Real Life: “We wanted a girl so we went on a health kick”

Kylie, 35

“We wanted a girl so we went on a health kick, eating fresh fruits and vegetables and no processed foods. My husband didn’t wear tight undies, but he did have a warm shower before we went to bed. We drank so much water we almost turned into swimming pools.

I cut his caffeine intake right down. We also looked at heaps of the Chinese gender charts – each one told me a different thing. We had sex every night for a month and we were both over it by the end of the month.

Even though I was desperate to have a girl we were probably more desperate to have a positive test. I’d been told to expect it to take at least 12 months due to fibroids and my age. We got our positive first month trying. Bubby was a boy.

With No. 2 we ate the “girl diet” and it was so restrictive and we were so grumpy and got over the diet very quickly. My husband wore tight undies day and night and had hot showers before we went to bed and drank less caffeine. We followed the Shettles Method and I also did the vinegar wash before we had sex. No. 2 was a boy, too.”

Peta, 32

“My husband and I really wanted a boy first so I looked on the internet for ways to try and conceive a boy. I wasn’t in a position to be picky about it due to issues with conceiving, but we did things like cutting out particular food items that were very “girl”, had sex on ovulation and not a moment before, etc. From the moment I fell pregnant, I felt Elliot was a boy.”

Evelyn, 32

“I used the Chinese calender method where if I conceive in a certain month when I’m a certain age then it will be a boy. It seemed to work because I did have a boy. Next year I’ll try to have a girl – I’ll have to conceive in May, June or July.”

Kaila, 19

“We tried for six cycles to conceive a girl. We got our information off the internet. We tried to conceive three days before ovulation, hubby wore tight, warm undies (apparently it’s better for conceiving a girl), and we followed the Chinese predictor chart.. ”

Sonja, 27

“My husband and I are trying to conceive a baby girl (we already have a son). I found out on the internet that we had to try to conceive three to five days before ovulation as the female sperm last longer than the male ones. We also read that to conceive a girl you need to have shallow penetrative sex in the missionary position, and no orgasm for me. We are now pregnant but don’t know if this bub is a boy or a girl yet.It makes the experience a bit like a chore but it will be worth it in the end if we end up conceiving a beautiful little girl.”