Gender Selection

What is gender selection?

Having a healthy child is one of the greatest desires of every couple. But in many cases, knowing the sex of the embryo is also very important. Sometimes couples want to know the sex of the embryo before the pregnancy to prevent serious genetic diseases and chromosomal abnormalities. For example, genetic diseases of muscular dystrophy and hemophilia in parents affect only boys and autism often occurs more severely in boys than in girls.

In addition to medical issues, some parents choose a particular gender for childbearing for cultural, social, and even economic reasons. Sometimes couples try to conceive to have a child of the desired sex, which, in addition to imposing considerable costs, also endangers the mother’s health. Therefore, determining the sex of the fetus has been a topic of concern for families from the past to the present, and several traditional and scientific methods have been proposed for it. In this article, we discuss the different methods of sex selection.

How do determine the sex of the fetus?

Therefore, the sex of the fetus is determined by the sex chromosomes of the sperm and the egg does not affect the sex of the fetus.

The characteristics of sperm containing X and Y chromosomes are so different that several traditional and scientific methods for determining the sex of the fetus have emerged due to these differences. These differences are:

• Sperm containing the Y sex chromosome is smaller than sperm containing the X chromosome and moves at a higher speed.
• Sperm containing the X chromosome can survive in the vaginal environment for 4 to 5 days, while sperm containing the Y chromosome can survive in the vaginal environment for a maximum of 16 to 18 hours.
• Sperm containing the Y chromosome survive better in an alkaline environment.

Gender selection methods

Numerous methods have been used to determine the sex of the fetus from the past to the present, which have different accuracy and efficiency.

Some of these methods are traditional methods that are generally proposed experimentally and due to the different characteristics of sperm containing X chromosome and Y chromosome are not accurate enough.

Traditional methods of determining gender include the following:

Proper diet

 Foods affect the pH of the uterus and vagina, so nutrition can play an important role in determining the sex of the fetus. Foods containing sodium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, and zinc such as pistachios, dates, strawberries, figs, spinach, chocolate, bananas, etc. increase the pH of the uterus and increase the chances of the fetus becoming a boy.

On the other hand, the use of foods containing calcium, magnesium, and copper such as dairy products, cabbage, mushrooms, barley, walnuts, eggs, pasta, etc. reduces the pH of the uterus and increases the likelihood of the formation of a female fetus.

Setting the intercourse time

 Since the uterine environment is more alkaline at the time of ovulation and the sperm containing the Y chromosome survives better in the alkaline environment if intercourse takes place around the time of ovulation, the chances of the fetus becoming a boy increase. If intercourse takes place two days before or after ovulation, the chances of the fetus becoming a girl increase. Today, with the advancement of science, more scientific and effective methods are used to determine the sex of the fetus, which are more accurate. The following methods can be used to determine scientific gender:

The Gender selection by PGD with IVF

 The PGD technique is the only method that can guarantee the sex of the desired fetus. In this method, couples are treated with assisted reproductive technique selection. After stimulating ovulation and taking the egg from the mother (or Donated Egg) and taking the sperm from the father, the eggs are fertilized with the sperm in the laboratory.

After 3 days of embryo formation, a specialist doctor makes a laser incision in the fetal membrane, separates one of the 6 to 8 embryonic cells without damaging the other cells, and determines the sex of the fetus by molecular methods. The desired sex of the embryo is then transferred to the mother’s uterus after in vitro culture to continue growth. The accuracy of this method in determining the sex of the embryo is more than 97%. This method requires advanced equipment that is available in infertility treatment centers in Iran and can be done with high accuracy.

Is it possible to determine the gender of frozen embryos?

Usually, determining the gender of the embryos by PGD is done before freezing them. But after freezing the embryos, it is also possible to determine their gender.

To determine the gender of frozen embryos, the embryos are thawed and a PGD test is performed on them to determine the gender of the embryos.

Finally, the embryo that has the selected gender is transferred to the mother’s womb and the rest of the embryos are frozen again.

Sex selection by sperm division method

In this method, at first, the sperms are washed with a special method in the laboratory and then a centrifuge is used to separate the sperms containing X and Y chromosomes. With the controlled rotation, the sperm sample is divided into different layers based on particle density. Sperm containing the X chromosome are denser than sperm containing the Y chromosome and are in one layer, and sperm with the Y chromosome, which are lighter, are in the other layer. After the sperm are divided, a sperm sample with the desired sex chromosome is used to fertilize the egg. IVF or IUI can be used to fertilize the egg with the advice of a specialist. The success rate of this method for determining gender is between 70 and 85%.

Learn more about ways to increase sperm quality: How to Increase Male Fertility With Healthy Sperm

Determining the sex of the fetus in Iran

Since the success rate of sex selection by the PGD method is very high, in the Iranian infertility treatment centers, only the PGD method along with IVF is used to determine the sex of the embryos. Every year, many couples travel to Iran to use sex determination services using IVF.

In addition to the high success in determining gender and using up-to-date and advanced equipment in Iranian infertility treatment centers, the low cost of services in Iran has caused many couples who want to choose the sex of their fetus to travel to Iran from around the world.

Gender selection method	success rate
	Female	Male
PGD with IVF	97%-99%	97%-99%
Sperm division	73%-75%	78%-85%

The cost of gender selection in Iran

The cost of sex selection in Iran is about $1,500-$2,000. Since the technique of determining the sex of the embryo is performed along with IVF, the cost of IVF (assisted reproduction) should be added to this cost. The cost of IVF treatment in advanced medical centers in Iran is about $ 2,500 – $ 3,500.

cost of PGD gender selection for family balancing depends on the number of embryos and also the center where the treatment will be done. We offer 2 packages for IVF and gender selection in Iran: