How to Have Twins

How to have twins – For centuries, conceiving and giving birth to twins has been a symbol of fertility and endowment. These days, the desire to conceive twins is not influenced by society as much as the mother’s opinion that having twins is more convenient. Although no pregnancy is free of risk and carrying twins is related to higher pregnancy complications, twin pregnancies are desirable because they allow a woman to birth two babies at one time. Families blessed with twins are seen as fortunate because two children is often seen as enough. Two babies and one pregnancy sounds too good to be true, but everything is possible when you are properly informed.

How to Conceive Twins

Maternal Age

Having twins depends on a number of factors, but to break things down statistically, here are some observations. First of all, if you are interested in having twins because you are concerned about your age and facing multiple pregnancies, there is definitely hope as twin births increase with maternal age. While women of young maternal age (usually teens) have a two-percent chance of bearing twins, women over 45 have a twenty-percent chance of giving birth to twins.

Fertility Treatment

Fertility treatments that increase ovulation also significantly increase a woman’s chances of giving birth to twins. Since many women who take fertility treatments are also of advanced maternal age, the chances of conceiving twins in this situation is greater. However, fertility treatment techniques usually involve fertilizing multiple eggs not only leading to twin births, but also triplets or higher multiples.

Family History

An interesting fact: Although a family history of identical twins in the family does not increase your chances of having identical twins, a family history fraternal twins does. In other words, if your family has a long history of conceiving non-identical twins, your chances of having fraternal twins is higher. This is because fraternal twins, or non-identical twins are the result of two ovaries being fertilized at once, indicating the woman’s capacity of producing more eggs. Identical twins are associated with men because the production of more sperm indicates a higher likelihood of two sperm fertilizing the same egg. Take these two facts, and it is very easy to understand why having twins increases significantly when there is a family history of conceiving twins on both the maternal and fraternal side.

Race

While Asian women are the least likely to conceive twins, African-American women have the highest probability of conceiving twins.

Body Weight

The human body is just fascinating. While pregnancy complications increase with weight, so does the production of estrogen. Increased amounts of estrogen cause overstimulation of the ovaries which means that instead of being released in singles, they release in doubles, increasing the likelihood of conceiving fraternal twins.

Birth Control

A bit ironic, but trying not to have children for a while by taking birth control pills actually increases your chances of conceiving twins right after you stop taking the pill. This is caused by the pill’s tendency to mess with your ovarian cycle. Right after stopping birth control, your production of eggs is unregular and instead of releasing one egg, you may release two or more. This increases your chances of having fraternal twins, as more eggs are available for fertilization.

How Can You Have Twins?

There are no scientific guidelines you can follow that will inevitably lead to your conception of twins. Sad as that may sound, let’s be realistic. Having twins is the result of varying factors, none controlled by personal manipulation. That being said, there are still ways you can become a candidate for twin conception. You have no control over genetics, race or your family history, but you do have control over weight and to some extent, your production of eggs. In other words, gaining weight and either eating foods that produce hyperovulation or taking hyperovulation-stimulating supplements such as folic acid may help you out.

Gain Weight

Firstly, we do not recommend this because obesity is a serious issue and trading your health for your desire to have specific pregnancy conditions may prove problematic in the future. That being said, estrogen production caused by increased fat is observed in women with BMIs over 30. Take a good look at that number and weigh the implications. Then, start weighing yourself

Hyperovulation supplements

Foods high in cholesterol and protein can increase stimulation of ovaries, but although you are safe with high quality protein such as tofu and soy, again you are increasing your risk of other health conditions if you go with the high cholesterol option. Other foods proven to increase the release of multiple eggs are dairy products and wild yams. Another option is taking folic acid supplements or eating foods with high folic acid content such as lentils, kidney beans, and leafy green vegetables.

Waiting

Another rather risky option is waiting to conceive until you are over 35. This is not recommended as the likelihood of birth defects also increases with age as well as your chances of having a high risk pregnancy.

Trying to Conceive after Taking the Pill

You can also try to conceive immediately after stopping birth control since you’ll have a period of unregular ovary production which may result in the release of more eggs during your fertile period.

Fertility Treatment

Fertility drugs are perhaps the surest way to ensure the conception of twins as many times, your physician will manually fertilize one egg with multiple sperm. This type of treatment however other than being expensive, also increases your risk of having more than two babies.

Things to Keep in Mind

Although your desire to have twins may be great, we must caution you to take into account certain risks associated with having twins and we warn you against taking unhealthy measures to increase your chances of conceiving twins. Other than posing a number of health concerns for the mother, twin pregnancies also affect the babies themselves as most twins have a higher probability of being born small or underweight. A whooping 96% of twin babies are considered low birth weight babies. Please research the matter further and happy pregnancy!

Related Links

• Ovulation Calendar
• Am I Having a Baby Girl or Boy?

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The Getting Pregnant Plan

by Michelle Adams

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