- Shettles Overview
- Scorecard
- Shettles For a Boy
- Shettles For a Girl
- About Dr. Shettles
- See Also: How Nature Chooses Boy or Girl
How to Choose
The Sex of Your Baby
 Dr. Landrum B. Shettles claims it's "the method best supported by scientific evidence". Includes a wonderful chapter clearly explaining with drama and detail how conception takes place, by one of the first men to ever view human conception under the microscope.
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The Shettles Method
Is it really the method "best supported by scientific evidence", or just an urban legend?
The Shettles Theory
Shettles theorized that the two different types of sperm, X-chromosome-bearing sperm and Y-chromosome-bearing sperm, had different properties.
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Y-Bearing Sperm
(Male-Producing)
- Smaller, round-headed
- Faster
- More fragile, shorter-lived
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X-Bearing Sperm
(Female-Producing) - Larger, oval-headed
- Slower
- More resilient, longer-lived
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Shettles hoped that these properties could be used to choose a baby's sex.
- Under ideal conditions, the Y-sperm's faster speed should prevail, winning the race to the egg and conceiving a boy.
- Under less than ideal conditions, fewer of the fragile Y-sperm will survive. The X-sperm's resiliance and staying power should win the day, conceiving a girl.
Shettles Advantages and Disadvantages
Shettles Advantages
- FREE, except the Shettles book, and any ovulation tracking supplies you might choose to buy.
- An at-home method you can use in the privacy of your own home. Conception occurs naturally, and few people have ethical or moral objections.
- If you are trying for a boy, the Shettles method will guide you to optimum fertility, making it easier to conceive.
Shettles Disadvantages
- To use the Shettles method, you must learn to detect ovulation, which requires some practice and a little dedication. However, this is really something every woman should know about anyway.
- If you are trying for a girl, Shettles advises avoiding intercourse on your peak days of fertility, which can make it very difficult to get pregnant at all.
- There is no scientific evidence to support the Shettles method, and some studies have disproved it.
Before You Try Shettles: Ovulation Tracking
Dr. Shettles believed that correctly timing intercourse was the most important factor in choosing to conceive a boy or girl. This means you must learn to detect when you ovulate, and spend a few cycles practicing until you are not only able to determine when ovulation has occurred, but to predict when it is about to occur.
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