Chances of Giving Birth to Twins

 

Almost every Nigerian woman you meet will tell you that she would like to give birth to twins.

In fact any pregnant woman in the south-western part of Nigeria is referred to as a 'Mama Ibeji' i.e. mother of twins.

While the incidence of twin pregnancies is more common in Nigeria than in other parts of the world, not every Nigerian woman is able to give birth to twins.

And while some women find the idea of twins quite attractive, some don't. This is because twin and other multiple birth pregnancies are high risk pregnancies and carry significant burden, financial, physical and emotional.

Most people assume that twin pregnancies occur because of genetic reasons or nowadays, because of fertility treatment or drugs, while this is true there are other factors that can increase a woman's chance of giving birth to twins.

Family history

Twin births tend to run higher in certain families than others for example families who come from the village of Igbo-Ora in Oyo State are known to have the highest incidence of twin births in the world.

It is known that twins tend to skip a generation. So if your grandparents had twins, there is a good chance that you will be able to conceive twins as well.

When twins run in the family, it is the chance of having non-identical (fraternal) twins that is increased.

Fertility Drugs or Treatments

Nowadays, fertility drugs and treatments are probably most responsible for the increase in twins, triplets, quadruplets and other higher multiple births.

Fertility drugs and treatments such as IVF can increase a mother's chances of having twins (or more) as high as 1 in 38.

Maternal Age

Older mothers have a higher chance of giving birth to twins.

The probability of having "unassisted" twins increases to 5% if a woman is between the ages of 35 - 39.

Research seems to suggest that older women are more likely to conceive twins because of a rise in the production of a follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

Weight gain

Women that are a few kg overweight are more likely to give birth to twins. A study involving more than 50,000 pregnancies in the US by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, shows that women with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher saw an increase in chances of having twins.

The study also found that taller women, in the 75 percentile for height, were also more likely to have multiples babies.

Consumption of meat and dairy products

A study performed by Gary Steinman, MD of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, compared the twin birth rate of mothers who do not eat animal products, including milk to those mothers that consumed dairy and other animal products.

The results showed that mothers who drank milk were five times more likely to have twins over the vegetarian mothers. Infact the consumption of dairy has been shown to increase twin conceptions by 7 times the normal rate.

Previous pregnancies

The more children a woman has, the greater her chances of conceiving twins are mathematically.

If your dream is to have twins i.e become a real 'Mama Ibeji', then you should consider some of the points written above.