2006-11-10 08:17:38 · 42 answers · asked by lovely06 1 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Pregnancy
I know you've gotten alot of answers all ready but it drives me crazy to see all of the mis-information out there. I'm the mother of identical twins so I hear these types of questions alot:
1. Identical twins (monozygotic) are from one egg that splits. All pregnancies have a 1 in 250 chance of being identical twins. This is not impacted by age, ethnicity, fertility drugs, or family history.
2. Fraternal twins (dizygotic) occur when the female produces two eggs in the same cycle. Some factors include fertility drugs, higher maternal age, ethnicity (for instance more common in African Americans less common in Asians), and family history.
3. Because it is up to the female to produce two eggs at once a family history of fraternal twins is only relevant on the female's side.
It wasn't until I read more about them from reputable sources that I learned how many myths there are out there (like skipping generations, etc).
The skipping generations myth is most likely because if a male is carrying the family history of twins then his female children would be more likely to have twins because they have the "produce two eggs gene" from their father. However, the male cannot produce two eggs so he wouldn't have twins due to family history (but could have twins due to other chances).
BOTTOM LINE: You have an INCREASED CHANCE of having twins but this doesn't mean you "will" have them.
Hope this helps
2006-11-13 06:09:36 · answer #1 · answered by Ali D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends. Are you an identical or fraternal twin? If you are a fraternal twin, maybe... you do have an increased chance of conceiving fraternal twins.
If you're an identical twin, though, you have no more chance of conceiving identical twins than anyone else in the world, since it's a completely random event, not affected by family history or anything else for that matter.
Of course, this is all assuming that you are a woman... if you're a man, it doesn't matter, because when it comes to twin, it's all about the egg :-p
2006-11-11 14:33:14 · answer #2 · answered by TwinMommyJen 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have a greater chance of having twins but that don't mean that you will. It doesn't necessarily skip a generation either. I was taught that in Nursing school. It all has to do with the woman. If the woman either releases two eggs (fraternal twins) or if her fertilized egg splits in two (identical twins), then she has twins. It is genetic. It can run in families but that don' t mean that it HAS to. I have heard of some women having twins when noone else in the family ever has. Hope this helps.
2006-11-10 08:38:23 · answer #3 · answered by Crystal 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is some evidence showing that identical twins tend to run in families, but there is only a slightly higher possibility that any birth will be twins; far from a sure thing.
Also as a woman gets older there is more chance that more than one egg will be released in a cycle making older women even more likely to give birth to fraternal twins than younger women.
2006-11-10 08:26:56 · answer #4 · answered by John L 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's possible for any woman to have twins. If you're an identical twin, your chances are not any higher; the splitting of a fertilized egg into two identical embryos is a fluke and is not thought to be genetic. Fraternal twins can have a genetic component; some women inherit from their maternal line the tendency to ovulate more than once per cycle.
2006-11-10 10:58:45 · answer #5 · answered by mockingbird 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It might skip a generation, but it might not. My mother was pregnant with twins and now I'm pregnant with twins (I'm 27, at my first pregnancy and never used fertility drugs). You never know...
Only fraternal twins (2 separate eggs) are hereditary, not the identical ones (one egg splitting in 2). If you're an identical twin, your chances of having twins are the same as those of the other women. If you're a fraternal twin, then you might've inherited from your mother the predisposition of releasing more than one egg at once.
Anyway, cheer up, twins are not only "double the trouble", as they say, but also double the fun & love. :)
2006-11-10 09:48:50 · answer #6 · answered by wiccanwarrior1979 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to the following article, identical twin women have only a
0.6% probability of having a twin birth.
“Women who are themselves fraternal twins have a 10% chance of
producing twins, identical twin women have only a 0.6% probability of
having a twin birth.
Once a woman conceives twins, she has a 5% (that's one in twenty)
chance of having twins again. There are no interesting parallels to
these percentages among dads! A man who is a twin has the same
probability of fathering twins as any other man.”
2006-11-10 08:20:41 · answer #7 · answered by Sara 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I does not mean you will for sure, however, certain families have a tendency to have twins run in the family so your chances may be higher than a person whos family history has no twins....and I hear that this really only applies to women because they are the ones who really control twins...meaning releasing more that one egg....
2006-11-10 08:20:59 · answer #8 · answered by yetti 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not necessarily. Your chance of having twins is higher than a non twin, but it's not inevitable. Also Hispanics have a higher percentage for twin births. I am also a twin and I have two children who are not twins.
2006-11-10 08:26:46 · answer #9 · answered by Nicole G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well i'm a twin, i have a twin brother. i gave birth to a set of twins and yes they used to say that it skips a generation.. but girl, reality is it's something that we cannot run from it....but if you meet someone that has twins in there family then and you happen to get pregnant by that person you will have twins
2006-11-14 04:43:17 · answer #10 · answered by michelle e 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋