So overwhelmed with info please help! this is our last baby & I want to do everything I can.

[Beluga12]

We had been planning to TTC for our 4th & final baby in January but other plans got in the way & we had to postpone. I stopped researching & now we have the chance to try for the next 3 months & I am so nervous! This will be our last attempt for a little girl & both DH & I are willing to do everything we can. We would obviously love our baby if we had 1 last boy but we are really hoping to try for a girl this time around. That being said I have read so much information I feel like now I'm just jumbling things up. I have so many questions. Please help! Our last sweet baby boy was a failed pink sway so I am more nervous about doing things I shouldn't.

1. My husband is willing to do anything he can. He usually lifts weights but we've read that can increase testosterone so he has stopped. What exercise should he be doing? Is only running & biking recommended? Also energy drinks. I have read contradictions about those. He has stopped & switched to drinking more coffee & soda. Is this correct? I have searched for pink swaying tips just for my husband but haven't seen much just meant for him. He wants this as much as me & he is such a great sport & will do whatever I ask him to but I feel like I will tell him the wrong thing & throw us off & this is our last chance.

2. He took AZO cranberry w/vitamin c in it last time & we were wondering if that is something that is still recommended to do? and for both of us?

3. Represh/Replens. These are something I didn't read about until our last cycle trying with baby3 & I used Represh only once. Now I've read I should use Rephresh before & Replens as lube during the attempt or a replens finger after? I am so confused on this but have read some say yes & some say no. Please help!

4. I didn't drink caffeine or coke with baby2 or 3. I have been drinking more soda lately & I was wondering if diet coke is more recommended than regular coke? Or if it has to be diet would diet cherry vanilla dr pepper work too? If diet coke is what will help most then I will drink it whether I like it or not but I'm so confused on if there is a preference. I like regular coke but if I should go diet I will do it in a heartbeat.

5.When to BD. Last 2 pregnancies we DTD everyday with number 2 & every other day with number 3 all the way through ovulation. Now for this time I had read to abstain & do 1 attempt at the beginning of ovulation & stop or I can DTD everyday from when AF ends until Ovulation. Is one said to work better for a girl sway than the other? I have the clearblue ovulation monitor that tells me when I start ovulation so the plan was to abstain & DTD the first day it says I'm in my window & that's it. Would you recommend that? My period has been all over the place lately & I used to have it down to the day almost but now not so much.

6. Sudafed? Is it still recommended to take this after our attempt?

I'm sorry so many questions but I feel like my last sway I was confused by everything I read & in some ways ended up swaying blue without even knowing. I had a friend with 3 girls that told me to dtd every other day all the way through ovulation so I did & I believe that contributed to having a boy. Last time DH took a hot shower before every attempt. No O. Shallow penetration. J&D immediately after. AZO cranberry. LE diet but I did still eat a small bowl of kix for breakfast everyday bc I have low blood pressure & feel super sick & dizzy if I don't eat a little something. I was also eating an egg everyday but have now read that is a no no & could have also swayed boy? I feel like I did so much research last time that I just confused everything & unintentionally messed up my own sway. I've read lots of Atomics posts & have heard she is the best so I want to reach out for help this time around. thank you so much for reading all this & for any help you can give me! You don't know how much I appreciate it. My husband tries to research & help but then I just feel like if we don't reach out & didn't do all we can this time that we will regret not asking.

[Beluga12]

Bump.

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you so much for your patience!

1)Running and biking have been shown in studies to sway pink when done by DH. This doesn't mean that other exercises don't sway, just that we don't have the evidence to show it clearly. Testosterone levels have never been shown to sway in men (or women, believe it or not - so much of this is based on sheer supposition) and in fact there are lots of bodybuilders who have all girls - but we don't know if that's from weight lifting or from some of the supplements they take or from some other thing all together. If he's willing to give up weights for a while, great.

We have seen lots of girls both on here and IRL to men hitting energy drinks hard. We don't know if it's because energy drinks actually sway pink, or because men who drink them are prone to having girls for some other reason. I have everyone leave them out, both pink and blue swayers, because I don't know how they sway and I don't trust them. Coffee likely sways pink but we have much less evidence for DH than for DW.

The reason we focus more on DW is twofold - firstly because many things that were long said to sway for DH have not panned out (in a couple cases, actually seeming to even sway BLUE!!) and secondly because the vast majority of hubbies would do nothing to sway and it makes people feel very upset when their husbands are unwilling. Your hubby is in the minority if he's willing to help (which is great!)

I would have him take Olive Leaf Extract 500-1000 mg dry leaf instead.

posting first half now, be back soon for the rest

[atomic sagebrush]

In our results the jellies like RepHresh and Replens did not seem to work. Fine if you want to use them, although I'd skip Replens totally and do Sylk or Acijel instead. Replens is not a great lube and makes everything gummy and gross.

I don't think diet drinks do anything. I prefer you guys keep them to the FDA approved amount of 2-3 servings max. Coffee is likely what sways pink, not caffeine in and of itself, so I suggest coffee anyway (there is very little caffeine in soda)

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT BD daily or every other day for pink. We have found a strong trend with one attempt in the fertile window being strongly pink friendly. DTD daily or EOD is the worst thing for pink, even with cutoffs, because cutoffs don't sway anyway and you will likely end up with more than one attempt in the fertile window that way.

Can you elaborate what you mean by "the first day you're in your window?" Flashy or solid smiley?

I've never recommended Sudafed for women as it's dangerous for younger women to take. Has been linked to strokes esp. in people taking things like cranberry or aspirin. If your husband is 35 and in good health, not taking medication you can give him one about 1 hour before intercourse, but I don't think it works.

Remember, your friend with all girls was likely "set" for girls in other ways so she could have done lots of blue friendly things and had girls anyway.

Hot shower, shallow penetration, no O, J and D are all at your discretion, but do know that shallow penetration has cut odds of concepiton hugely for people so I generally do not advise it.

If you have to eat something in the morning, that is fine. PLEASE do not eat breakfast cereal which is highly fortified and the only food ever shown in studies to sway blue.

I do not recommend cranberry as it only adds more nutrients to your diet and has not worked at all for us.

An egg a day is not a dealbreaker, most people stick to more like 4-6 eggs a week, but I doubt that's why you got a boy. The cereal and the BD EOD thru O were likely much more important, but that is actually good news, there are a couple very easy things to fix! :)

Thanks again for your patience.

[Beluga12]

Thank you so much for all of your advice & taking your time to explain this all to me! I feel so much better knowing what I should leave out & what I could do to help in the future! I really do appreciate all of your time!

Sorry that that sounds so confusing. When I said the first day of my window I was meaning based off of the P tracker app. I have just started using the clearblue monitor about 2 months ago & I also use the P tracker app. My period is usually about 3-5 days off from the P tracker app so I was nervous just using that app alone to track ovulation & the clearblue seems to be pretty accurate so far. I'm not really sure when I should try our 1 attempt honestly. Do I want to do it when I first get the blinking smiley? If I'm using the clearblue monitor should I even be paying attention to the P tracker app or just base it on the Clearblue? I think I'm confusing myself even more than I need to be lol.



If the Replens isn't shown to help I would honestly rather not bother to use it so we will definitely get rid of that. Also we will get the Olive leaf & stop the cranberry. My husband says it tastes gross & would be glad to not take it lol! He also never drank coffee & has recently started drinking it because he's been busier at work & way less sleep with little kids so it is what keeps us going lately & I am glad to hear that it could possibly help for a pink sway. We will also forget about the Sudafed.

I will stop the breakfast cereal immediately & just find something else light to have in the morning. I find if I don't have anything I am shaky all morning & not productive at all. Is there anything you would recommend if I just want something light that won't hurt my sway? Could I do something like a whole wheat sandwich thin with peanut butter or even just a plain white one with peanut butter? My husband eats bran muffins often so I could even swipe one of those lol.

I feel like I've read so much on different sites & confused myself so much. I am now sticking to this site because I know googling has lead me to other sites & everything is so contradictory & I have seen such great success stories on this site. I am so thankful for your help & really appreciate you taking time out of your day to answer these questions! =)

[atomic sagebrush]

The apps are extremely unreliable (and you can see for yourself as it's not getting your period right, so it's very unlikely it's not getting your fertile window correct either). I would have you pay NO attention to the app.

If you want timing, have your attempt at the SECOND flashy but be aware you can get many days of flashy or go straight to peak. If you don't care about timing, wait for first peak (solid smiley) and have one attempt then.

Any of those things are fine. You just want to avoid that highly fortified breakfast cereal.

I'm happy to help! Just let me know how!

[Beluga12]

Thank you so much! I am feeling a lot less overwhelmed after talking to you & adding/taking away what I need to. I will add questions as I think of them & am glad to go into this feeling like I'm doing what I can.

2 more questions.
1. I've read about fiber such as metamucil or benefiber tabs. Is that something you would strongly recommend? I will be honest & say I could really use something like that as I've suffered from constipation my entire life. Very tmi I'm so sorry �� so if that would help me in general & for my sway it would be a welcome help.

2. Peanut butter? I've read back & forth about it swaying one way or another. My mom had 2 girls & ate a ton of peanut butter. She was also a vegetarian which I'm sure helped. Should I keep it or drop it?
She also ate bran muffins every day that she made using All-bran cereal. I know you say no cereal so is that something I should stay away from or is it different? I feel like this is a dumb question as I write it.

[atomic sagebrush]

I do recommend fiber. Start off with a very low dose because it can make constipation worse if you start off taking a lot of it. You don't need much for your sway anyway, no one ever needs those super high doses on the bottle. just start off with the minimum amount before any meal containing fat. IF it doesn't have fat, don't take the fiber, it won't help your sway. The fiber is to remove fats and fat soluble nutrients like A, D, E, K from your diet (most of the time these occur with fats, but skim dairy has some of those nutrients in it too and you may want to take fiber with skim dairy as well)

Re peanut butter, there are no foods that really truly sway in and of themselves (possible exception is anything that is highly fortified like breakfast cereal or power bars). Peanut butter can have a part to play in a pink and a blue friendly diet. The HE and LE Diets are different in many many ways so some things can easily fit in either diet. Within the limits of the day, peanut butter is fine on LE Diet.

yes please avoid the muffins with all-bran cereal. The cereal is highly fortified and nutrients sway blue, even though she got girls while eating them.