Here at InfertilityTV, I get thousands of comments and questions from viewers like you.
A common topic I see has to do with how boy or girl embryos are formed and whether
anything can be done to influence that process. Frankly, there are a lot of myths.
Today, on InfertilityTV, I am going to clear up the confusion.
A normal embryo is composed of one egg and one sperm. Whether an embryo becomes a male or a
female depends on the chromosomes. Normal eggs contain one X chromosome. Normal sperm
contain either one X chromosome OR one Y chromosome. If a sperm with an
X chromosome fertilizes an egg, the result will be a female embryo.
If an egg is fertilized with a sperm containing a Y chromosome, the result will be a male embryo.
Therefore the sex of an embryo is always determined by the sperm.
There is a myth that if the egg comes from one ovary it will result in a boy and if it comes
from the other ovary, it will be a girl. This is not true! The eggs in each ovary are all
the same. All eggs contain an X chromosome. It does not matter which side an egg comes from.
This will not influence the gender of an embryo. If you are someone who had
one of your ovaries removed, you still have the same chance for having a boy or a girl
Myth #2 - Some couples who have had several children of the same gender
mistakenly believe that the male only has sperm with X chromosomes or Y chromosomes.
This is not true. In all men, about half of the sperm will contain an X chromosome and about half
will have a Y chromosome. If you happen to have multiple children of the same sex, it is due to
nothing more than random chance. Look at it this way, each time an embryo is made there is a 50%
chance for it to be a male and a fifty percent chance it will be a female.
Lets take an example. If one hundred couples make an embryo, half will be
males and half will be females. Let’s say the group that had males, makes a second embryo.
On average, about half of those will be male and half will be females. For the third embryo , its
the same. So about 12-13% of couples who have three pregnancies in a row will have the same
gender, just based on random chance. There is nothing medically different or wrong with
these couples. Essentially, they have flipped a coin three times and got heads all three times.
Can you do anything on your own which will influence the chances of an X bearing sperm
or a Y bearing sperm to fertilize an egg? Here are some of the techniques that have been asked about
Will having intercourse closer or further from the time of ovulation
influence the gender of an embryo? No. A study of over 200 couples showed no impact
Will changing your sexual position so the sperm is released closer or further
from the cervix influence the gender of an embryo? No. Multiple studies have produced
conflicting results for this myth Are there supplements that a male
can take which will increase the chance for producing a boy or girl in his partner? No
Does having low testosterone levels or high levels change the chances for having a boy or a girl? No
Does the length of time since the last delivery influence the chance for a boy or a girl? No
If there is nothing that you or your partner can do to change the chances for a boy or girl,
is there anything that a fertility doctor can do?
One common fertility treatment,
IUI or intrauterine insemination, is sometimes recommended to couples for this purpose
but large studies have shown that this does not change the chances for a baby of a particular sex.
IVF is another common fertility treatment. IVF by itself also does not change the chances for a
boy or girl. However, after an embryo is created, it can be tested to determine whether the embryo
is a male or female embryo. This is called PGT or preimplantation genetic testing. If you are
lucky enough to have an embryo which is the gender you are looking for, then you
can choose to place that embryo into your uterus. This is the only method currently
that is scientifically proven to help you get the gender your are looking for