Before I dive in...

[ArrMom]

I'd like to know as much information as I can about the subject of swaying. I'm thinking about starting mid-next year, but I felt it was important for me to start gathering information now. If Shettles' theory of x and y sperm having different characteristics has been disproven, how does diet play into swaying? Also, if diet sways, how are boy/girl twins explained?

[ksmom]

You can find a plethora of information on swaying here The Complete Index

Also Understanding Trivers Willard Hypothesis
The Trouble with Timing

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi and welcome!

Shettles HAS been disproven and you can read the science behind that here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...le-timing.html and here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/sway...m-y-sperm.html

Gender swaying is never 100%. We seem to get reliably 65%-70% with swaying (and anyone who says different is manipulating their data to make swaying look more successful than it is by cherry picking people whose sways succeeded and finding reasons to eliminate people who got opposites). And most people in the real world aren't swaying anyway and so have more like a 50-50 chance. So that's how boy-girl twins are conceived.

The unfortunate truth of swaying is that we honestly don't know HOW it works. We know why (the Trivers Willard hypothesis) but when it comes down to the actual mechanisms all we have is a lot of guesswork. I find that when we focus too much on the guesswork we end up with people doing things to accomplish guesses instead of realities...this is how people end up taking 100 different herbs that supposedly lower testosterone and ingesting dangerous amounts of electrolytes and end up sick and unable to conceive, all for things that don't even work anyway! So I think it's best to focus on what has worked for most people, most of the time (LE Diet longer than 12 weeks plus fiber, coffee, and alcohol; cardio exercise 60 minutes a day 6-7 days a week, one attempt, and Clomid or Femara if you can get them) instead of chasing down tons of things that do nothing other than cut odds of conception.

Now, if you'd like my speculation I'm happy to give it, but take it for what it's worth (not much) and just do what has worked for most people most of the time!

My speculation is that as we decline in condition, our body starts lowering hormone levels as a kind of natural birth control. Our cycles get longer, our LP can get shorter, and eventually we'd end up unable to get pregnant (and as many of us have found to our dismay, it only takes a fairly small reduction in caloric intake and/or increase in exercise to make that process start to occur) There is a continuum where people who are slightly declined in fertility but still able to conceive are more likely to have girls and those who are higher in fertility end up with more boys and so what we're aiming at is just a gentle reduction in fertility via diet and exercise. Blood glucose levels seems to play a part in this BUT I don't want anyone to go nuts chasing the "blood glucose dragon" LOL because you don't need to do and take everything that lowers blood glucose levels, just isn't necessary.

We don't really know how the one attempt works, but it sure seems to. My speculation is that there is some primitive communication between X and Y sperm that makes more X or Y "wake up" (capacitate) and be ready to fertilize the egg while the Y or X "stay asleep" (remain dormant) till they die. Or, it may be that higher numbers at the egg favor one vs. the other (finding that less likely, though) or even that the egg has some "choice" in the matter about who she lets through the gates.

[ArrMom]

Thank you for your fast and detailed response! It really helps. I want to have answers to as many questions as I can get!

[atomic sagebrush]

That's what I'm here for! Good luck and let me know how I can help.