TTC a Boy

pH Balance

Increase your Cervical Mucus pH to Alkaline Levels 

You will need to get a pH testing kit so you can determine the pH level of your Cervical Mucus(CM).  You can find these from many nutrition stores or on line.  Test your pH before you start any of the diets or douches around ovulation time specifically so you know what your body is in its current state.  **It is important to note that you cannot follow the directions on the pH kit about how to test your pH level.  It will tell you to test your saliva or urine.  That is NOT the pH value we are after.  The pH value we need is from your CM which is at the top of your vagina, secreted from your cervix.  You will need to test the pH on the days leading up to ovulation and through ovulation so you can see the changes your body makes based on ovulation timing. 

Once you know your pH level, there are two ways to make it more alkaline- through diet and douching.  You want to do as much as you can through diet because your reproductive tract is the place where conception occurs and we want to create the right environment all the way through and douching is only going to effect the pH within the vagina, which is important but fertilization occurs in your fallopian tubes and douching cannot effect that.

The pre-ovulatory cervical mucus plays a key role in fertility. The vaginal vault is normally a hostile environment for sperm. Sperm is only comfortable in alkaline (basic) solutions such as semen (with a normal pH of 7.2-7.8). The vaginal vault has a very low pH (acidic) of about 3-4, and sperm typically will not survive in the vagina for more than 1-2 hours. The cervical mucus has a variable pH that depends on the hormonal environment. The hormonal environment is correlated to the time of the menstrual cycle. Cervical mucus is alkalinic (basic) just prior to the time of ovulation when the cervical glands producing the mucus reacts to the predominance of circulating estrogen to make mucus that is

1. more abundant,
2. clearer,
3. more elastic (stretchy),
4. less cellular,
5. more watery (less thick),
6. higher in pH, and
7. composed of strands that are aligned to allow greater sperm penetration

If the cervical mucus is “friendly” to sperm, then it is “friendly” for Y-bearing sperm and the sperm should be able to survive in the mucus for at least 2 days. This preovulatory mucus acts as a kind of reservoir, from which sperm occasionally move to the fallopian tubes where they normally fertilize an egg.

Going with the studies around Y-bearing sperm thriving in an alkaline environment, you want to do what you can to increase the pH of your cervical mucus.  This is different than your vaginal environment, which is naturally very acidic. 

In order to help give the Y-bearing sperm the boost they crave, you want your cervical mucus to be very alkaline.  Your body chemistry is directly affected by what you put in your mouth.  Food is either alkaline or acidic and by consuming more alkaline foods and beverages, you can increase your body’s pH level.

Women’s orgasms can also be important. It also has to do with pH. When a woman has an orgasm, the body releases some kind of substance that makes the environment more alkaline, favoring boys.

Douching- The second way to increase CM pH

If you have patience and lots of diligence, you can alkalize your body with foods alone.  However, if you faster or more dramatic results, you can accomplish this through combining your diet and douching.   There is an easy way that you can test this.  Test the pH of your CM. Then, douche with a solution meant to increase your PH (this is usually stronger than just baking soda) and test again.  You’ll likely see that the douching made a big difference.  Before your attempt, use an alkaline douche 30 minutes before.

Nutraceuticals

Nutraceutical is a term combining the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical”, is a food or food products and supplements that provides health and medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease. For our purposes, we will focus on 1.Functional Foods that support the conception of your Dream Gender and 2. Dietary Supplements that sway male.

Dietary Supplements

Potassium

You’ve probably heard the old wives’ tale, “If you want to have a boy, eat bananas.” While there is some merit to the tale, it isn’t entirely true. If you want to conceive a boy, you can increase your chances by consuming a diet high in potassium. Bananas are certainly not the only way to consume potassium. If you don’t want to eat a banana every day, get your daily source of potassium through potatoes, raisins, orange juice and yogurt.

Functional Foods

Breakfast Cereal

Mathews states, “There was also a strong correlation between women eating breakfast cereals and producing sons.”  Naturally, eating breakfast cereal on a regular basis makes for a high consumption of cereal and protein. Increase your chances of conceiving a boy by making it a point to have at least one bowl of cereal per day.

Salty Foods

Consuming a diet high in sodium may be related to conceiving a boy. It may be due in part to the fact that the majority of salt-laden foods also contain a high number of calories (e.g. potato chips, prepackaged foods and processed cheese, lunch meat and lightly salted almonds.)

Coffee

Finally, in trying for a boy, Shettles recommends a nice cup of caffeinated coffee for the man, an hour or so before your attempt– he isn’t clear on how or why this works, but apparently it gives the Y-sperms a jolt!

More on Caloric Intake

The Trivers Willard Hypothesis is a biological theory that has been around for over 30 years.  In a nutshell, it states that it makes more sense (evolutionarily speaking) for mothers who are in better physical condition to have more boys, while mothers in poorer physical condition, would tend to have girls. Trivers Willard has been widely researched in a variety of different mammals including humans, and there seems to be something to it.  You may have read some of the recent articles regarding sex ratio, stating that moms that smoke are more likely to have girls, while those who eat breakfast cereal are more likely to have boys?  Well, that is Trivers Willard in action. 

A lot of attention has recently been given to the correlation between what a pregnant woman eats before conception and the gender of the baby she ends up having.  A recent study indicated that women who consume more daily calories (as much as about 2200) and consumed breakfast were more likely to conceive a boy. 

Timing

The day of ovulation is ideal for a boy.  Timing is one of the least effective ways to conceive your desired gender, so please implement some of the other ideas in addition to timing.  Because the Y-bearing sperm are smaller and faster and known to favor an alkaline environment, your CM pH will be naturally increasing in alkalinity as you approach ovulation.  Using the diet and douching, you can give it an extra alkaline boost!  Also, since semen is alkaline as well and helps enable sperm to get to where it needs to be, having intercourse often the day of ovulation should help facilitate the Y-bearing sperm to make their way to the egg first.

Environment and Ions

You cannot always control your external environment.  Sometimes you must work to counteract what is going on around you. Ions are essential to life. Sodium, potassium, calcium and other ions play an important role in the cells of living organisms, particularly in cell membranes.  The theory is X-bearing and Y-bearing sperm have differing ions.  When there is a full moon, there are more positive ions in the air and you will be breathing these in.  If you have an abundance of positive ions in your body, it is believed that you are more likely to attract male sperm. Since ovulation does not always align with the proper moon phase, here are some steps you can take to promote positive ions anway-

Electronic devices like televisions, computers and air-conditioning increase positive ion concentration and the outdoors promotes negative ions.

Try to keep ions working in your favor for a boy attempt:

1. Spend a lot of time on the computer
2. Try not to go outside for long periods of time especially just after it rains
3. Take short showers
4. Spend a lot of time in the air-conditioning.  Go shopping! 
5. Stay away from fans. 
6. Do not keep a lot of indoor plants in your home

Sperm Qualites for TTC a Boy

Semen has a pH of 7.2-7.8.  Sperm activate when they enter the female reproductive tract, beginning with the vagina.  For a boy, a high sperm count is thought to give the Y-bearing sperm an advantage so you will need to have your husband abstain for 3-4 days in order to keep his count high and aid in a female conception.  IVF clinics prefer 3-4 days for the best possible sample so staying following their guidelines will help you out.  IVF babies are more likely to be boys so I would follow their lead.

Y-bearing sperm are faster and smaller than X-bearing sperm so you want to work with them not against them.  Semen has a pH of 7.2 to 7.8 and IVF labs culture embryos in a pH 7.2 to 7.4 and more boys are a result of that.  Semen is a naturally alkaline substance so frequent intercourse on ovulation day should assist the Y-bearing sperm to make their way to the egg.  You want to keep your pH high through ovulation and remain on the Nutraceuticals and use an alkaline vaginal douche but douche only BEFORE intercourse for a boy conception.

Men should follow the Nutraceutical program too in order to try to boost the pH of his semen.  Keeping with an Alkaline Diet, implementing Functional Foods and adding Dietary Supplements, Potassium and adding salt should assist with that process. You can test his semen pH just as you test your CM to see where he is and find out if he is already in an alkaline state or not and make changes accordingly.