What are the chances of a baby girl being born into the family? Well, if the woman trying for a baby is under any kind of stress, then the odds of her bearing a daughter are very good. According to a new study by the Oxford University and US researchers, women who are stressed before becoming pregnant are more likely to produce daughters than sons. In fact, in the months following the terrorist attack in New York, statistics show that the number of boys born in the city drastically decreased.

In the study mentioned earlier, researchers used data gathered from some 338 women from different parts of the UK and measured the level of stress hormones that the participants experienced in the months before pregnancy. Cortisol levels, in particular, seemed to increase during bouts of long-term stress. They also discovered that women who are stressed are 75 percent more likely to produce baby girls than those who were less stressed. If you find yourself feeling the pressure from work or the stress of maintaining a relationship, then you are raising the odds of your having a baby girl.

Now while the gender of the baby largely depends on the chromosomes of the father, the study implies that cortisol levels might have some influence as well. The reason for this is not yet clear, but researchers are speculating that large amounts of cortisol in the mother’s system might be making it difficult for the male embryos to form fully or perhaps male babies just might be more fragile than female babies in general.

(Photo source: sxc.hu)