Are you planning on having another child? Would you choose the gender of your baby if you could? It's not something I was overally concerned about during my pregnancies; I have two beautiful daughters and would have liked a boy but I was stopping at two regardless of each baby's sex. I have friends who kept trying to have a girl and -- four boys later -- they finally gave up. Since some people do place a lot of importance on the gender of their children, I decided to look into this topic a little more.

Gender selection of children is a controversial topic, particularly when it comes to genetic therapy and the ethics of picking the sex of your child. However, there are some natural and ethical steps that you can take that may influence the gender of your baby.

No method is 100% guaranteed but if you are determined to have a boy or a girl, there are a few things that can be done to significantly increase your chances of conceiving the gender of your choice. Remember, a healthy baby is most important. But if you do want to try to pick the gender of your child, it is possible.

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Basically, it all comes down to differences in sperm. "Boy" sperm carries the Y chromosome and "girl" sperm carries the X chromosome. The "boy" sperm are faster and smaller than "girl" sperm but they do not last as long. Each sperm type also has a different preference in terms of the acidity of the vagina and cervix. "Boy" sperm do better in acidic environment; "girl" sperm prefer an alkaline environment.

It is important to understand how these differences play into natural gender selection. Timing is critical if your goal is a boy. Since "boy" sperm do not live long, you must schedule your intercourse as closely to ovulation as possible. This will allow time for the "boy" sperm time to reach the egg before the "girl" sperm do, increasing the likelihood that you will have a boy.

Since "girl" sperm take longer to travel up through the cervix, you must give it time to reach the egg. As they live longer than "boy" sperm, you will want to time your intercourse a few days before ovulate. By this time, the "boy" sperm will have died off, leaving only the "girl" sperm available to fertilize the egg.

There is more to it than this; but hopefully this give you a basic understanding of how this might naturally work. I will explore this topic further, including genetic therapy, in future blog postings.

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Have you or anyone you know tried to naturally influence the gender of their child? Was it successful? What were the steps they followed?