Do Mothers With Boys Eat More Than Mothers With Girls?

Theories on Calories

• While mothers contribute the 'X' chromosome to a baby, fathers can contribute the 'X' or the 'Y' that determines the baby's sex, says the National Center for Biotechnology Information. However, hopeful mothers may hold to the theory that increasing or limiting calories will produce a baby of the desired sex. A joint study between the universities of Exter and Oxford in England in 2008 found that mothers who conceived boys tended to eat more calories each day than mothers who conceived girls, according to BBC News. Mothers of girls ate about 2,300 calories per day while mothers of boys ate about 2,400 calories per day. Hopeful moms better hold on, though; more research is needed when it comes to the role calories play in sex selection.

Theories on What to Eat

• Hopeful mothers may adjust their diets, eliminating or restricting food groups in the hopes of conceiving a boy or a girl. A 2000 study by a team from Nottingham University in England found that vegetarian and vegan mothers were more likely to have girls, says BBC News. Researchers in the study suggested that a vegetarian diet could be stressful to the mother's body, and female fetuses may be able to handle the stress better than male fetuses.

Gender Selection

• Mothers-to-be can forget what is on their plates if in vitro fertilization is an option. In pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, a sperm and an egg are combined outside the uterus to create an embryo, says the Center for Human Reproduction in New York. After a few days, cells are taken from the embryos and the chromosomes are examined to determine the sex of each embryo. The embryos of the desired sex are then planted in the uterus.

Shettles Method

• Hopeful mothers-to-be may also want to consider the theory of Dr. Landrum B. Shettles, who proposed that the timing of intercourse could influence sex determination. The "Shettles Method" suggests that mothers should have intercourse up to a few days before ovulation to conceive a girl, while hopeful mothers of boys should have intercourse as close to ovulation as possible.