In our traditional practices, many women have always been berated for their ‘inability’ to give their husbands a male child. Oh yes! It has always been this thing about a male child but that would be story for another day.

In time past, the women would split their head, seeking information to find out how they could actually follow particular methods to conceive a boy. Unfortunately, this chase has not stopped in today’s society and marriages. What rather happened is that the wheel became merely reinvented – it is now couples digging deeper trying to see how they can conceive the ‘choicest’ gender at every given conception.

That is to say that the chase for a male child in our marriages may never relax, not today, not tomorrow… maybe not forever.

What Research Say About Choosing Gender During Conception

Interestingly, sometime ago, South African researchers, Gwinyai Masukume from the University of the Witwaterstrand and Victor Grech at the University of Malta published a study that says “More sex during South Africa’s World Cup meant more boys nine months on.” With this new study, can you imagine the stampede that would have gone down in many South African marriages? That would be yet another story for another day.

Does this this say anything? Yes. It still sounds the gong that the chase of male preference in African marriages is still on. There’s really nothing anybody can do about it.

Besides most women have come to accept the fate – that is if for one reason or another they have no male child 5 –  10 years down their nuptial lives, they go panicky. This is shocking though if we remember our biology classes. It’s not and will never be in the woman’s destiny to determine. Whether your baby is a boy or a girl is influenced by the chromosome it inherits from its father, not the mum. It’s common knowledge now.  Science made us see, the egg from the mother would always carry an X (female) chromosome, but the sperm would always be proud to nurture either a female or a Y (male) chromosome. When the chromosomes come together and the egg  fertilised, a baby boy is conceived if they are XY and if they are XX a baby girl would have been on her way.

According to the study, “Human Sex Reversal is caused by Duplication or Deletion of Core Enhancers Upstream of SOX9,” which was published in the journal Nature Communications with MCRI researcher and Hudson Institute PhD student, Brittany Croft, is the first author: “The sex of a baby is determined by its chromosome make-up at conception. An embryo with two X chromosomes will become a girl, while an embryo with an X-Y combination results in a boy,” Croft said.

Can You Really Choose The Sex Of Your Baby? YES

Now the question is: Can you hope and pray for a boy or girl and then follow specific methods to make it happen? Well, there have been various methods behind the conception of a boy or girl. But this doesn’t mean the so-called established techniques are sure-fire. Yes, fertility specialists have the ability to create and identify embryos of either sex. However, it is not allowed to choose your baby’s sex unless there’s a medical reason for it. In fact: “You can’t medically intervene with conception just to balance your family, or for social or cultural reasons,” warned Baby Centre.  The mother and child centre indicated: “Only pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been approved as a technique which does this.”

“You can only legally choose your baby’s sex in the UK if you have a serious genetic condition that you risk passing on to your children and only affects one of the two sexes,” Baby Centre illustrated.

So? Sorry, but no sorry. Geneticists do not really have the answer to your question either, at least not for you.

All what exists are mere old wives tales for the purpose. According to a popular one, if you eat more meat while trying to conceive, it will result to a boy. Is this true? You already know it’s a big NO. Therefore, you can continue to try these myths in the privacy of your own home, but they work no better than leaving things to chance.

Theoretically, there are two models, Baby Centre said – the Shettles method and the Whelan method, both named after the people who devised them. There’s a third method which combines timing theories with observations of your cervical mucus – the Billings method. Do kindly note that these methods are theories rather than proven techniques. There’s no evidence that any of them truly works.

How To Conceive A Boy Or Girl: Conclusion

The answer to the everyday question of whether it is possible to choose the sex of babies are a straight YES. But it’s only possible for you if there’s a medical reason for it.

In today’s world, we have seen both sexes do badly in their fields of engagements just as they both can be successful too. So what’s the hoopla about? And what does this tell us? That both genders are beautiful blessings that we ought to be grateful for.