Expert answers: I really want a baby girl this time

We have three fantastic boys and we are trying for another baby. I really want a girl although everyone says we are bound to have a boy. Do you know whether this is true and if so is there anything you can do to try to get a baby girl? I don’t know if I can cope with another boy .

They have discovered that a combination of the right food and the timing of sex are the key to the nursery being painted pink rather than blue.

The trick, the scientists say, is to refrain from eating sodium and potassium-rich foods, such as anchovies, olives, bacon, salami, smoked salmon, prawns, savoury rice, blue cheese, potatoes, processed meats, bread and pastries.

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Instead they should concentrate on foods rich in calcium and magnesium.

Dr Annet Noorlander, a senior consultant at Gender Consult, a Dutch bureau which advises parents about natural gender selection techniques, says: “It seems almost unbelievable that a mother’s diet can influence the sex of her baby, but this is what our joint research with Maastricht and Delft universities has shown.

“We advised 78 couples with 158 sons and no daughters to follow a strict diet in combination with timing advice for the day of intercourse.

“The compliance with diet rules was checked by mineral analysis of blood samples, and 50 per cent of the women managed to complete the diet successfully. Of the 32 women that complied with both timing and diet advice, 26 conceived a baby girl (81 per cent), and since the study was published, these figures have increased to 31 girls out of 38 births.

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“The study shows that a diet low in sodium and high in calcium, together with correct timing of intercourse, can substantially increase chances of conceiving a girl to between 68 per cent and 95 per cent.

“It also shows that deviations from the advice may lead to an increased chance for a boy. It’s therefore not advised to try this without proper supervision and blood sample checks. Results for a similar treatment for baby boys look promising and will be published when enough data is available.”

Other studies claim that sperm carrying the female gene is stronger and likely to last longer than the lighter, faster but more short-lived male sperm – hence the need to avoid sex around the time of ovulation when the male sperm will be more dominant.

This is the first time that humans have allowed themselves to be guinea pigs for such experiments.

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Such is the desire of some families to predetermine the sex of their offspring they resort to IVF treatment to ensure girls, but scientists acknowledge, “many parents find that these techniques are a step too far”.

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