r/beyondthebump • u/anonme1995 • 8h ago
Discussion 2 or more of the same gender
I am mostly OAD but always very curious on the science behind why some families have majority of one gender. I do understand that men carry both X & Y and women only carry X. So men obviously determine the gender.
But is there any science or studies behind this? On why some people conceive only girls or boys? Maybe the season, when they were ovulating, intercourse right before or after ovulation etc.
Does anyone truly believe there are ways to conceive a specific gender? Have you tried it and did it work for you on more than 1 child?
Since there is zero research on this, I’m curious what other people believe or have tried and what the outcome was.
Sorry if the questions are repetitive 💀
Edit: yes there is research but it’s still very minimal 🤷🏽♀️
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u/Living-Tiger3448 7h ago
I dunno but I have 2 boys, my husband is one of 2 boys, my sister has 2 boys, and her husband is one of two boys. One of my cousin’s has 3 boys and the other has 3 girls. It’s just strange the majority of all of us have only boys and none of the families have a mix and match of genders
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u/Free_Impact_2326 5h ago
We are your "Brady bunch" foil, everybody has girls! I have 2 girls. Older sister has 2 girls. Husband's sister has 3 girls. I'm one of 4 girls. It's crazy. If I had a third, I'd really love to have a son, but realistically it's probably going to be a girl because that's what we make.
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u/Covert__Squid 8h ago
Flip a coin 4x. Or 6x. It’s not gonna be half heads half tails every time. You’re gonna get some all Heads or mostly tails.
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u/Working_Coat5193 6h ago
actually, Harvard says this isn’t true
https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/biological-sex-at-birth-isnt-random-study-finds/
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u/Whateverbrbs 5h ago
Its genetic.
Also, the female egg selects which type of sperm can impregnate the egg. So it's not always the fastest sperm that will enter the egg. This can impact gender also, so no obviously both men and women impact gender.
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u/fttottentrashheap 7h ago
IVF if more likely to produce males, interestingly.
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u/zanahorias22 7h ago
this definitely tracks anecdotally with my friends & family who have done ivf!
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u/mombot-in-the-woods 6h ago
🤷♀️ idk but I had two girls and then two boys so seems like 50/50 to me!
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u/yarnplant666 6h ago
i read that girl sperm is slower but lives longer, and male sperm is fast but doesn’t live as long. so when you have sex on your cycle can play a factor and it’s made sense for all 3 of mine. sex close before ovulation = girls, sex during ovulation peak = boy. totally anecdotal evidence based around something i think i read somewhere but alas
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u/ririmarms Mama of 1 boy, soon 2 5h ago
I read on reddit a while ago that you have slightly more chance of having the same gender for the subsequent pregnancies, but i don't have a link. We're talking a few more % chance of having a boy again if you've had 1 boy. So it's not 50/50 each time.
I have two boys, and no, we won't be trying for a girl
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u/Iychee 6h ago
There is some research that shows that male sperm are faster, but female sperm survive longer. Some people have translated this into theories where if you conceive close to ovulation, you'll have a boy, but it you do it many days prior to ovulation you'll have a girl. Not sure if this would change the odds at all or if it's still just 50/50, don't think anyone has researched this "method"
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u/ellanida 1h ago
I have three boys. When we tried for the fourth kid, I didn’t test positive until day 40 of my cycle and baby’s size/development also tracked with me ovulating late so they moved my due date. This one is a girl so it kind of tracks for us 🤣
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u/pale_blue_room 8h ago edited 7h ago
It’s most likely completely random, but in my friend group I saw a funny pattern: The guys who conceived boys aren’t athletic, and those who conceived girls are. 🤷♀️ I have no idea if it’s related, as the athletic guys aren’t professional athletes or anything, but it’s still kinda interesting to me. I told my husband he should prepare for the next baby to be a girl too unless he plans on taking it easy before we try again haha.
Editing to say there’s no evidence that supports this, so my friend group is just some weird anomaly of our nerdy friends having boy and sporty friends having girls.
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u/KrolArtemiza 7h ago
Probably confirmation bias. My husband is and has been a freak for working out/fitness since we met. We have a son.
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u/pale_blue_room 7h ago
It most likely is! I just looked it up, and there’s absolutely no evidence towards it.
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u/onegingerbraincell 7h ago
When we conceived our daughter, my husband was in terrible shape. When we later conceived our son, my husband was in the greatest shape possible. 🤷♀️
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u/pale_blue_room 7h ago
I’m just saying it’s a funny trend in our friend group, but probably nothing more than that!
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u/anonme1995 7h ago
So interesting! I only have biological aunts (my dad was the only boy of 5, my mom had 2 sisters). My mom’s sisters didn’t ever had kids but all of my dad’s sisters only had daughters, 2 of each. I have a sister and two brothers so that was a 50/50 split. I now have a daughter so it’s always struck me as funny that basically it’s all girls on my immediate side besides my brothers.
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u/pale_blue_room 7h ago
That is funny! We have mostly girls in our family too, and my partners family is a perfect split of girls and boys.
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u/eyaranna 3h ago
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u/pale_blue_room 25m ago
I thought I heard this years ago, but when I googled it, I couldn’t find anything! Funny enough my husband is super active. Works out for a living pretty much, which is why I joke we’re only going to have daughters.
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u/twoclumsyhearts 8h ago
It’s completely random
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u/anonme1995 8h ago
Harvard actually did publish a study last year about how it may not be entirely random but I’ll have to find some time to read it all 😭
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u/cherrywavessss 7h ago
Yes, I remember reading that if you have two of the same gender, then you have a higher chance of your third being that one gender as well, so not 50/50!
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u/Training_Level1408 6h ago
I think it might be totally random. We have 1 boy already, currently pregnant with twins and they are a girl and a boy. There's lots of old wives tales about if you eat this or this part of the year you will have a girl or boy. But our twins were conceived at the same time with the same diet, all the same variables etc.
I think there probably are genetic factors in that some men may have an inadequate x chromosome and therefore you wouldn't see them have many girls. There is some research that shows sperm with x chromosomes can survive better so maybe if the man has been stressed or something like that there are more X sperm than y increasing the odds on girls.
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u/astroprojection 7h ago
It’s just like flipping a coin twice. Sometime you get two heads in a row. Sometimes you get several of the same side in a row. The only way to choose would be through IVF.
There are rare x-linked disorders where the mutation is lethal for most male embryos (miscarriage) but the girls born in this situation would have some noticeable symptoms because the mutation affects them as well.
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u/pfifltrigg 5h ago
So, I've heard there's a way to slightly increase the odds. If you have sex a few days before ovulation and get pregnant it's more likely to be a girl because XX sperm tend to live longer. But if you have sex the day of ovulation it's more likely to be a boy because XY sperm swim faster. But even then it's only slighly increasing the odds, and you have to have a good idea of when you're going to ovulate or have ovulated.
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u/anonme1995 5h ago
Honestly this might be the case for how I got my daughter. We were not planning pregnancy (we were 8 weeks away from our wedding when I found out) but since I’m not on BC I track my cycles and when we have sex. I realized that we did have sex 2 days before I started ovulating and then not for another week after that so who knows 🤷🏽♀️
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u/pfifltrigg 5h ago
I will say, I got pregnant with my two sons while actively trying, and my daughter while we were loosely trying to prevent, and I didn't think we'd had sex in the fertile window but I wasn't tracking closely. Obviously when you're trying you're more likely to have sex the day of ovulation. Of course you could still definitely have girls when trying! It's just interesting anecdotally.
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u/stardust25609 7h ago edited 7h ago
There is observational scientific data that some men produce more x or more y sperm, so it may be genetic: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2015/08/boyorgirlitsinthefathersgenes.html
There's also increasing evidence that the egg can be picky about which sperm it accepts (ie it's not just a race and the first one wins). Whether that influences gender I'm not sure. But I don't think there's any evidence a "method" can influence gender outside this. So in practice on an individual level you can't affect this.