A bed by the east window and dried rabbit testicles. Planning the gender of the child
It's no secret that the sex of a child from a physiological point of view is an accident - there is always a 50% chance that a boy will be born, and the same that a daughter will be born.
Nevertheless, today doctors can create an embryo of any gender in laboratory conditions. In most countries, such manipulations are not particularly legal and are carried out only if parents can transmit some serious diseases to a child of a certain gender.
Several hundred years ago, in vitro fertilization did not exist. But there was a “Women’s Gospel,” which described in detail ways to conceive a child of one gender or another, as well as determine whether a woman will give birth to a boy or a girl.
Some of the advice was quite unusual and even disgusting. For example, if a couple wanted to conceive a boy, then men were recommended to drink a cocktail of wine and chopped rabbit intestines on the day of intimacy, and women were recommended to drink the same red wine, but with dried rabbit eggs. One can only imagine how intimate these drinks were. Nothing is known about whether such a procedure was effective.
Structures are not created, but grown: the history of Art Nouveau huts in Hobart
The reason is the father - psychologists have explained why guys get angry at girls for no reason
Fragile architecture with miracles of filtration - how the appendiculars work
It was also believed that if a man turns his face to the east during lovemaking, a boy will be born. An heir can be produced by having sex in the morning or on an empty stomach. But if conception occurred during the day or evening, then a girl will probably be born.
Over time, the methods became more logical, but not entirely scientific. According to the Shettles method, in order to give birth to a boy, you need to make love immediately before ovulation, but if you want to become the parents of a girl, then it is better to conceive her 4-6 days before the release of the egg from the ovary.
There is an equally popular Whelan method, which consists of completely opposite recommendations. If you want to conceive a boy, then sexual intercourse should occur 4-6 days before ovulation. Do you want a girl? Then you should postpone sex until ovulation begins.
Which one is correct? Was at least one method effective? The results were probably 50/50.
According to plan: is it possible to choose the sex of the child in advance?
As a child, when all the girls dreamed of becoming princesses, I passionately wanted to become an astronaut. And not just any one, but the most important one - the commander of the starship. I read all the science fiction literature I could, swiped 10th grade astronomy, and tried to behave well so that my dad, the astronomy teacher, would take me to look at the school telescope as a bonus. But one day I had to face a cruel reality: it turned out that all future astronauts were boys. “You know that there are no girl astronauts?” - one of my friends asked me. Reading books about space under a blanket with a flashlight was not in vain: gathering my courage, I gave several examples. And the boys had no choice but to give up and, to save face, offered to test the vestibular apparatus by eating a cutlet while standing on their heads. So I was accepted into the secret society of future cosmonauts. It was a long time ago, but I still remember my dream of becoming a boy to get what I wanted.
Related materials:
How to keep a couple after the birth of a child
How to become an ideal schoolchild: 10 tips for parents...
School wisdom: how to inspire a child to do something new...
If today we choose the sex of the baby, then tomorrow we will want to choose the hair color, and the day after tomorrow we will want to increase IQ. What then?
What if you could choose your gender? How would we use this? What about our parents? To answer these questions, it is worth understanding how a person’s gender is formed and whether everything in this matter is as unshakable as most of us think.
The fact that men have XY sex chromosomes and women XX is not known only to those who skipped all biology classes at school. It would seem that it could be simpler: an egg always has one X chromosome, but sperm can carry different fillings - an X or a Y chromosome. If a sperm carrying chromosome X fuses with an egg, the result is a girl; if Y, the result is a boy. But nature arranged everything a little differently. Indeed, these chromosomes play a role in the formation of sex. It is on the X chromosome that the main “female” genes are located, and on the Y chromosome the main “male” genes are located. And these are not the genes for switching television channels, telling jokes, interest in sports pages in newspapers, attachment to bloody films and the inability to say words of love on the phone, as the authoritative scientific journal Nature once joked about male genes. These are genes that encode female and male sexual characteristics.
But if the X chromosome is responsible for female characteristics, and Y for male ones, the question naturally arises: a man also has an X chromosome - an inheritance from his mother’s egg, although only one. Does a man really have female genes in addition to male ones? Scientists answer: to a certain extent, yes! This is very easy to check: if the Y chromosome “breaks”, and this happens in most cases due to mutations, then the genes of the X chromosome begin to work in the man - and he is formed according to the female type.
Related materials:
Lawyer's advice: can spouses enter into...
Why don't we love other people's children?
Cuckoos vs. chickens: fights without rules
Hand on heart, many mothers and fathers dream of a child of a certain gender, even if they don’t say it out loud. And then it turns out, as in the joke: “Well, who was born? Son? No? Who?!"
Therefore, gender formation is primarily about balance. A balance between the work of not only female and male genes, but also male and female hormones. Moreover, initially the embryo is laid as a female type thanks to the X chromosome, and only then, when the city falls asleep, the Y chromosome wakes up and remakes the body in a male way. And only in the next step, under the influence of male hormones, the brain matures along with the genitals and male self-identity is formed, including those stereotypical male qualities that Nature mentioned. Of course, we must not forget that many attributes of gender are associated with external, social influence. Remember, right? You’re a girl, which means you have to dress one way, behave one way and not another. What if this restructuring did not take place completely, and social factors push towards the formation of a gender that is not the one written in the genes? Sometimes this happens, and different cultures around the world abound with examples of such incomplete restructuring. In India there live hijras - men with the soul of a woman. Every year they come to the temple of the god Aravan to participate in the marriage ceremony with the god himself. The prototype of the hijras is considered to be Krishna himself, who turned into a woman in order to marry Aravan, and the corresponding story is described in the Mahabharata. The small Indonesian Bugis people have as many as five genders: their priests are androgynes (in most cases hermaphrodites), classical women and men, and, finally, women with a male soul and men with a female soul.
Related materials:
5 ideas on how to keep a couple after the birth of a child
How parents' smartphones affect children
Is it necessary to tell a child that Santa Claus does not exist?...
It turns out that not every person is satisfied with their gender. Moreover, honestly, many mothers and fathers dream of a child of a certain gender, even if they don’t say it out loud. And then it turns out, as in the joke: “Well, who was born? Son? No? Who?!"
And therefore, at the stage of pregnancy planning, traditional folk entertainment flourishes - programming the gender of the unborn baby. They can come up with all sorts of things: they calculate gender by blood type, by date of birth, by the phase of the moon, depending on the day of the menstrual cycle. Of course, in most of these methods there is no more truth than in fortune telling by cards.
The real possibility of choosing gender appeared with the invention of ultrasound. It was this device that was assigned the role of Cassandra in predicting the gender of the unborn child. Having recognized him, many women decided to terminate their pregnancy. And even today in India this is exactly the situation, and the percentage of boys among newborns exceeds the percentage of girls. But as you remember, Cassandra did not end well. So ultrasound predictions are not always correct, as many readers could see for themselves. Thus, many couples went through the risky procedure of abortion and lost children of the exact gender they dreamed of.
What about nowadays? Can we choose the gender of the baby? With natural conception this is unlikely to succeed. The only way to get a child of the desired sex is artificial conception. Moreover, in practice, choosing the sex of a baby is possible only through the procedure of in vitro fertilization. The inventor of IVF was the English scientist Robert Edwards, who not only engaged in routine gynecological practice, but also was very sympathetic to his infertile patients. Edwards came up with the idea of removing an egg from a woman's body and helping her become fertilized. Embryologist Patrick Steptoe was assigned to the case. After ten years of attempts and failures, the first IVF child, Louise Brown, was born on July 25, 1978.
Related materials:
Cultural template, or Why should I...
Moms without drama
What moms don't talk about 2
They say that it was with the help of IVF that Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion became pregnant. Without boring details, the essence of IVF comes down to the following: a woman’s egg is removed from the ovary and introduced in a test tube to several dozen nimble sperm. In some cases, the sperm needs a magic kick - it is specially injected into the egg using a thin needle under a microscope. And then the most interesting part begins: the fertilized egg is taken by embryologists, who nurse it, monitor its development, and if all is well, they plant it in the woman’s body. But there is one important nuance: gender selection is not permitted by law everywhere. In order to become pregnant with a child of a certain gender, you will need to go to one of the clinics in Cyprus, Spain or some US states, first securing an alibi for work for about a month or two. What about Ukrainian clinics? At the legislative level, gender diagnosis is permitted only for medical reasons. That is, if in the family of a woman or her partner there were diseases that occur more often in one sex (hemophilia, for example), you will not be denied the choice of a child of the same sex who does not suffer from a hereditary disease or is ill less often. While working on this material, I contacted several leading clinics in Ukraine and in five out of ten cases they told me that yes, we do, but for medical reasons; in another three we don’t do it at all, and only in two were they asked to come for a consultation. Does this mean that pre-ordering the sex of a child is unofficial, but still practiced? Perhaps so, but even if you manage to deceive the law, you will hardly be able to avoid slippery questions yourself.
Related materials:
5 ideas to raise children to be optimists
“She doesn’t appreciate me!” and 5 more complaints from married men
What moms don't talk about
At which of these stages can you choose the sex of the child? The fact of the matter is that it is often determined only at the embryonic stage, that is, you need to make several embryos and select one with the desired sex. And here the first ethical problem arises: after all, all the other embryos, besides the one you chose, will die, and from them completely healthy and, most importantly, your children could develop. There is a second ethical problem: if today we choose the sex of the baby, then tomorrow we will want to choose the hair color, and the day after tomorrow we will want to increase IQ. What then? Will we come to clinics like we would to a store, ordering the signs and qualities of our child? Imagine: you enter the clinic, and an elegant secretary hurries towards you and, in a well-trained voice, talks about the ten leading signs in this quarter. After which he reminds about the promotion “If you order ten signs, the eleventh one is free!” and about the hot offer “Heavenly colored eyes for 50% of the cost.” Like? For me personally, not really, because with this approach the child turns into a certain set of certain qualities. And don't forget - what you like won't necessarily please your future child. For example, I always dreamed of thick curly hair. And it turns out that my daughter got exactly the same, but she likes her hair perfectly straight, so she straightens her gorgeous curls every morning.
So, at the present stage of medical development, we can choose the sex of the baby. Officially or unofficially is another question. But will our future child be happy from such a choice? Do we have the right to decide for an unborn person? Try to answer yourself honestly and only then make a decision.
Experiments with salt
Want to find out the gender of your baby? The notorious “Gospel” has another valuable piece of advice for you. While a pregnant woman is sleeping, salt should be sprinkled on her head, but so gently that she does not notice. Next, we wait for the expectant mother to wake up and immediately ask her to name any name. If the name is masculine, the name will be a boy, if the name is feminine, the name will be a daughter. But it is quite likely that a newly awakened, stunned woman will name the eccentric who sprinkled salt on her head while she slept, along with a couple of not entirely flattering epithets.
Several of my ways to use sour milk: from jewelry to cooking
Yuri Bogatyrev hid his only wife from his mother. Now his widow is 76 years old
A friend told why Armenian girls are so attractive to him
Calendar calculation method
Most people know that in the female genome there are two X chromosomes, and in the male genome - X and Y, that is, the sex of the child depends entirely on the father. At the same time, it is believed that the X chromosome is more “long-lived” compared to Y.
And therefore, among the tips for conceiving a girl, there is this: before planned conception, before expected ovulation, the couple should abstain from sexual intercourse for at least three to four days, and preferably a week. Allegedly, in this case, only sperm with a female set of chromosomes will “survive” until conception. And vice versa - if parents dream of a son, then coitus should occur as often as possible, and then there will be more “male” chromosomes in the sperm.
Ask mother
Several hundred years ago it was believed that the expectant mother subconsciously already knew the sex of the child and this information could be extracted from her. For example, you can tell a pregnant woman that she will have a wonderful son - if she does not react to this phrase with a blush on her cheeks, then most likely a girl will be born.
There is another very interesting and probably “accurate” test. Place the key in front of the woman and ask her to take it. If she grabs the thickened end, a boy will be born.
Effective folk methods for determining the sex of an unborn child
Most folk methods make people smile. But if they are passed down from generation to generation, they may actually help determine the gender of the child. So, the most effective folk methods for determining the sex of the unborn baby:
- Wedding ring You will need a pregnant woman's wedding ring and thread. We thread the thread into the ring and hold it over the palm of the expectant mother. If the ring starts moving in a circle, then you need to prepare to meet your daughter, but if it’s across your palm, expect a boy.
- Key It is necessary to place a key of a traditional shape (long leg and round top) on the table and ask the pregnant woman to lift it. If she grabs the leg, it will be a boy, if she grabs the round part, it will be a girl.
- Milk To conduct this chemical experiment, you will need pasteurized milk (preferably with the shortest expiration date) and the urine of a pregnant woman. Mix the ingredients in a 1:1 ratio and heat. If the milk curdles, a girl will be born; if not, a boy will be born. The method is based on the difference in the chemical composition of the urine of a woman carrying a girl and a boy. Therefore, for the results to be reliable, the gestational age must be more than 10 weeks.
- Behavior of small children This method is complicated in that it requires a small boy aged 10-12 months. If he shows an active interest in the pregnant woman, she will give birth to a girl, and if he remains indifferent, then she will give birth to a boy. For the purity of the experiment, you should not attract the child’s attention with bright toys, sweets and other interesting things.
- Numerology
Japanese method of determining the sex of a child. You will be required to divide the sum of the numbers of your mother's age by three, and the sum of your father's age by four. If the mother has less balance, she will have a son, and if she has more, she will have a daughter.
Morning sickness is another indicator
It has been suggested that during pregnancy with a girl, morning sickness appears in the first trimester. But if a woman is carrying a boy, then in the first few months she feels normal, but nausea and other symptoms appear in the second half of pregnancy.
Children no longer ask to buy ice cream: I prepare a dessert in the form of watermelon at home
In June, do not forget to feed the cabbage. Making fertilizer from natural herbs
From the end of 2020, conscripts will be able to complete alternative service in 18 months
Pay attention to your husband's figure
Why not look at your father? He is also a parent. There is an old myth that says that if the husband gains weight during his wife's pregnancy, the baby will be a girl. Danish scientists conducted a small study on this topic, in which 100 future fathers took part. It’s strange, but those dads who subsequently had daughters actually gained at least a few kilograms during their wives’ pregnancy. For statistics, this, of course, is not enough, but it makes you think that the “Women’s Gospel” in some places contained truthful information.
Sweet or sour?
To this day, women are advised to pay attention to their own taste preferences. Girls are sweet and tender, so if you are carrying a daughter, you will eat mostly sweets. But the boys are made “of snails, beetles and cheerful puppies,” and therefore the expectant mother is drawn to sour and salty things.
Only with scuba diving: cities under water and their brief sad history
A woman treated a boy to food - 30 years later he came to visit her (photo)
Better than any dessert. Strawberries become even more flavorful in the oven
Use a wedding ring
An engagement ring is not only a piece of jewelry that symbolizes your official connection with your other half. They say that with its help you can predict the future gender of the child. By the way, you can experiment, because the procedure is very simple.
A pregnant woman should lie on her back. A wedding ring suspended from a thread is held above her stomach. After a few seconds or minutes, the ring will begin to move. If the jewelry sways from side to side, it will be a boy. If a woman is pregnant with a girl, then the ring will spin in a circle. By the way, this technique was used very often in the old days. I wonder what conclusions were drawn if the ring “refused” to spin and turn?
How to plan the gender of your child
Boy or girl?
What gender will the baby be? For some parents, it is of great importance what gender their future child will be. This desire arises when there are already children of the same sex, or parents want their child to be a boy or a girl.
Sometimes it's not just a parent's whim. There are some diseases that are associated with gender.
For example, hemophilia. This is a genetically determined pathology of the blood coagulation system. Passed on through the maternal line.
Girls are carriers of the hemophilia gene, boys who inherit this gene suffer from this disease for life.
Pay attention to the shape of the belly
It is believed that changes in the figure of a pregnant woman are an important indicator. When she is pregnant with a boy, the belly is lower, and the bulk of the weight gained is deposited on the hips and buttocks. But if the belly is round, high and protrudes forward, then most likely the baby will be a girl.
By the way, various social experiments were conducted on this topic, when a pregnant woman communicated with supposedly knowledgeable people who claimed that they could determine gender by the shape of their abdomen. In most cases, the opinion of “specialists” about the same stomach was divided in a 50/50 ratio.
Of course, there are a lot of similar methods of prediction, but it is unlikely that at least one of them can guarantee 100% compliance with reality. Yes, sometimes people really guess, but their chances are as much as 50%.
Found a violation? Report content
How to plan the gender of a child? Is it possible to influence this process?
The process of conception is a great mystery. Of the many millions of sperm that are contained in a man’s ejaculate, only one is the first to reach its goal, which gives rise to a new life. I don’t know if it’s possible to influence this event through willpower or any calculations? Actually, it's hard to imagine it.
Let's find out why.
All germ cells contain half the set of chromosomes. In total, humans have 46 chromosomes, therefore, in each egg or sperm there are only 23 chromosomes. A person's gender is determined by the X and Y chromosomes:
- A woman has two XX chromosomes,
- male XY chromosomes.
Eggs contain only the X chromosome, but sperm are of two types: some contain the X chromosome, others contain the Y chromosome.
Accordingly, you understand that what gender the child will be depends on which sperm will fertilize the egg. If with the X chromosome, then there will be a girl, if with the Y chromosome, then there will be a boy.
One milliliter of sperm contains 20 million sperm. How can you influence this process and “force” a certain type of sperm to fertilize an egg?!
In foreign clinics, parents are never told the sex of the child, even if it is visible on an ultrasound. It is believed that parents should equally love a child of ANY GENDER.
There is a science - perinatal psychology, which studies the interaction between parents and the unborn child in utero, talks about perinatal psychological trauma that the child will receive in utero. It is believed that these psychological traumas have an impact on the further development of a person.
So, for example, parents want them to have a boy, and even before birth they communicate with the child as a boy, but the child is born a girl. Or vice versa.
Perinatal psychology states that such children feel unwanted after birth, and this is reflected in their interactions with people around them.
Unwanted children can be conflict-prone, have difficulty adapting to stress, and lead a lifestyle that is unusual for their gender. For example, girls play with boys all the time, and not with dolls, as girls usually do.
It is not a fact that if a child is born of the gender that the parents want, then this child will be healthier, more successful and happier in life.
Fathers dream of heirs, but they love their daughters more; for them they are ideal women. Mothers love their sons more; for them they are ideal men.
