefore, if parents want a boy, then they need to have sexual intercourse the day before, during and after ovulation. Those who dream of a girl need to have sex 4-5 days before the release of the egg

Thanks to this scientific approach, it is theoretically possible to predict the sex of the child. But it will work if the man has no problems with the reproductive function of sperm.

The influence of toxicosis and other folk signs

According to folk legends, you can find out about the future field of the baby by the state of the woman. It is believed that girls "take away" the beauty of the mother, and it changes greatly during pregnancy. Those who have a boy, on the contrary, are getting prettier every day. In addition, it is believed that severe toxicosis on early dates in a pregnant woman is caused by a future son. The girl, on the other hand, adapts much easier to the mother's body and does not cause discomfort at all.

It is currently impossible to predict and determine the future sex of the child. After all, even ultrasound studies are sometimes wrong, and instead of the long-awaited boy, a girl is born. Therefore, do not guess, so as not to be disappointed in the future.

Attempts to plan the sex of the future baby have been around for a very long time. Theories about the birth of a child of the desired sex arose in antiquity, but more and more continue to appear. For example, some researchers believe that determined, self-confident women are more likely to have boys.

There are many ways on the Internet to plan the sex of the child, but they are just entertainment, as they have no evidence. These are various tables, calculation for blood renewal, for blood type, and so on.

There is also a hypothesis that the sex of the child to a certain extent depends on the diet of the mother a few months before conception. A diet rich in calcium and magnesium contributes to the conception of a girl. These are products such as: milk, beans, beans, hard cheese, nuts. For a boy, you need to eat foods rich in potassium and sodium (meat, fish, potatoes, dried fruits).

To date, there is no reliable way to plan the sex of a child. The only one hundred percent way to conceive a girl or a boy is artificial insemination with the choice of an embryo of a certain sex. For this, a special study of the embryo is carried out.

But the legislation of Ukraine allows this only in cases where the family has genetic disease sex-related (for example, hemophilia). While some clinics do offer parental gender selection for a fee, this is against the law.

And how is the sex of the child determined during natural conception and what does it depend on? The gender of the child depends on the man. Sperm and egg contain half the set of chromosomes. Female germ cells contain only the X chromosome, while male germ cells contain either the X or Y chromosome. If the egg is fertilized by sperm X, then a girl will be born, if Y, then a boy.

It is believed that Y sperm are faster, so on the day of ovulation they will be the first and more likely to have a boy. But spermatozoa X live longer in the genital tract of a woman, so if sexual intercourse occurred two, three, four days before the release of the egg, then the chances of having a girl are high.

Love positions can also indirectly influence the conception of a child of a certain gender. In the classic position, when the man is on top, the spermatozoa enter the cervix faster, and here the faster U (boys) are usually the first. When a woman is on top, the sperm path will be longer and the chances of fertilizing an egg are increased for sperm X (girls).

Don't lay high hopes on planning the sex of the child, all methods are more assumptions than the truth. Rejoice in your baby and love him regardless of gender.

Hello everyone, this is Olga Ryshkova. From the school and university course, many people know that the sex of a person is formed during the period of conception and determines its chromosomes. Do you remember that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes? Every cell in our body contains this set of chromosomes.

In men and women, all pairs of chromosomes are the same, except for one pair. These are the sex chromosomes. In this pair, women have the same chromosomes, while men have different ones. It is this pair that determines our gender. Women have two X chromosomes (XX) and men have XY chromosomes.

Look, this can be seen in the figure - all pairs of chromosomes in men and women are the same, but the sex chromosomes circled are different.

All our cells have paired chromosomes (double set), but in germ cells (eggs in women and sperm in men) - a single set. That is, all female eggs have one X chromosome. And in men, half of the spermatozoa have an X chromosome, half a Y chromosome.

The sex of the child depends on the sperm of the man.

So why are boys or girls born? The sex of the unborn child depends on which sperm enters the egg - with the X chromosome or with the Y chromosome. Did you understand that the sex of the child depends on the sperm of the man?

If so, it will be a boy.

And if so, it will be a girl.

This is where hormones come into play.

It turned out that the sex of the unborn child is formed not only with a certain set of chromosomes. Only recently, scientists have discovered how important the role of testosterone is in whether a child will be a man or a woman. All our life we ​​are under the influence of hormones. But the influence of these chemicals is most active at the time when our sex is determined, even before birth.

This may shock you.

Almost no one knows that the human fetus develops like a woman in the first 6 weeks. That is, all of us, including 100% men, regardless of the set of chromosomes, first developed as women. And only at the seventh week, when the formation of the gonads begins, when the testes that produce testosterone begin to form in an embryo with a set of XY chromosomes, only then will the formation of a man begin.

Gender is determined by testosterone.

Regardless of which set of chromosomes the fetus has - XX or XY, only the presence or absence of testosterone will form it as a boy or girl. If the hormone is not produced, then in any case there will be a girl.

This is fine?

This may be the norm, or it may be a pathology. At 7-8 weeks, under the influence of the Y-chromosome, the testicles begin to form in the embryo, they secrete testosterone, and under the influence of testosterone, the external genitalia develop and initially the female genitalia turn into male. This is the norm.

Under the influence of the X chromosome, at 7-8 weeks, the ovaries begin to form in the fetus, they do not secrete testosterone and the female genital organs continue to develop as female. This is also the norm.

What is the pathology?

Scientists came to the conclusion that testosterone affects the sex of the unborn child when they began to study people with a male set of chromosomes, who never became ordinary men. There is such a pathology, it is called androgen resistance syndrome (SHA). This is a genetic disorder. It occurs in 1 in 30,000 babies when the male fetus cannot use the testosterone produced and does not perceive male sex hormones.

People with androgen resistance syndrome are a clear demonstration that the sex of a child is determined not so much by chromosomes as by hormones. Despite having a male set of chromosomes, a fetus with this syndrome cannot develop into a boy because testosterone cannot do its job.

Boys are born girls.

In this situation, the embryo is genetically male. He has testicles that produce testosterone. But in its cells there are no receptors or structures that perceive testosterone. Therefore, this hormone does not exist. As a result, children in whom this syndrome manifests itself in its most striking form, at birth, are similar in everything to girls. The fact that they are genetically male, it becomes clear only when they do not start menstruating in due time.

Androgen resistance syndrome made it clear to scientists that hormones shape a person's gender no less than chromosomes.

Until the 70s, we did not know how to determine the concentration of hormones, so only now we suddenly realized a situation that had existed for many centuries. It is believed that Joan of Arc had this syndrome.

Hormones influence behavior.

By understanding the androgen resistance syndrome, scientists are beginning to understand how powerful the influence of hormones on our development. But what about mental development? Does the influence of hormones affect the differences in male and female behavior.

If we observe what children play, then, as a rule, we will see that girls play dolls more often than boys, and boys play cars, trains, and the like. We have known for 40 years that testosterone and other hormones have a strong influence on animal behavior. However, in relation to man, the question remained open for a long time due to the extreme complexity of conducting pure experiments. It is quite understandable that we cannot just inject hormones into people to see where it leads.

We are not researchers, but we can easily detect differences in male and female behavior. It is not so easy to isolate the influence of many factors influencing the development of male and female. But recently there have been Interesting Facts, suggesting that hormones play a significant role in this.

Women with male hormones.

To do this, scientists began to observe those whose concentration of hormones is not typical for people of this sex. A high concentration of testosterone is not typical for women. But it was her scientists who discovered in women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. During fetal development, these women produce testosterone in the same quantities as men.

Congenital hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex is not so rare. It occurs in 1 in 6,000 children. These girls in the future will have to take medication for the rest of their lives in order to remain women. The body's compensation mechanism encourages the adrenal glands to act at full capacity, and the only thing they are capable of is to produce testosterone in huge quantities.

The first sign of excess testosterone in girls is that they are born with abnormally shaped genitals, since testosterone has already begun to turn the female external genitalia into male ones. Scientists have found that the behavior of girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia is more similar to that of boys.

What does not affect.

Answering many questions, I’ll say right away that the blood type and Rh factor of the father and mother, the shape of the abdomen, nutrition and toxicosis do not affect the sex of the unborn child. future mother.

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According to the statistics of conception, there are 106 children per 100 girls: this is how nature takes care of maintaining the balance of the sexes. But male embryos are more vulnerable, so approximately the same number of girls and boys are born. On the Internet, you can find many descriptions of how to plan a child of one sex or another. Some are clearly unscientific, others have a medical basis.

Gender of the unborn child: scientific theory or coincidence

The sex of a person is determined by a set of 23 pairs of chromosomes, which contain genetic information about the body. Twenty-two pairs of them are autosomes that do not affect sex, and are the same in women and men. And only one tandem from the whole set determines gender. It is denoted by the letters XX or XY. The egg always has a female chromosome, while the sperm can contain both X ("female") and Y ("male"). The question of the sex of the embryo is decided precisely at the moment when a certain spermatozoon (male germ cell) is introduced into the oocyte (an immature egg in the ovary, which subsequently matures). So, the sex of the child depends only on the man. Scientists assure that in fact this is an unpredictable process, and the probability of the fusion of an egg with one or another sperm is exactly the same.


From the point of view of science, the conception of an embryo of a certain sex is an accident

Theories for successful practice

The desire to have a baby of a certain gender in some couples is so great that they want to take control of it. The first to think about floor planning were the ancient Chinese. They noticed that a 25-year-old woman was more likely to conceive a boy in winter and autumn, and a girl in spring and summer.

Eastern wisdom

All the accumulated knowledge about the effect on conception (according to the time of year and the age of the mother) was presented by the Chinese in a special table. Its accuracy, according to scientists, approaches 80%. The months of the desired conception are shown horizontally, and the age of the woman is shown vertically. Looking at the letters when crossing the lines, you can find out the gender of the unborn baby.

It is believed that this method was originally used only by the royal family in order to plan an heir. Then the table went to the people and penetrated into Europe.

According to the Chinese, the use of the table shown in this picture helps with the conception of a child of the desired gender.


At the place where the lines cross, the gender of the future baby is indicated

The Japanese sex calculation system is based on the same principles, but it is no longer the season that is taken into account, but the date of birth of the parents. Knowing them, the couple should plan sexual intercourse at a time at which the likelihood of conceiving a boy or girl is especially high. First you need to determine "your" number in the table. It is at the crossroads of the months in which the future father and mother were born.
First you need to find the number at the intersection of the months of birth of the mother and father

Now in the second table on the left we find the received number and from it, moving to the right, we are looking for the estimated month of conception. Who is more likely to conceive during the ovulation period of a particular month, we determine by swiping up from the month (or down, if your number is from 1 to 6) to the middle of the plate. There will be pink and blue blocks in the amount from 1 to 7, indicating, respectively, the degree of probability of conceiving a girl and a boy.
Using the Japanese table, you can try to plan the gender of the baby

For example, mom was born in August, dad - in November, we determine the number from the first table - 8. In the second table we find 8 in the first column on the left, move to the right to any month and look: the maximum probability of conceiving a girl will be in April, and a boy - in December. May and June also give good chances for a boy, and December and September for a girl.

Whose blood is newer?

The theory of sex planning for blood renewal claims to be scientific. According to her, every 3 years in the female body and every 4 years in the male body, the blood changes completely. The calculation method is simple: the mother's age is divided by 3, the father's age is divided by 4. Whose number is greater, the biological fluid is fresher, which means that the floor will turn out.

Important! It should be noted that if a woman has a negative Rh factor, then the result will be the opposite.

In addition to age, all operations, childbirth, donor donations, artificial terminations of pregnancy are also taken into account - all of them supposedly also refresh the blood.
The method of planning a baby according to the "freshness" of the blood is considered pseudoscientific

The accuracy of this method, according to popular estimates, is quite high - 65%. And everything would be fine if it were not for the exact medical facts: plasma, which makes up 52% ​​of the moving tissue of the body, is completely renewed every few days. Its elements also do not live long: erythrocytes for about 120 days, leukocytes for 12, platelets for about 7–11 days. Therefore, according to science, the blood of parents and the sex of the unborn child are incompatible concepts.

seasonal signs

Europe also had its own methods of floor planning, which were based on the time of year. According to signs, at conception, boys were born more often in the fall, and girls in the spring.. This fact was explained by the fact that spermatozoa with the Y-chromosome are produced only in conditions that are comfortable for the body, and with a lack of vitamins in the spring, sperm with a female structure are more likely. The effectiveness of the method is also not confirmed by anything - no scientific tests have been carried out on this.

For those who believe in the power of the zodiac

In the mid-1950s, the doctor Evgeny Jonas set up a bold experiment based on knowledge of astrology. He knew that all zodiac signs are divided into male and female. In each of them, the moon is about 2.5 days - this is how the lunar cycle is formed, equal to 29 days. By calculating what sign the planet is in now, a woman can plan intercourse to conceive a child of the desired gender.

Girls are "obtained" when the moon is in the following signs:

  • Scorpio;
  • Cancer;
  • Corpuscle;
  • Pisces;
  • Virgo;
  • Capricorn.

The boy can be planned in the months of the remaining signs. Of course, this version has the right to life, because the presence of biorhythms is confirmed by scientists, but it has no scientific justification.

Positions during sex


To conceive a boy, positions are used that allow sperm to be delivered as close as possible to the uterus, and a girl will be born when choosing a position with minimal penetration

The sex theory for conceiving a child is based on the knowledge that X chromosome spermatozoa are slow and viable. Y-sperms are fast-moving, but short-lived. For planning girls, choose positions with minimal penetration. With it, sperm with a male cell often die on the way to the uterus, and more viable X-spermatozoa slowly and surely reach the cervix. When conceiving a boy, you need to deliver the sperm as close to the uterus as possible. The effectiveness of this theory can be quite large, but a solid percentage of not getting into the chosen gender remains.

To date, there is no reliable method for planning the sex of a child in the world. The myth about the faster movement of Y-sperm compared to X-sperm is based on the assumption that their weight is different due to the different sizes of the sex chromosomes. However, this has never been proven, especially since after a special activation process in the vaginal environment (capicitation), the shape of the spermatozoa changes and it is impossible to distinguish X from Y. The phenomenon, due to which almost the same number of girls and boys are born all over the world, in almost all countries, is still a secret of nature.

Elena Berezovskaya

http://doctorberezovska.com/mifyi-o-zachatii/

Benedo calendar method

Another method based on the theory of sperm progression was proposed by the Polish doctor Frantisek Benedo. He stated that in order to conceive a male child, an act of love must occur about 12 days before the first day of menstruation. In order for a girl to be born, she needs to be conceived even earlier - up to 15 days before menstruation. The fact is that the egg does not live long, it is necessary to fertilize it at the time of ovulation or a day after it. It is possible that the X-spermatozoon will live to right day, but the Y-cell should appear in the vagina as close as possible to the day of fertilization. The method has been criticized more than once, but not challenged. Now it is considered the most effective - its efficiency reaches 83%.

In the bath - for the girl?

Another physiological method is based on the ability of sperm to die at elevated temperatures, for example, with regular visits to the steam room. His followers claim that only weaker male sperm do not survive, and, therefore, the probability of conceiving a girl increases. In fact, there is a general deterioration in the quality of sperm. In general, the possibility of a child from a lover of extremely high temperatures is unlikely. You can return to the issue of procreation no earlier three months from the moment of bath abuse: this is how much spermatozoa mature in the testicles.
High temperatures negatively affect sperm quality

"Almighty" diets

Whether certain foods will help in planning sex is a very controversial issue, but it has been studied more than once by doctors. For example, in the seventies of the XX century, research was carried out in France and Canada. The results were impressive: 80% of couples who were on a particular diet had children of the desired sex. The method is based on the theory of the predominance or deficiency of certain trace elements in the body. For the birth of a boy, parents should minimize fats and carbohydrates. They should consume more potassium: eat potatoes, peas, bananas, dried fruits, and it is better to drink mineral alkaline water.

To conceive a girl, eat foods with calcium:

  • cottage cheese;
  • semolina;
  • eggplant;
  • chocolate;
  • eggs;
  • nuts;

What Science Offers: IVF and MicroSort

In fact, you can plan the floor 100%. This is done during the procedure of in vitro fertilization in a laboratory. The desired sperm is introduced into the egg. But it will not be possible to “make” a boy or a girl to order, at least in Russia: the choice of gender by parents has been prohibited by law since 2012. The only exceptions are couples who already have four same-sex children, or parents who want to avoid the birth of a sick child, whose pathology may be associated with belonging to one sex or another.
With the help of IVF, you can conceive a child of the desired gender

Do you always think about who will be born to you - a boy or a girl? And your curiosity is no less than the fact that you only find out about it on your baby's birthday? What if you can find out now? For example, by date of conception or by what profession does your partner have? You may or may not believe in funny signs, but it is simply necessary to be aware of the factors that can affect the sex of the unborn child.

I got a boy?

You are more likely to have a boy if:

You and your partner live together

Data from a study that surveyed 86,000 couples suggests that you have a slightly better chance if you and your partner live together.

51.5% of couples who lived together before conception had boys (compared to 49.9% of couples who did not live together before conception). However, how exactly the joint life affects the sex of the unborn child is not yet clear to scientists.

You've been together for less than a year

If your relationship is fresh, new, and interesting, you are more likely to have (Brewis and Meyer 2005) . During the period of frequent sexual intimacy with a partner, the Y-sperm, "responsible" for the conception of a boy, are more likely to fertilize the egg.

During turbulent personal relationships, Y-sperm are lighter, have a smaller head and a shorter tail (Jongbloet 2004) . Therefore, they move more actively, falling into an environment of thick fertile mucus (a special mucus produced by the uterus during a period favorable for fertilization), which is not very favorable for them. This coincides with the first and last day of the so-called fertility window, including the time of ovulation (Jongbloet 2004) .

If you and your partner have frequent sex, you are more likely to conceive on the first and last day of your fertility window, when the Y sperm are more active and easier to fertilize an egg.

You are experiencing a stressful situation

It has been noticed that during periods of prolonged tension and stress, for example, during and after the war, more boys are born. (Helle et al 2009, Hohmann et al 2010).

According to one theory, when a woman experiences constant stress, the production of the hormones testosterone and cortisol increases. (Grant 2007, Grant and Irwin 2009). This, possibly, leads to changes in the structure of the egg itself, which facilitates the process of its fertilization by Y-spermatozoa.

How exactly this happens is not yet clear. However, scientists still know little about the very moment of fertilization of the egg.

Do you prefer high calorie foods?

In one study, British scientists divided 740 female subjects into two groups based on the calorie content of their diet (Mathews et al 2008) . 56% of women whose diet was more nutritious (about 2413 calories) gave birth to boys. Those who ate less high-calorie food, boys were born in 45% of cases.

Boys are more vulnerable and, according to statistics, a woman is less likely to conceive a boy or successfully bear him if the mother-to-be's diet is poor and not nutritious. X-spermatozoa (determine the conception of a girl) are more stable, therefore, in a difficult time for the female body (for example, during a period of malnutrition), more of them survive.

However, regardless of your desire to have a boy or a girl, you need to understand that a full-fledged diet for a future mother is very important - both before conception and during pregnancy.

Do I have a girl?

You are slightly more likely to conceive a girl if:

You are over 35 years old, and the future dad is over 40

The older the expectant mother and father, the more likely it is that the X sperm will fertilize the egg (Matsuo et al 2009) . Perhaps this is due to the influence of hormones that the body of a mature woman produces. Also, the older your partner is, the more likely the X sperm is to win the race. The quality of sperm depends on the age of the man - the older he is, the less Y-sperm in it.

However, this can be explained by the fact that the older married couple the less often they have sex (Brewis 2005) . It is also possible that more mature couples prefer to have sex around the middle of a woman's fertile period, when X-sperm have an advantage over Y-sperm.

You have early toxicosis

If you already suffer from (excessive pregnancy vomiting) early in your pregnancy, you are more likely to have a girl.

Data from more than 13 scientific studies indicate that 55% of women suffering from early toxicosis, girls were born span class="citation"> (Veenendaal et al 2011). In the control group of women who did not suffer from severe toxicosis, girls were born in 49% of cases. Some experts believe this is due to high levels of the hormone estrogen, which is thought to be the cause of excessive pregnancy vomiting.

You were born in a tropical country or conceived your child there

Do you like long holidays in a warm country?

There is no exact data on how long you and your partner need to be in a tropical climate to conceive a girl. Or that in order to conceive a girl, it is only necessary that the mother of the unborn child herself be born in such an area. A global study of birth dates suggests that girls are more likely to be born in countries near the equator (Navara 2009) .

According to one theory, the hormone melatonin plays a role here. Melatonin causes changes in the reproductive system of animals in response to a reduction or increase in daylight hours. More girls are born at times when daylight hours are longer. Or perhaps it is the elevated temperature in such countries that affects how much and which spermatozoa the semen contains.

Your child was conceived in winter

However, data show that in some countries more girls were conceived in winter and more boys were conceived in summer (Cagnacci et al 2003, Melnikov and Grech 2003). Farmers have noted this pattern in pets for many years.

This can be explained by the fact that viruses and bacteria are more active in winter. Since Y-sperm and "male" embryos are more vulnerable, and X-sperm and "female" embryos are more likely to resist those infections that affect the body of the expectant mother.

Your partner has a hard or "harmful" job

Some studies have looked at the relationship between a href="#" bcmltype="link" logicalid="564484">the future father's profession and the birth rate of boys and girls. Scientists have come to the conclusion that men whose work is associated with constant stress and harmful factors are more likely to have girls.

According to these studies, a woman is more likely to have a girl if her husband:

  • professional driver (James 2008)
  • diver (James 2008)
  • sonar operator (Volk 2004)
  • elevator worker (Milham and Ossiander 2008)
  • military pilot (James 2008)

You got pregnant after hormonally induced ovulation

According to scientific data, women who use hormones such as clomiphene to induce ovulation are more likely to have girls. (James 2008). However, not everyone agrees with these data.

You already have two or more children

It is believed that the more children you have already given birth to, the more likely you are to conceive a girl next. Perhaps this is due to the influence of the hormone gonadotropin, the level of which increases with each pregnancy. Some scholars associate high level the content in the blood of the expectant mother of this hormone is more likely to conceive and give birth to a girl.