Twin statistics frsternal

amother

Aubergine

Wed, Apr 06 2016, 12:09 am

What are the chances of having fraternal twins? I've heard it skips a generation on the mothers side. Can anyone vouch for the validity of this? Ex one of my parents is a twin does that actually mean I have a higher chance of having twins or not? Does it matter if it's my father of mother that is the twin?

Wondering if anyone else has a parent that's a twin and also gave birth to twins.

mirror

Wed, Apr 06 2016, 12:24 am

Fraternal twins means the babies originated from two eggs, so the deciding factor is truly the mother, who happened to release two eggs that month.

Identical twins means that one egg split into two after it became an embryo. This happens quite often, but most of the time one "twin" dies before the third month of pregnancy. It will show up as a small dot on a sonogram.

Part of the reason identical twins are rare is that most of the time the ones that are formed share the same sac. The problem is that usually at this early stage (before three months) one twin will get most of the nutrition and that's why the other twin will die. When this happens later on, doctors can actually give blood to the twin that's being deprived while in utero.

Fraternal twins always have their own sacs and their own placentas, so they are less likely to die in utero.

amother

Aubergine

Wed, Apr 06 2016, 5:39 am

[quote="mirror"]Fraternal twins means the babies originated from two eggs, so the deciding factor is truly the mother, who happened to release two eggs that month.

Thank you for the info, but I'm wondering more specifically how your chance of having fraternal twins changes if they run in your family/ if that gives you a higher chance.

momx6

Wed, Apr 06 2016, 6:16 am

Yeah, we all thought it skips a generation... I'm a twin with a boy and I have twins. My twin brother does not have twins. My younger sister also has twins.

amother

Rose

Tue, May 17 2016, 9:50 am

I have fraternal twins.
My grandmother (mothers mother) was a fraternal twin & she had fraternal twins.
Non of my aunts or other cousins on this side of the family have twins, there are a lot!
So it sometimes skips a generation but not always

amother

Rose

Tue, May 17 2016, 10:00 am

jj1236 wrote:

My fathers a fraternal twin and gave birth to fraternal twins

I hope it wasn't your father that gave birth Wink

Also I don't think him being a fraternal twin would be impacting your moms release of 2 eggs that month. According to my knowledge it is always from the mother, however she could have the gene from either of her parents/grandparents

amother

Aubergine

Wed, May 18 2016, 7:27 am

amother wrote:

I hope it wasn't your father that gave birth Wink

According to my knowledge it is always from the mother, however she could have the gene from either of her parents/grandparents

Right so my question is can I have the gene from my parents (my father specifically?) or would it have to be from my mother

5mom

Wed, May 18 2016, 8:08 am

About 1% of babies are fraternal twins. Some women have genes that make them more likely to release more than one egg at a time. There are other non-genetic reasons that a woman might release more than one egg. (One common reason is age, also ethnic groups have different rates.) Mothers of fraternal twins often have high FSH levels.

The "skipping a generation" myth probably comes about because men can pass on the twin gene to their daughters even though they are no more likely than anyone else to have twins themselves. Also, women who have a genetic tendency to have twins won't necessarily have twins.

Hope this helps.

amother

Azure

Wed, May 18 2016, 8:51 am

amother wrote:

Right so my question is can I have the gene from my parents (my father specifically?) or would it have to be from my mother

You can definitely have the gene from your father, and have twins yourself.

The 'gene' is one that causes a woman to produce 2 eggs in 1 cycle. Men can carry this gene, dormant, and pass it on to their daughters--hence the idea of twins 'skipping a generation.' He will not have twins, because he doesn't ovulate, but you might.

Queen6

Wed, May 18 2016, 9:31 am

My mother is a twin. She had twins (me). Her twin had twins. I have twins.
Don't listen to everyone who says all the twin "rules". There are none. If Hashem wants it; you will have it.
Enjoy them!

amother

Azure

Wed, May 18 2016, 9:36 am

Queen6 wrote:

My mother is a twin. She had twins (me). Her twin had twins. I have twins.
Don't listen to everyone who says all the twin "rules". There are none. If Hashem wants it; you will have it.
Enjoy them!

That's actually exactly how it works! Women who have twins can also pass the double ovulation gene to their daughters--in your case, grandmother-->mother-->you k'h! That's amazing, have a lot of nachas! I have twins too Very Happy

working hard

Wed, May 18 2016, 10:49 am

mirror wrote:

Fraternal twins always have their own sacs and their own placentas, so they are less likely to die in utero.

Just for the record, how many sacks and placentas depends on implantation. While fraternal twins usually have 2 placentas it is possible to have only one. My twins had only 1 placenta

amother

Chartreuse

Wed, May 18 2016, 10:55 am

No one in our large extended family has twins. My cousin had fraternal twins and a few months later her DH's brother had fraternal twins. She doesn't either have twins in her family. BUT, the weird part is that these brother's grandmother was a fraternal twin! Too many coincidences... but science would say no connection between these three sets of twins.

amother

Coffee

Wed, May 18 2016, 10:57 am

My mom's a twin and I miscarried twins but was also taking fertility meds so my likelihood was anyway increased.

Although the doctor was surprised it was twins because I was on such a low dose, so maybe I have a slight tendency - when I actually get pregnant at all that is Wink

But so far with both successful pregnancies - singletons!