Research shows the one of the most important ways of influencing the gender of your baby is to time intercourse correctly.

If you’re trying to conceive a girl, you should have intercourse approximately 3-4 days before ovulation. The reasoning behind this is as follows – female (X) sperm are more resilient than male (Y) sperm and therefore they live longer. So in effect they can ‘hang around’ in the female body for 3 or 4 days waiting for ovulation to occur, and fertilise the egg. Male sperm have a shorter lifespan, and will die before ovulation occurs.

So, as male sperm have a shorter lifespan than female sperm – having sex further away from ovulation means they are very likely to die off before ovulation occurs, leaving only female sperm.

Research also shows that the right sexual position is important – we’ll cover this in more detail in another post.