Can you choose the sex of your baby with IVF?
For someone unfamiliar with the IVF process, choosing the gender of your baby may seem like a controversial option. However, baby sex selection is a recurring option in fertility clinics around the world, including Mexico.
Can you choose the sex of your baby with IVF?
For someone unfamiliar with the IVF process, choosing the gender of your baby may seem like a controversial option. However, baby sex selection is a recurring option in fertility clinics around the world, including Mexico.
Gender selection is a small aspect of the complex IVF process in which embryos are evaluated, graded and selected based on their quality and gender. Choosing the sex of your baby with IVF is not as complicated as it sounds. However, it requires considerable technical expertise and advanced technology to ensure accuracy.
So, you want to choose the sex of your baby with IVF?
The selection of the sex of the baby in Mexico is possible thanks to the latest technological advances in IVF such as PGD (genetic preimplantation screening) in Mexico. The upward migration or "swim up" technique is another technique very similar to the MicroSort technique. Depending on the sex selection method chosen, the sex of the embryos can be determined before or after fertilization.
The PGD and the guarantees a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby of the desired sex. This is especially true for women who have experienced multiple miscarriages or women of advanced childbearing age. There is a positive correlation between chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo and the woman's age. These two options for selecting the sex of the baby allow the fertility doctor to create babies with the same risk levels as naturally born babies. Sex selection is based on the assumption that if we create healthy babies, we will ultimately save money on long-term testing and treatment.
Balancing boys and girls in the family is a good option for parents who want to have a baby boy or girl. Non-medical sex selection is when intentional parents select the sex of their baby that is not represented in their family. Baby sex selection is available for all IVF patients who wish to select their baby's sex for medical (genetic disorders) or non-medical (family balance) reasons.
Basically, this is how gender selection works in this context.
Sperm Sorting for Baby Sex Selection
Sperm washing is the process of separating the sperm from the seminal fluid. Any mucus and non-motile sperm are removed from the sperm, which greatly improves the chances of fertilization. In addition, this technique eliminates the risk of transmission of certain diseases from the parents to the child.
Sperm washing prepares the sperm for the selection of the baby's sex in IUI (intrauterine insemination) or IVF (in vitro fertilization). Sperm washing separates the viable sperm from the other components of the ejaculate as these tend to migrate into the cervical mucus. Viable sperm are separated from the seminal fluid usually within 30 minutes to 1 hour of ejaculation. This is done to avoid damaging the leukocytes and other cells present in the semen.
The Ethics of Sex Selection
When sex selection is used to prevent a genetic disorder in the offspring, it is called medical sex selection. Sex selection is also used for non-medical (elective) reasons. This is called family balance.
There are social and moral concerns about sex selection for non-medical reasons. Many people fear that the practice of selecting babies of a particular sex may distort the human sex ratio. Another related concern is that non-medical sex selection may cause gender imbalance and reinforce discriminatory and sexist stereotypes.
In a survey in the United States regarding sex selection, 39% of respondents answered that they would like their first child to be a son, 19% would like their first child to be a girl, and 42% had no preference.
According to the survey, it is unlikely that sex selection has a significant impact on the natural sex ratio.
The diet, a natural method that would influence the sex of the baby
It is the work carried out by Professor Joseph Stolkowski, a specialist in mineral metabolism, that has allowed the thesis of the girl-boy diet to be put forward. It would indeed be possible to modify one's diet to influence the sex of one's future child. Researchers have put forward the hypothesis that changing one's eating habits modifies vaginal secretions and therefore favors the mobility of X or Y spermatozoa. A theory taken up by Dr. Papa, who is now called "the Papa method". This French gynecologist maintains that by bringing certain mineral salts in defined quantity to the future mother, the sex of the baby is influenced.
However, other specialists completely question this natural technique of "grandmother", pointing out that no recent scientific study has confirmed this hypothesis.
In concrete terms, the girl-boy diet consists of eating the right foods at least two to three months before conception, to influence the sex of the baby.
Other articles on the subject
All about ovarian stimulation
Everything you need to know about hysteroscopy
Secondary Infertility: Most Common Causes
