The results suggest that twin fetuses are aware of their counterparts in the womb, that they prefer to interact with them, and that they respond to them in special ways. Contact between them appeared to be planned—not an accidental outcome of spatial proximity, says study co-author Cristina Becchio of Turin.
It is likely that twins' awareness of one another starts sooner than seven or eight months of age. An article by the late doctor, T. Berry Brazelton, observed that at age three to four months, an infant identical female twin seemed disoriented when her sister was removed from the room.
Just like singleton babies, twins can sometimes get super-active in the womb. But not to worry — there's no real threat from it! Babies can kick or even hit each other (yes, really) in utero, but the good news is the amniotic fluid acts as a cushion to protect them from actually getting hurt by any of it.
Amazingly, the researchers found that by the 18th week of pregnancy, the twins spent more time touching their sibling than themselves.
Twins start interacting in the womb at 14 weeks. Identical twins can develop different diseases. It is possible for twins to have different dads. Once you have one set of non-identical twins, you are 3-4 times more likely to have another set.
The hardest thing about having twins is...
“Managing the movement of two babies. Carrying them both up and down the stairs, getting them into the car, etc.” —Simeon R. “Often having to make one baby wait!” —Catharine D. “Being outnumbered—the logistics of two on one is definitely the hardest.
As strange as it may sound, twins are pretty proud to be twins. Many get excited when they meet other twins and will often share twin stories back and forth. There's even a festival every year that brings thousands of sets of twins together to celebrate the fact that they were born in twos.
Twin pregnancy symptoms are similar to those of a single fetus (singleton) pregnancy but may be more intense. You may experience: Breast tenderness. Fatigue.
Conjoined twins are two babies who are born physically connected to each other. Conjoined twins develop when an early embryo only partially separates to form two individuals. Although two babies develop from this embryo, they remain physically connected — most often at the chest, abdomen or pelvis.
This is called co-bedding and is perfectly safe. In fact, putting twins in the same cot can help them regulate their body temperatures and sleep cycles, and can soothe them and their twin.
Twins can change positions, but if they're head-down at 28 weeks, they're likely to stay that way. When delivering twins vaginally, there is a risk that the second twin will change position after the delivery of the first. Research shows that second twins change positions in 20 percent of planned vaginal deliveries.
A lot of people want to think that the separation between twins is like a wall. It is actually more like a bedsheet hanging on a clothesline. The babies can nudge each other and kick each other. But they cannot directly touch each other because of the flimsy membrane.
They prefer to look at faces over objects, and they even imitate facial expressions. Now a study suggests that the propensity for social interactions exists in the womb. Twins begin interacting as early as the 14th week of gestation.
To. Compute. Knowing which twin is the older one is usually a no-brainer. The time of birth is recorded, and whichever one is born first is officially the eldest.
There is no right or wrong answer, it's a personal preference. Some chose to be completely open or tell their twins to give a “smaller” twin leverage if he/she is older. Other choose not to tell so that they don't bicker about the subject or the dominate “older” twin doesn't have more leverage.
Identical twins are almost always the same sex, although there are some rare exceptions to this rule. Because identical twins occur when a single fertilized egg splits and forms two embryos, each embryo has the same chromosomes (usually, XX for girls or XY for boys).
And because the death rate in the womb is higher for twins than for singleton births, female twins are more common than male twins.
Monoamniotic-monochorionic Twins
This is the rarest type of twin, and it means a riskier pregnancy as the babies can get tangled in their own umbilical cords. If you have monoamniotic-monochorionic twins, your healthcare provider will monitor your pregnancy closely.
A little more than half of twin pregnancies end in preterm delivery (before 37 weeks). While 40 weeks is the full gestation period of the average pregnancy, most twin pregnancies are delivered at approximately 36 weeks (range 32-38 weeks depending on the type of twin pregnancy).
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), for example, recommends delivery between 34 and 37 weeks for twins with a shared placenta and at 38 weeks for twins with separate placentas. Some other physician groups recommend delivery closer to 39 weeks with separate placentas.
It's the feeling of never being completely alone; there's always someone on your side. Being a twin doesn't feel like there is another “you.” Instead it feels like together we make one; that we complement and complete each other. We are the Yin to each other's Yang! It's having a teammate for life.
Twins can occur either when two separate eggs become fertilized in the womb or when a single fertilized egg splits into two embryos. Having twins is more common now than it was in the past. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , twin births have nearly doubled over the last 40 years.