Egg Cycle Method -- gender selection -- anyone try this?

[ILindGurl]

Somehow stumbled on this...anyone try her method?
Interesting how the fertility expert doesn't believe it really works and that her positive results are probably coincidental (and funny how the doctor, Dr. Hershlag, is Oscar winner Natalie Portman's dad)

Selecting Your Baby's Gender? (http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/selecting-baby-gender-20120206)

[kaseybaby]

I think anyone who pays her $350 needs to get a refund because it is a scam.

[atomic sagebrush]

It can't work because X and Y sperm do not have different electrical charges, and therefore an egg cannot attract different gender sperm, thru electrical charges.

If this was true, then people would never get both boys and girls when they go HT which they do all the time.

[ILindGurl]

So, in case anyone is curious, I filled out her online questionnaire and received this response today:

"After gathering all your information and putting them into my method, I am sorry to tell you that you are not suitable for my method. As I mentioned in my web site not every woman is suitable for this method and if I see ahead of time that your success rate with my method are not as high, I choose to tell you this in advance. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact me by logging on to ... "

I'm not sure why I wasn't a good match? I have regular cycles, and all my past cycle info -- maybe it's my advanced maternal age? LOL. At least she doesn't give advice unless she feels confident that the method could really work for you.

[atomic sagebrush]

That is really interesting and I thank you much for sharing that info! On the one hand I do agree it's nice that she will turn people down if she doesn't think she can help them, but at the same time that makes me think she's cherry picking her data somehow.

My suspicion would be that she somehow takes age into account, and the fact that you've had two boys in your late 30's, may mean that the "bump" in girl conceptions may not be as effective for you as it is for another person...but no worries on that, we don't rely on that kind of thing around here! :)

[Zivic-Bubac]

Hmmm...it's practically the same as the Selnas Method, which is also based on a theory of diff x and y electrical charges. They also give you a calendar for your DG, price is around $400 from what I've found on line.

Here is one of the links for Selnas The Selnas Method (http://wparent.com/selnas-method/)

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you for sharing that Zivic!

I do want everyone to know that the "research data" that claims to prove the "egg's polarity cycle" the Selnas page refers to was never published in any journal for independent review by other researchers and so is highly suspect...I'm not saying it isn't true, just that it's not been reviewed by independent researchers. Instead, the "researcher" took that info to open up these clinics overseas in some countries without a lot of oversight, and charge $$ for the process.

To the best of my knowledge and research, while the egg does have a temporary electrical charge, that's to keep out sperm once the egg has been fertilized and it only occurs in non-mammals...mammals have chemical means to keep out other sperm once the egg has been fertilized and you can read a brief description here. Polyspermy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyspermy)

[MyByC]

Ok. So I found about the Selnas(what I have asked you in other post Atomic).
I have payed them 50$ for my calendar and I can show you mine if you wish + all the other advices. I've been talking with someone throw email after they sent it and that lady said she believes in diet + selans or just selnas.
She does not believe in shettle.
The thing is that they have a 98.7% rate of succes...I have searched for negative opinions but found 0 over all internet, so it's interesting.
Also, asked 2 different doctors and they said they do not believe in swaying gender(shettle or other methods)but they know about polarity(which selans explains on it's web). The only thing is that, my doctors said, nobody can know which days a women has polarity for girls or boys...

[maidentomother]

1. This polarity bullshit makes no actual sense, it's pseudoscience meant to lure the masses 2. Why would gender polarity alternate? There are no similar natural processes. It's just so arbitrary, and goes against the (well-supported) theory that animals need to be able to adjust the sex ratio to optimize survival of their genes. 3. I think, personally, that eggs are preset, to varying degrees based on the woman, to accept X or Y sperm via surface proteins. Surface proteins are how all cells communicate and allow for a great deal of both variation and specifity, which makes much more sense than simple polarity for sex selection.

[WantingPink]

I don't know... polarity based on particular days? Would be interesting to see a past calendar and see if it lines up with people who already have kids. I think if this were true then we wouldn't see women having 5,6, and 7 boys (or girls).

What does make more sense is selection of gender based on maternal condition and survival of the species as a whole. When you read post after post on this board you see the boys Moms say how boy friendly their life and diets are and how the girl Moms say the same thing. I don't think it was any coincidence that I had two boys when I was super healthy, exercising, eating good quality food. I had two girls when my heath wasn't optimal and I wasn't eating quality food and I wasn't exercising.

That being said I think that anything that "claims" a 98.7% warrants a closer look. After all we really don't understand how the heck most of these things work.

[atomic sagebrush]

Well, of course I HAVE taken a closer look at it (hence my earlier comments in this thread) and I don't bother mentioning it because it's ridiculous nonsense and I find that sometimes even when I try to debunk something, all I do is bring it to the attention of some people and I'd really rather not.

Firstly, I mention again the fact I brought up earlier in the thread, that the idea that X and Y sperm having different charges has been totally debunked and thus this cannot work.

The "polarity" of which they speak is NOT ELECTRICAL POLARITY. It's not magnetic, or a charge in any way, and it's a complete misrepresentation of the facts to make a claim that it is. The word "polar" just means something that has two opposite sides and at a point in the development of the egg, it splits off and creates something called a "polar body" that is just a bunch of stuff that can't be fertilized. you end up with one egg and 3 "polar bodies" but that doesn't mean that eggs are magnetic or electric in any way. Some animals DO have electrically charged eggs like sea urchins but humans do not. Think about it, if there was really any charge pulling sperm to egg, it would ahve to be SO STRONG that it would be easily detected and proven beyond a doubt, we'd all ahve read about it in our 8th grade biology books.

Aside from all that and what Maiden has already mentioned, common sense time, if it were true, then we would not see the trends that have been shown in hundreds of other studies where other things were shown very clearly to alter the gender ratio. Do women around the Equator have more girls because they're all getting pg in the "right" months for them from sheer dumb luck? Do women with Masters Degrees have more boys becasue they somehow all managed to get pg in their boy months? Do men who ride bikes have more daughters because just from sheer random chance they happen to impregnate women in certain months and not others? Are we getting 70-75% boys and 65-70% girls from swaying on this site because we are just so darn fortunate that we are somehow magically happening to hit our lucky months? No, of course not, it makes no sense.

I am really sorry that anyone spent money on it. It's reported 98% success rate is because they're liars who are in business to cheat and scam people instead of helping them.