One of the most popular methods for conceiving a boy (or girl) is using the Shettles Method. This method relies on ovulation timing to increase your chances of falling pregnant with a boy baby. While this method is a still not a guarantee that you’ll be painting the nursery blue (even ardent Shettles fans admit that it only has around an 85% success rate for producing a boy baby) it is better than the 50/50 shot you would have in normal circumstances.

So how does it work?

The key to making the Shettles method for conceiving a boy work is knowing when you ovulate. Don’t just assume that you ovulate on Day 14 as this is just an average day for most women. There are many ways to find out when you ovulate and here are some of the more popular ways:

Body Basal Temperature

By taking your temperature every morning before you get out of bed you will notice that your temperature will rise by half to one degree once you have ovulated each month and charting this will help you find out what your usual day is so that in following months you have a better idea of timing it correctly.

Ovulation Predictor Kit’s (OPK’s)

Like pregnancy tests this strips work with urine in detecting the surge or hormones that occurs just before your body is about to release an egg. It will give you advance warning of your upcoming ovulation.

Saliva Monitors

Saliva monitors like Maybe Baby are actually mini microscopes which look for a ferning pattern that happens to a woman’s saliva as she approaches ovulation.

The days you need to try for a baby

Once you know your ovulation day the Shettles Method recommends having intercourse starting two days before you are due to ovulate right up to the day you release your egg. This will give the fast Y male chromosome the best chance of fertilizing the egg so you can have a baby boy.