Historically, the sex of the unborn baby occupied the minds of many people, especially the nobility. Suffice it to recall Henry VIII, who, due to the expectation of an heir, changed the religion of an entire country. Today it is not so important for parents whether their child or boy will be a girl, but every educated person should know what the sex of the child depends on.
Future parents
How sex is formed at conception
It is surprising that each person from nowadays once was always two scattered cells. They could not even be distinguished with the naked eye.
The nucleus of every cell of the human body contains a certain number of chromosomes. There are 46 or 22 pairs, the principle of their construction is the same for everyone, men and women. In fact, this is compressed, encoded information about what a person is, their carrier. The chromosome code records how tall its owner is, what color his eyes, for example. It can be used to track what is inherited from the next of kin. In addition to these 22 pairs, there is one more, 23rd. That is, 47 and 48 chromosomes. They are different for girls and boys. It is this pair, the gonosomes, that is responsible for the gender of the newborn.
How chromosomes affect gender
The child takes one cell from each of the parents: an egg from the mother and a sperm from the father. Each of them contains half of the genetic set. Merging, they start the process of division, from two cells, in the end, you get a whole small person. Depending on the chromosome combination, the baby's gender is obtained:
- XX - girl;
- XY is a boy.
Examples of different chromosome sets
Important! One of the chromosomes is always X, that is, the combination of YY is impossible.
What gender depends on
The sex of the baby depends on the chromosomes, only on them. Once people tried to determine what determines whether a boy or a girl will be born. Ladies during pregnancy were offered to eat asparagus for the appearance of a son, to surround themselves with objects of art - for a daughter. These are all old myths that have no real justification. It is impossible to program an organism so that it combines only certain chromosomes.
Who determines the gender of the child
The child takes one cell from the father and mother. For a long time it was believed that it depends on the woman what gender the baby will be, on her efforts. Suffice it to recall the story of the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish. At first she gave birth to three daughters (a son appeared too, but much later). Her husband was unhappy that she didn’t "try" to give him an heir.
Important! What really affects the sex of the unborn child is which chromosome the sperm carried in itself, which reached the egg first.
One of the gonos is always X. It is given by a woman, because her chromosome set is XX. The man, the father of the unborn child, has a set of chromosomes already XY. That is, it depends on which chromosome the sperm carries (they can be both "female" X and "male" Y), it depends on who the newborn will be.
How parents' chromosomes can be combined
At one time there was a myth that the sex of the baby depends on the dad. In fact, this is not a fiction. But it is also impossible to say that this statement is one hundred percent true. Of course, the gender of the child is set by the father, not the mother. It depends on the sperm whether a boy or a girl is born. This is a scientific fact.
It cannot be said that dad can somehow influence the gender, because this is not something that can be programmed. In fact, this is a lottery, which chromosome set will get the baby. Therefore, although only the male reproductive cell has an influence on the sex of the child, it is impossible to argue that everything depends on the dad, and he can do something to change the situation.
Is it realistic to influence gender
Humanity has always tried to find an explanation for everything incomprehensible. Including people preferred to believe that it is possible to program the birth of a boy or a girl.
This was primarily due to the idea of inheritance. Historically, the society lived according to the laws of patriarchy. The leading role was assigned to the man, the woman was second behind him. Accordingly, the ladies were considered nothing more than the property of fathers, brothers, and then husbands, necessary for the birth of children. There could be no talk to leave a legacy to a daughter. The situation has changed over time. So, for example, changing traditions gave the world two great queens: Elizabeth I, Victoria.
Elizabeth I Tudor
Since then, man has studied biology, anatomy, the mechanism of the origin and development of human life. Many unscientific explanations have simply ceased to be relevant. Sometimes modern parents want to know what determines the sex of the child at conception. There is no exact formula. However, there is one assumption (however, has not yet found scientific confirmation).
Spermatozoa can carry a female X and a male Y chromosome. Once in the female body, these sex cells still live in it for some time, and then die without fulfilling their purpose. A sperm can live like this for up to several days. Those that carry the female chromosome, X, are more tenacious. With a male gonosoma, Y are more active.
Based on this theory, we can conclude:
- The couple is most likely to have a girl if intercourse occurs a few days before ovulation.
- To get a boy, conception must occur during ovulation itself.
Important! This is not to say that the method exactly gives the result 100 percent. These are only conclusions based on statistical data.
Today, in the 21st century, it is realistic to choose a gender for a baby. True, conception in this case should be carried out by in vitro fertilization. In many countries, the gender selection procedure is prohibited, as it is recognized as inhumane, violating the natural balance, for example, in Israel. An exception can be made only for such cases:
- More than four same-sex children in the family.
- Some diseases. For example, if an autistic girl is born in a family, the chances are high that her sister will have the same diagnosis. Her brother's problem is much less likely.
In Vitro Fertilization - IVF
Myths and their exposure
The process of reproducing offspring has always been mystified. Everything that a person could not know, study, gradually overgrown with beliefs, traditions and omens. In particular, the most popular are the following conjectures:
- French diet. At one time, she made a lot of noise - scientists suggested that if certain substances and microelements are accumulated in the organisms of both partners, this makes the conception of a particular sex of a child more likely. In particular, the boy needs to eat more fish, meat, beans. Mushrooms, potatoes, strong tea and biscuits are also good. For some reason, the chances of getting a girl are influenced by eaten dairy products, caviar, pancakes. There is also a recommendation not to limit yourself to sweets.
- In Tudor times, the belief was that it was necessary to eat a lot of asparagus after conception in order to give birth to a male child. It is noteworthy that according to the above-described French diet, asparagus is considered a "girl's" food.
- The relationship between partners affects the sex of the child, some believe. They believe that if a child is conceived in passion, then most likely it will be a boy. When the relationship between mom and dad is more friendly, then the chances are high that they will have a girl.
- There are also recommendations on how many times sexual intercourse should take place to conceive a child of the desired sex. For my son - as often as possible. In order to get a daughter, it is helpful to abstain for a while.
- Recently, gender prediction tables have gained popularity. According to them, the sex of the child is determined by the age of the parents, the month of conception. From this data, compatibility points are calculated in a special way. Those who believe in this theory claim that it is all about how the blood of mom and dad is renewed.
An example of a myth is a Chinese table based on mom's age and month of conception.
Attention! All the above methods of "planning" are nothing more than a myth. They have nothing to do with reality. This is influenced only by which sperm managed to fertilize the egg, and nothing else. All the children who managed to "order" one of the above images are an example of a successful coincidence of circumstances, no more.
It is difficult to imagine what would happen in the world if it was possible to plan in advance, a boy or a girl. Nature is wiser than people, and it is impossible to choose the sex of a baby during natural conception. Otherwise, it would have entailed the strongest social imbalance.
