A little confused...

[Emery]

Since TTC Pink is taking over my life that seems to be all I think about. On the way to work this morning, I started thinking about everything I have done to change my pH and confused myself.

If diet, supplements, repHresh/replens, douches, etc can sway a certain gender, but timing is the least important factor, how does it all work?

For example, if the y sperm are slower due to a more acidic pH, wouldn't it be possible to conceive a boy due to timing (if the egg was fertilized late)? Nothing I have read says that acidic pH kills off the boy sperm. It just mentions "favoring' girl sperm. Does the girl sperm live longer in a more acidic environment?

Am I thinking too much into this?

[nuthinbutpink]

From what I have read thus far, diet and the ratios of potassium/sodium to calcium/magnesium make the difference in gender determination. Nothing else has any scientific evidence behind it and are largely based on assumptions, some of which have been disproven. So, diet is key. Have you read the French gender post in the main swaying forum that talks about the several studies that are behind its diet? If not, it may be helpful to you. In the FG book, it actually speaks to all those different areas that you mention and there just isn't any solid proof to back up those claims.

[Emery]

No I havent but I will go check it out. Thanks so much NBP. (Oh and I also sent you a PM.)

[purplepoet20]

You are thinking to much.... I do that too. I jump from planning my sway, to organizing the girly items I have, to dreaming about things I want to do with a daughter, and then back to sway plan. It is natural. The excitment, the fear of failure, the dreams, the wishes, and the "what would/do others think". There is so much info, but time feels limited, and things have to go right or feelings can be hard to deal with.

The biggest thing is to write down what you know and a plan to fit your life. And most important find a way to deal with possible dissapointment before conceiving, I am using the "at least I tried" method. And planning only boy activities so I don't get excited about girly things.

Everything works together... one person may say that using just 1 (either diet, vita, herbs, timing) and they got the gender they wanted. But they may have only worked for them and no one else. By planning ahead your body adjust to the changes and you increase your chances that everything will work. Coffee works to make the boy sperm hyper-active but acidic ph slows them down by freezing them or shocking them. Diet affects whether your body will accept an egg, tons of calories and you are more likly to get a boy because your body thinks that the crops are harvested and food is plentiful but fewer calories and your body thinks that it was a bad year and food supplies are low. AKA diet is based on a fetuses survival rate.

[praying4princess]

I have a question too, about timing...I had read on IG about the progesterone spikes after O, which would be O+12, which favors girls...and it looks like estrogen spikes before O, so Im confused about the cut off thing and when is good for girl? Is it before the estrogen spike, or does that really matter? How important of a role does progesterone play in swaying? Sorry, probably a dumb question but Im a little confused by timing. Alot of people say its least important yet they plan either a cutoff or try for O+12.....

[lindi]

I think timing is seemingly easy... well O+12 could be quite hard and otherwise timing you need to know your cycle, but I think it's an appealing part of swaying because of its simplicity and the Shettles book making it a popular notion. But in all the studies I read, really girls and boys for the most part are concieved without radical % differences on every fertile day. Most days favor boys. Because just chance favors boys anyways. There isn't really any day relative to O where more girls are conceived (O+12 of course, but that is a VERY limited study so is it even valuable?). But I do think day 3 was the best of all possible days, meaning more girls were conceived (relative to other days) around 3-2 days before O than other days.
So I would really just try to stay away from O day, because that was the best for boys, and not think too hard on timing. I think timing "works" in the tiny way it mght because the CM and uterine fluids are probably more in a state on those days to help X sperm survive and Y to fail, but you can replicate that state on other days through diet and chemistry. I believe hormonal changes and mineral changes can do a lot. An exaggerated version of what timing does, so to speak. There is some interesting stuff I have read about glucose in CM and possibly all the fluids that sperm and embryos come into contact with and how different gender sperm and eggs react differently to those things, so I really believe the woman's body chemistry sways things. And focusing on how to change that chemistry is the best place to focus your sway research and effort.

[praying4princess]

Lindi~ in your opinion, do you think as long as were sticking to an acidic diet, taking the supplements, and trying to lower testosterone to change the chemistry of our body, that the progesterone spike isnt quite as important? If that makes sense! Im worrying about the hormone levels before O, so do you think all of these factors will have enough affect that those levels arent as important? I know I am absolutely worrying myself too much over timing!! Lol There were several girls who DTD through O and still got pink because of the diet and supplements! I guess Im just worried about taking any chances!

[atomic sagebrush]

Since TTC Pink is taking over my life that seems to be all I think about. On the way to work this morning, I started thinking about everything I have done to change my pH and confused myself.

If diet, supplements, repHresh/replens, douches, etc can sway a certain gender, but timing is the least important factor, how does it all work?

For example, if the y sperm are slower due to a more acidic pH, wouldn't it be possible to conceive a boy due to timing (if the egg was fertilized late)? Nothing I have read says that acidic pH kills off the boy sperm. It just mentions "favoring' girl sperm. Does the girl sperm live longer in a more acidic environment?

Am I thinking too much into this?

I agree totally that the traditional ideas regarding swaying don't add up. They can't all be true and I don't accept the idea that they are only true for some people and not others. Whatever sways, it has to be consistent for all people everywhere or I don't buy it and it needs to add up and explain everything and it shouldn't require some as-yet-to-be discovered mechanism either.

Here is what ~I~ think sways - and I have no data whatsoever to back this up, this is my own conclusion drawn from my research on what seems to make the most sense and explain the best without requiring made-up mechanisms like calcium "pulling" X sperm along or Y sperm "liking" high pH to do it.

I think that perhaps, Y sperm need more sperm onhand to successfully make it through the CM to the egg and to penetrate the egg shell than X do. One sperm alone cannot penetrate an egg, it takes many sperm to weaken the shell enough to allow one to fertilize the egg, and just in terms of sheer luck, greater numbers of sperm have a greater chance of surviving to reach the egg to begin with. Since X is very slightly larger, maybe it takes fewer sperm to allow one to penetrate the shell and fertilize the egg. So higher numbers and higher quality of ALL sperm, may raise the chances that enough numbers will reach the egg to allow a Y sperm will fertilize the egg (although an X CAN still fertilize it, there is still a luck factor). So sperm count factors like abstinence, jump and dump, etc. would then sway by reducing overall sperm numbers.

Also, in this scenario, the hardness of the egg's shell could potentially make a difference, if it is very hard to penetrate maybe it could require even more sperm onhand and make it even more likely that an X penetrates the shell. Maybe if a lot of sperm are present, it may weaken the shell enough so the smaller Y have an advantage (imagine pushing something big through a piece of plastic wrap - the surface tension is higher and so it takes more force - something smaller might penetrate it more easily.) Even though there is such a small difference in size between the two, it would seem probable to me that a slightly larger cell would have more of an advantage to break through a hard eggshell than a slightly smaller one, and a smaller cell might have an advantage to break through something with more give to it. Timing, the amounts of fat in the diet, and minerals might make a difference here.

The texture, pH, and amount of CM would sway in a big way by making it easier/harder for sperm to reach the egg. If the CM is such that very few sperm reach the egg, then maybe X is more likely to successfully fertilize the egg. If a lot of sperm reach the egg, it may follow that Y has a better shot at it by weakening the shell. Timing, hormones, diet, weight loss, antihistamines, jellies, all these things can affect, to greater/lesser extent, the quality of CM. Even minerals might affect a sway somehow this way.

So in this scenario, pH would sway by killing off some sperm of BOTH genders, leaving less sperm behind to make it to the egg, making it more likely that X will fertilize the egg. Cutoff timing would sway by giving time for some sperm of BOTH genders to die off and lowering sperm numbers. Diet and seasons may sway by reducing overall fertility in both husband and wife, reducing sperm count/quality and CM.

And failed sways happen because even after you do all these things, there's no guarantee that your sperm numbers will be low and even if they are, it could just come down to dumb luck and a wrong-gendered sperm happened to be in the right place at the right time.

[atomic sagebrush]

From what I have read thus far, diet and the ratios of potassium/sodium to calcium/magnesium make the difference in gender determination. Nothing else has any scientific evidence behind it and are largely based on assumptions, some of which have been disproven. So, diet is key. Have you read the French gender post in the main swaying forum that talks about the several studies that are behind its diet? If not, it may be helpful to you. In the FG book, it actually speaks to all those different areas that you mention and there just isn't any solid proof to back up those claims.

Just to clarify, other aspects of diet (low protein, low calorie, low nutrient, low fat), testosterone, and blood sugar levels all have scientific data backing them up and most of it is from much more reliable sources than the French/Dutch diets.

[atomic sagebrush]

I have a question too, about timing...I had read on IG about the progesterone spikes after O, which would be O+12, which favors girls...and it looks like estrogen spikes before O, so Im confused about the cut off thing and when is good for girl? Is it before the estrogen spike, or does that really matter? How important of a role does progesterone play in swaying? Sorry, probably a dumb question but Im a little confused by timing. Alot of people say its least important yet they plan either a cutoff or try for O+12.....

Here's the thing - we don't know how important it is or if it's important at all. The evidence I have seen favoring testosterone = more boys is WAY more compelling than any of the progesterone/estrogen stuff. And yet people end up raising their testosterone because they stress so much over timing.

The entire design of the female reproductive tract is tailor-made to keep sperm alive for as long as possible. Sperm stays alive for 5 days before O and the egg is only alive at best for 1 day (and for those of us who are older, 12 hours.) Most humans who have ever walked on the face of the planet were conceived from sperm already in the cervical crypts prior to ovulation. Given this fact, it is very unlikely that many and certainly not most women were conceived with a single shot 12 hours after ovulation because of a progesterone spike. It doesn't add up.