We will begin TTC in [name_u]Jan[/name_u]. using the Shettles method, trying for a boy. Anyone out there used the Shettles method with success(or not)? I am not charting my BBT, just using LH urine test to track ovulation. I just started charting my ovulation and am totally overwhelmed by it all. Anyone recommend a certain app or website for easy tracking? Thanks!
Yes, we used the Shettles method for our last baby. We tried for a boy and that’s what God blessed us with! I believe that ultimately God blesses us with the children we’re supposed to have, but we figured the Shettles method was worth a shot since we have two daughters. I never charted temps, I just checked CM and used the Ovuview app to keep track. I used the LH strips as well. A youtuber, Mama Natural, has a video on this topic.
[name_f]Do[/name_f] you have any children or are you trying for your first? Best wishes! 
One other thing, I used the cheap Wondfo LH strips from Amazon and had better luck with those rather than the expensive digital ones.
I can’t say whether there is solid, recent science out there that supports Shettles since I don’t currently have access to my journals database (on a long break from school). I do think the general consensus is that you’re slightly more likely to give birth to a boy (52% versus 48%) all things being equal, but in my opinion it’s certainly worth a shot. Kids are awesome and they almost never turn out to be who you think they’ll be, regardless of sex and gender.
I think that currently the only way to be certain is to do IVF/PGD and transfer embryo(s) of the desired sex.
There’s some evidence that moms who consume more calories tend to have more sons [peer-reviewed citation needed; too lazy]. I’ve also heard anecdotes that women who eat breakfast cereals, possibly due to consuming higher levels of folate, may tip the odds in favor of having a boy. In terms of evolution raising sons is thought to require more of a maternal energy investment, and I certainly can believe that to be true based on my own limited experience.
The thing to remember about gender “swaying” is that it’s entirely possible that you got your desired sex due to chance, and it’s very hard to tease apart the possible factors in research with real live humans, upon which research would be subject to approval by ethics committees. Self-reported diets seem pretty unreliable to me as far as real evidence goes; there could be outcome reporting bias, etc.
Other thoughts—I’ve thought about this quite a bit lately for my own family because I would absolutely love to have another daughter if my husband decided he were up for having another child someday (we are still pretty young). But we’re not doing IVF and it seems a little bit dangerous/counterproductive to me to restrict calories (and/or folic acid!) in hopes of having a girl… maybe that has something to do with the fact that we have four gorgeous boys and only one lovely girl. But maybe that would have been the case anyway; flip a coin five consecutive times and see. 
I have also read that Microsort (flow cytometry to sort X-bearing and Y-bearing sperm) is no longer available in the U.S. and they discontinued the clinical trial in 2012. But I don’t know why. Maybe safety and ethical issues played a part. Maybe the rumors are true that it doesn’t really work.
Maybe Blade knows why Microsort isn’t available anymore (please chime in if you do, Blade). Definitely curious.
I am using Ovia by Ovuline. I’ve stopped tracking my temperature because it was just adding more stress since it was all “I’m ovulating, we have to do it!” and it just lacked the fun and romantic accept, so now we are kind of going with flow.
We were going to use the Shettles Method for a girl, as well as changing my diet, but after 2 months, we were like screw this and if we don’t have a girl, we’ll just adopt one later. The reasoning for this is because sure you have a slightly better chance, but it’s only slightly better, there are no concrete studies showing that it really works.
In reality, you have a 50/50 chance, you may be able to increase your odds, but we just decided it wasn’t worth it. It’s so hard to get pregnant to begin with (we’ve been trying for 4 months now), and by doing these methods, you only make it harder to get pregnant, so you could be trying twice as long using the Shettles Method (and trying for 4 months already feels really long for us!), and in the end, still end up with the gender you weren’t aiming for.
I think in the end, you just have to be content with what you get or if you really want to be able to choose, adopt! Or go through the more expensive option, which is IVF, and that I believe doesn’t even have a 100% success rate. It’s like 90% I believe when I last read about it.
Well that’s my 2 cents!
Yes, I agree about what God has planned, I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. This will be our first. I love Mama Natural! I am using the Wondfo LH strips too, glad to hear of them working for someone else. Thanks for your input!
If you’re open to a child of either gender, then why not? As others have indicated the data don’t really support its efficacy, though the biological principle on which it’s based is sound (in very general terms).
Microsort was not approved for us in the US for a couple of reasons: the company itself halted the trial for FDA approval citing high regulatory and clinical costs, and because a slower rate of fetal development and lower overall fertility rates were noticed in the trial cohorts. This was hypothesized to be due to the fluorescent dye (itself harmless as far as we know) and the tagging procedure. The children actually born in the trial didn’t have a higher rate of malformations or late pregnancy loss though.
Microsort is still available a couple of places outside the US. I think secretly people still refer families who carry X-linked genetic diseases and therefore cannot conceive a boy (50% chance of being affected) and also who are philosophically opposed to abortion or embryo destruction. Otherwise the only proven options are pre-implantation genetic diagnosis via IVF, and transfer of only the embryos of the desired sex.
We used Shettles with the baby I’m pregnant with now (girl) and it worked. We didn’t do it very religiously though and it was mostly out of curiosity. We did want a girl slightly more than a boy because our two girls desperately wanted another sister and we weren’t fussed either way. If we have another baby we will try and use Shettles again and probably try for a boy so [name_u]Max[/name_u] can have a brother. I don’t 100% believe it works but it does make TTC a little more exciting haha.