Although certain factors increase the chance of having twins, there is no way to improve the odds of having twins naturally. A woman will usually find out that she is pregnant with twins from an ultrasound early on in the pregnancy.
Factors that increase the chance of twins include: consuming high amounts of dairy foods, being over the age of 30, and conceiving while breastfeeding. Many fertility drugs including Clomid, Gonal-F, and Follistim also increase the odds of a twin pregnancy.
It is estimated that 1 in 250 natural pregnancies will naturally result in twins. While twin pregnancies can happen by chance, there are some factors that may increase your odds of having two babies at the same time. Let's learn about twins!
Foods naturally rich in folic acid like avocado, spinach, broccoli, liver, and legumes also have the tendency to increase one's chances of conceiving twins. According to a study, consuming extra folic acid while trying to get pregnant can raise the chance of giving birth to twins slightly higher.
Assisted reproduction
They increase fertility by stimulating egg production. If more eggs are produced, the chances that more than one egg will be released during ovulation also increase. Among the common ways to get pregnant with twins is through fertility treatment such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
What causes you to get pregnant with multiples? A multiple pregnancy means you're pregnant with more than one baby. Multiple pregnancy usually happens when more than one egg is fertilized. It also can happen when one egg is fertilized and then splits into 2 or more embryos that grow into 2 or more babies.
Monozygotic (MZ) twins, also called identical twins, occur when a single egg cell is fertilized by a single sperm cell. The resulting zygote splits into two very early in development, leading to the formation of two separate embryos.
However, for a given pregnancy, only the mother's genetics matter. Fraternal twins happen when two eggs are simultaneously fertilized instead of just one. A father's genes can't make a woman release two eggs.
This type of twin formation begins when one sperm fertilizes one egg (oocyte). 1 As the fertilized egg (called a zygote) travels to the uterus, the cells divide and grow into a blastocyst. In the case of monozygotic twins, the blastocyst then splits and develops into two embryos.
Hyperovulation-stimulating foods: There are a few foods that naturally increase the rate of ovulation and stimulate ovaries to release multiple eggs. Such hyperovulation stimulating foods include cassava (an African wild yam or sweet potato), tofu, soy isoflavones, whole grains, and whole wheat.
There are two ways that a woman may conceive twins. In one case, her ovaries release two eggs at the time of ovulation, and both are fertilized and become embryos; this results in fraternal, or nonidentical, twins. In contrast, identical twins are conceived when one embryo splits into two early in its development.
To form identical or monozygotic twins, one fertilised egg (ovum) splits and develops into two babies with exactly the same genetic information. To form fraternal or dizygotic twins, two eggs (ova) are fertilised by two sperm and produce two genetically unique children.
The mother gives an X chromosome to the child. The father may contribute an X or a Y. The chromosome from the father determines if the baby is born as male or female.
Remember, monozygotic (identical) twins don't run in families—they are random. You may not know if your great-granduncles were identical or not and often there is no way to know for sure without DNA testing. That being said, twins that share a close physical resemblance are more likely to be identical than fraternal.
Is there a third type? Traditionally, the science around twins has taught that identical and fraternal are the only two types. But a third type might exist, called polar body or half-identical twins.
The only other reported case was uncovered in 2007. Virtually all twins are either fraternal (where two eggs and two sperm have created two separate embryos) or identical (where one embryo splits in two before resuming normal development for each child).
If one egg is fertilised by two sperm, it results in three sets of chromosomes, rather than the standard two - one from the mother and two from the father. And, according to researchers, three sets of chromosomes are "typically incompatible with life and embryos do not usually survive".
37 men who had fathered non-identical twins with a control group of 349 men with normal, healthy sperm. On average, they found that fathers of twins had more normal and motile, or mobile, sperm than the control group. Their sperm counts were also higher, although not significantly.
This is why fraternal twins run in families. However, only women ovulate. So, the mother's genes control this and the fathers don't. This is why having a background of twins in the family matters only if it is on the mother's side.
Hyperovulation-stimulating foods: There are a few foods that naturally increase the rate of ovulation and stimulate ovaries to release multiple eggs. Such hyperovulation stimulating foods include cassava (an African wild yam or sweet potato), tofu, soy isoflavones, whole grains, and whole wheat.
How is it performed? Women who naturally ovulate may release extra eggs when they take oral medications such as clomiphene. This is a mild form of superovulation and is generally low in cost and risk.
There's only one way this can happen: multiple ovulation, AKA hyperovulation. Multiple ovulation, or hyperovulation, occurs when both ovaries release an egg or when more than one egg is released by an ovary (it can be either ovary).
Follicle Stimulating Hormone (Follistim/Gonal-F, Bravelle)
FSH medications are used to stimulate the recruitment and development of multiple eggs in women during an ovulation induction cycle. FSH products may be used alone or in combination with human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) to induce superovulation.
Many people believe twins skip a generation, but that's just a myth. The idea that twins skip generations likely comes from the fact that the genetic factors contributing to twins only come from the gestational parent's side.
Remember, a family history of twins is only one of many factors that influence multiple births. Maternal age, race, weight, diet, and reproductive history all contribute to twinning and may have a stronger influence than family history.