What are the odds of giving birth to twins?

Question

Why do some people give birth to twins and others give birth to only one baby?

Answer 1

This may help you. Good Luck.

If you're wondering whether or not you're carrying twins (or more!), you're not alone. With the incidence of twins increasing dramatically over the past two decades, many expecting moms wonder if two babies might be on the way. Find out the common signs and symptoms of twin pregnancy and then learn more from "been there, done that" moms on the Pregnant with Multiples message board.

Trying to Conceive: Are You Ahead of the Game?

Age matters. One reason for the increased incidence of multiple births in the United States is the trend toward delaying pregnancy. The incidence of twins increases for women over the age of 35 and even more if you are over 50. To put it in perspective, your chance of giving birth to twins if you are under 25 years of age is less than half of what it would be after the age of 35.

The odds of twins increase with the use of assisted reproductive technology. Both ovulation-inducing drugs (infertility treatment) and in-vitro fertilization increase the odds of having twins. Between 1973 and 1990, twin births increased at twice the rate of singletons, and triplet and higher order births increased at seven times the rate of singletons.

Twins may run in your family. Even before diagnosis of pregnancy, you may suspect that you are at an increased risk of conceiving twins. Fraternal (dizygotic) twins may run in the family, and, contrary to popular belief, they do not necessarily skip a generation. If your mother or grandmother had twins, you may be carrying a gene that causes you to release more than one egg at a time, making it more likely that you will have twins.

9 Signs You May Be Pregnant with Twins

1. You just feel you're carrying more than one baby. Don't disregard intuition or dreams. Some mothers of twins (or higher order multiples) say that they knew right from the start that they were carrying more than one baby.

2. You experience more nausea and/or morning sickness. If you are having more than one baby, you may also have an elevated hCG level. Higher levels of hCG also make it more likely that you will have bouts of morning (or all-day) sickness.

3. Other normal pregnancy symptoms may be exaggerated. Many women -- but not all -- who are pregnant with twins have more intense pregnancy symptoms, likely due to the extra hormones circulating through their system. You may find that your breasts are very tender, you have to urinate frequently, you are hungry all the time and you are very tired. In the second trimester, you may experience difficulty catching your breath, swelling (edema) of the hands and legs, an unusual rate of weight gain and abdominal enlargement and excessive fetal movement. Anemia or low iron (decreased hemoglobin) is also common with twin and multiple pregnancies.

4. You gain weight rapidly in your first trimester. A higher than average weight gain in the first trimester may be your first clue that you're carrying more than one baby. If you're eating well, don't be concerned: A study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology stressed the importance of early weight gain for twin pregnancies, since weight gain in the first two trimesters was found to have the greatest impact on birth weight.

Answer 2

According to scientific research, only fraternal twins are genetic. The occurence of an egg splitting has no genetic basis but the tendency of a woman to ovulate multiple eggs per cycle can be genetic, producing multiple fraternal twins in a family. That is very strange that your mother had two sets of identicals. How lucky. Or unlucky... depending on the day. So, to answer your question, your odds are the same as any other person. That chance for the general population is 3 in 100 or 3%.

Answer 3

There are a couple of ways that multiples are conceived:

* Multiple eggs are released or there is more than one ovulation. Both (or more) eggs are fertilized and you have fraternal twins. This can happen with or without fertility drugs.

* One egg is release but splits in two. Identical twins are made. This can happen with or without fertility drugs.

* In cases of IVF, there are usually 3 or more fertilized eggs put back into the uterus. * The rationale is that not all of these will implant, though sometimes they do.

Once conceived you have a lot of possibilities on placentas, implantation locations, number of amniotic sacs. For example, you can have two babies, two placentas, and two sacs. You can have two babies one placenta, two sacs. It will be important to know exactly what you are dealing with, particularly when it comes to amniotic sacs.

Answer 4

twins have to run in your family and skip a generation. like you are more likely to have twins if your mother or great grandmother were twins. it's your family too not the man's family because of eggs.

Answer 5

3 in 100 live births are twins or 3%. Here are some things that increase your risks of having twins:
You'll increase your odds of having twins/multiples if....


You (the mother) are over age 45. The chances of having twins increases with age; 17% of mothers over the age of 45 give birth to twins. Becoming a mother after age 50 boosts your odds considerably, to nearly 1 in 9!

You live in Massachusetts or Connecticut. A 1999 study found that rates in these states were at least 25% higher than the national rate in the United States.

You take fertility drugs or undergo other fertility treatments. No one can deny that the availability of fertility enhancements has increased the multiple birth rate, but no study seems to conclusively pinpoint the impact. Some estimate that the chances of having twins after fertility enhancing treatment is as high as 1 in 38. Others estimate that using the drug Clomid increases your chances to 1 in 5.

You, your mother, or her mother's mother is a fraternal twin.
These women may carry a gene for hyperovulation, which means they release more than one egg during an ovulation cycle, increasing their ability to conceive fraternal twins. The chances may be high as 1 in 17 if the mother is a fraternal twin herself.

You've already had one set of fraternal twins. For mothers who have already had one set of fraternal twins, their chances of conceiving another set are four times greater than the average woman, or about 1 in 12!

You're Nigerian. This African country purportedly has the highest twinning rate in the world, estimated at 1 in 22. Some sources attribute it to their consumption of large quantities of yams. (It's worth a try if you really want to have multiples!)

You're overweight or tall. A 2005 study published by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology reported a significant increase in fraternal twin births to mothers who had a BMI of 30 or higher, or who were in the top 25th percentile for height.

You'll decrease your odds of having twins/multiples if...


You (the mother) are Hispanic or Asian. The 2001 study by the National Center for Health Statistics found that women of Hispanic origin were substantially less likely to have twins than white or black mothers. Among worldwide populations, the Asian countries of Japan and China have the lowest twinning rates, estimated at 1 in 150 and 1 in 300, respectively.

You (the mother) are under age 25. The chance that a woman would bear twins before her 25th birthday are is less than half of what it would be after age 35.

You live in Hawaii. In a study that examined multiple birth in the United States, this tropical paradise scored lowest, about 30% below the national average.

You're looking for identical multiples. The rate for identical, or monozygotic, multiples is random and universal; it's the same in all populations regardless of race, heredity or other factors, and it has remained constant over time. The chances of having identical twins is about 1 in 285.

Answer 6

theres a small chance of giving birth to twins

Answer 7

Its mostly genetic. However, the randomness of multiple birth is lessening (meaning becoming more common) due to invetro fertilzation. They will pre-fertilze eggs and insert them into the uterus. Most time more then one will implant. Kind like throwing a handful of darts at a dartboard.

Answer 8

depends on your family history. Twins usually runs in families and skips a generation.

Answer 9

If twins run in your family then you would have a good chance to have them.

Answer 10

1 in every 10 pregnancies is a twin, but in most cases, one twin is a miscarrage