Asking for a friend: Any ways to increase likelihood of having twins?

[mirth]

" 

 

[kamom]

And a woman's chances of producing more than one egg in the same cycle are affected by:

 

her age (odds increase as you age, especially 35+)

number of previous pregnancies (more kids, higher chances)

a return to ovulating naturally after a time of not ovulating (after discontinuing breastfeeding or getting off the pill)

hormone supplementation/fertility treatments

 

Statistics show that identical twins occur at the same rate in families with no history of twins as in families with a previous history of twins. Fraternal twins are statistically more frequent in families that have a history of fraternal twins.

 

:lol: Yeah, I guess my chances are going up! Fraternal twins run in my dad's family, I'm almost 35, I just discontinued Bfeeding,and I take natural fertility supplements. PLUS:lol::lol: I might even be pregnant. LOL

[dhudson]

As a relatively new mom of twins (my girls are 10 months) it makes me sad to read the semi negative comments from moms about twins. :( My twin girlies have been the best icing on the cake that I could have ever asked for!

 

Let me say that I love my twins. They are a joy to be around every day, but those first years were really hard. Being on bed rest with a 3yr old is hard. The first two years were brutally hard. Very little sleep, no breaks and a never - ending stream of laundry is hard. Not that they weren't worth it but it was hard. I would never want someone to go into a deliberate decision about having twins without having think through how difficult it can be.

 

I am glad it has been easy for you, that's a blessing.

[cathmom]

I worry enough about my singletons' health and count down the weeks until they have the best chances of avoiding the NICU or delivery complications, despite having few or no signs that would indicate a need to worry.

 

I've spent most of my pregnancies having to force myself to manage decent nutrition and adequate rest vs. exercise. Having to go above and beyond would be extremely difficult for *me*. And I'd feel compelled to consent to more frequent and broader screenings/testings than I ever had with singletons.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

With one baby, if the baby is moving, you know it's OK. With two, even if you feel movement, you don't know. I actually went in once just to check because I had been feeling less movement and I was so worried I couldn't sleep.

 

It was VERY hard to force myself to eat. Nothing sounded good for the entire pregnancy. Of course, then I felt guilty and upset that I wasn't eating as well as I should. Although, since they were both 7 1/2 pounds each, I guess I managed LOL. I had no energy at all and the last couple of weeks I could barely move. My waist was 53 inches!

[dani3boys]

As a relatively new mom of twins (my girls are 10 months) it makes me sad to read the semi negative comments from moms about twins. :( My twin girlies have been the best icing on the cake that I could have ever asked for!

 

It has made me sad too! Twins are more work, but I have loved having them. Mine are 12 now, and I don't even think of them much as twins anymore because they are each their own person.

I did have a rough pregnancy with them. They ended up having TTTS, so I was induced at 36 weeks.

[justlittleoldme]

Swear up and down you only want one child. Then swear up and down that you only want one child in diapers. Then buy a car that only fits one more child comfortably. Then you'll have twins.

 

(I mean this jokingly, as I have a friend who has 2 kids, and her husband said up and down he only wanted 3 kids, and only one in diapers at a time, and they got triplets naturally. Twins did run in their family a bit.)

[AndyJoy]

 

Men can "share" the gift of identical twins.

 

Women control the gift of fraternal twins.

 

Kris

 

I knew a family that ought to be studied. The dad was an identical twin. He and his wife had identical twin girls, then one boy, then fraternal twin girls, then identical twin boys! We always felt a bit sorry for the singleton.

[Rhonda in TX]

That means she could inherit the gene for multiple ovulations. However, marrying a man with twins in his family wouldn't increase her chance of twins, but it would increase the odds of THEIR daughters having twins one day.

 

I guess I don't understand why it's said that that it doesn't pass through the male. In her case, it did. She inherited the gene from her dad.

 

I'm probably unclear on the genetics. :)

[ktgrok]

The gene is one for hyperovulation. A man can carry the gene, and pass it on to his daughters, but since he doesn't ovulate he personally doesn't have a greater chance of having twins. His daughters do have a greater chance of having twins when they give birth, because they will have the hyperovulation gene.

 

I hope that makes sense.

 

Katie

 

I guess I don't understand why it's said that that it doesn't pass through the male. In her case, it did. She inherited the gene from her dad.

 

I'm probably unclear on the genetics. :)

[Oops, duplicate account :/]

I haven't read any of the replies, so I don't know if this has already been mentioned. My apologies if it has.

 

Apparently there is something in yams that triggers the possibility of double ovulation. If you google it, you can find the studies that have been done in Africa. But I think you have to have a whole lotta yams to make it happen.

 

Just warn your friend, though. Having infant twins was literally the hardest thing I've had to go through in my life. It sounds so fun and romantic, but it's really rough. The pregnancy itself was very, very difficult and high-risk. (And I was young and in great shape!) Because they were twins, they were preemies, which is another incredible stressor to have two babies in the NICU for several weeks. And I remember for the first few MONTHS I never got more than 4 hours of sleep per day. I was a walking zombie. And thank the Lord, but I was YOUNG when I had mine, and no other kids to care for. I can't imagine how difficult it would be these days.

 

No, I love both of my twins, but I much, MUCH rather would have had them separately.

 

That's what I was going to mention. Fascinating! I read this in What to Expect Before You Are Expecting.

[Impish]

in my case it was getting older and making the mistake of saying to DH, "just one more, honey"... :001_huh:

:lol:

Swear up and down you only want one child. Then swear up and down that you only want one child in diapers. Then buy a car that only fits one more child comfortably. Then you'll have twins.

 

(I mean this jokingly, as I have a friend who has 2 kids, and her husband said up and down he only wanted 3 kids, and only one in diapers at a time, and they got triplets naturally. Twins did run in their family a bit.)

:lol::lol:

[mommytobees]

The gene is one for hyperovulation. A man can carry the gene, and pass it on to his daughters, but since he doesn't ovulate he personally doesn't have a greater chance of having twins. His daughters do have a greater chance of having twins when they give birth, because they will have the hyperovulation gene.

 

I hope that makes sense.

 

Katie

 

THat makes sense and I'll take your explanation one step further.

 

I come from a line of both fraternal (pop more than one egg out at a time) and identical twins (one egg splits).

 

Every other generation on my maternal line has one set of fraternal twins OR identical twins (both mirror twins and "same" twins).

 

I have been pregnant with 1 set of identical twins and 4 sets of fraternal twins --- staying pregnant is another and separate issue.

 

My dh's family has a history of every other generation having fraternal twins. My MIL is a fraternal twin and there were other twins on her mother's side of the family.

 

So... looking at my daughter:

 

~ father might carry a gene prompting the occasional extra ovulation

~ mother carries a gene prompting routine extra ovulation

~ mother carries a gene of egg splitting

~ 3 out of 4 grandparents carry genes for fraternal and 1/4 grandparents carry a gene for identical gene splitting

 

Add in chance and she doesn't have a chance of NOT having at least one multiple fetuses pregnancy.

 

Kris