Dr Olatoye Ogundipe, a gynaecologist, on Wednesday, says the gender of a child is not determined by the sex position or duration contrary to beliefs by some people.
Ogundipe, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin, said that most couples had been misled in believing that there were certain sex positions to adopt to have a baby boy or girl.
“This is erroneous and misleading, the formation of a child is more than just sex by the couple, a lot goes on in the body.
“I hear some traditional healers say a lot of things about conception, some say; do not have sex when the sun is high.
“Others say there is a particular time of the menstrual cycle to conceive in order to have a boy or girl; these claims are not medically proven.
“What medicine says is that sperm carries the X or Y chromosomes while the female egg is X. If the sperm carrying Y meets the egg first, it results to XY which is a boy and if it is X, it becomes XX which is a girl.
According to him, some men are still not knowledgeable of the fact that the gender of a child is determined by them and therefore, the woman is not to blame.
“It is time we humans understand that the cycle of life is dependent on both the man and the woman; we cannot continue to wish for baby boys alone, then, who will carry future pregnancies.
“We need women too. They are important too. The birth of a baby girl is a blessing to the human race, so is a boy.
“However, the sex position, duration or timing cannot determine a child’s gender, otherwise, until such a claim is proven medically,” he said.