How Do You Get Pregnant With Twins

Verywell / Ellen Linder / Getty Images

What boosts your odds of having twins? Fertility treatments like Clomid (clomiphene), Gonal-F (follitropin alfa), and Follistim (follitropin beta) make it more likely you lot'll conceive multiples. But other factors like your acme, age, and fifty-fifty family unit history tin also increase your odds of conceiving more than 1 baby in a single pregnancy.

Causes of Twins Without Treatments

Fertility treatments are not the simply crusade for twins and higher-order pregnancies. Hither'due south an overview of the other factors that increment your chances of getting pregnant with multiples.

Age

People over 30 are more likely to excogitate twins. This is because follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) rises as birthing parents get older. FSH is responsible for the development of eggs in the ovaries before they are released.

As people historic period, they require higher levels of FSH because their eggs crave more stimulation to abound than earlier. Sometimes, the follicles overreact to higher FSH levels and two or more than eggs are released and fertilized, resulting in a multiple pregnancy.

Family History

A family history of identical twins does not necessarily brand yous more likely to have multiples, although the offspring of male person identical twins may exist more than probable to have their own identical twins. However, if yous take fraternal twins (non-identical) in your family, your chances of conceiving twins rise. If there are fraternal twins on both parents' or egg or sperm donor's sides, your odds for twins get up even higher.

A history of fraternal twins on the maternal side of the family indicates a higher likelihood of ovulating more than than ane egg per cycle.

Weight

People with a BMI over 30 are more likely to excogitate twins than people with a lower BMI. Extra body fat leads to increased levels of estrogen, and college levels of estrogen tin pb to overstimulation of the ovaries. Instead of releasing just one egg at ovulation, the ovaries may release two or more than. While the odds of twins may increment, other factors associated with being overweight can go far more difficult to excogitate.

Elevation

People who are taller than average are more likely to accept twins. Ane study constitute that people averaging 164.eight cm in top (about 5'four.8") were more than probable to conceive twins than people averaging 161.8 cm (about 5'3.7"). Why this happens isn't articulate, but one theory is that ameliorate nutrition (which may lead to more height) is partially behind the increased rate of twins.

Breastfeeding

People who conceive while breastfeeding are more likely to excogitate twins than people who are not. It's true that breastfeeding can besides suppress fertility and preclude pregnancy, specifically during a baby's kickoff six months if the infant is exclusively breastfed. However, it is possible to go meaning when breastfeeding—and with twins!

One study found the charge per unit of twins to exist 11.4% among breastfeeding people as compared to just 1.1% among non-breastfeeding people.

Diet

While research is yet ongoing, some studies have constitute that people who eat a lot of dairy products are more likely to conceive twins. I theory is that the growth hormones given to cows impact the hormone levels in humans.

Other Factors

Twins are more common in people who take carried many pregnancies and have big families. Meanwhile, Black people also are more likely to conceive twins than White people, while Asian people are the least likely to conceive twins.

Odds of Having Twins With Treatments

Fertility treatments that boost ovulation can lead to twins, triplets, or higher-club multiples. Conceiving multiples is a potential adventure of fertility treatments and one that can maybe be reduced with careful monitoring and targeted handling such equally unmarried embryo transfer with IVF handling or using the lowest possible effective dosage when treating with gonadotropins.

You may wonder why conceiving multiples is considered a "risk" and not a potential benefit to fertility treatments. After all, if yous've been struggling to get pregnant, wouldn't a double or triple blessing exist a expert thing? The fact is that multiple pregnancies come with added risks to the parent and babies.

Not all treatments for infertility increment your odds of conceiving twins, but most practice. Here are some of the treatments that may lead to twins.

Clomid (clomiphene)
Femera (letrozole)
Gonadotropins (likewise known as injectables) like Gonal-F and Follistim
IUI treatment, when used along with fertility drugs
IVF treatment

	Overall	Clomid and Femera	Gonadotropins	IVF (under 35)	IVF (ages 35–37)	IVF (ages 38–40)
Twins	iii.21%	5–12%	Up to thirty%	12.1%	9.one%	five.3%
Triplets and Higher-Guild Multiples	0.1%	<1%	Upward to 5%

Clomid and Femera have the lowest rate of twins, ranging from 5% to 12%. The charge per unit of triplets and higher-order multiples with these medications is under one%. Gonadotropins, whether used with or without IUI treatment, have the highest charge per unit of twins and higher-order multiples.

Co-ordinate to some studies, up to 30% of pregnancies conceived with gonadotropins lead to multiples. Well-nigh of these pregnancies are twin pregnancies, merely upwards to 5% are triplet or college-social club pregnancies.

Contrary to popular belief, IVF treatment is not the main source of triplet and higher-guild pregnancies. Data nerveless by the CDC indicates that the rate of IVF-conceived triplets in 2014 was one.5% of pregnancies (simply merely 0.ix% of live births due to pregnancy loss).

IVF twins are relatively mutual, with the twin rate highest for people younger than 35 at 12.i% per transfer in 2014. The IVF twin rate is lower for people over age 35 at ix.1% for people aged 35 to 37 and 5.3% for people ages 38 to forty, probable due to the overall decreased success rate as the gestational parent ages.

How Common Are Twins?

According to CDC birth statistics, there were 120,291 infants built-in in twin deliveries in the U.s. in 2019. That'south 32.1 twins per 1,000 live births, or put some other way, nearly 3.21% of live births. In that location were 3,136 triplet births and but 150 quadruplet and higher-order births during the aforementioned year. These numbers include naturally occurring multiples, along with those conceived with fertility handling.

The rate of multiple births increased and peaked during the 1990s but has been declining over the past decade. The percentage of triplet and higher order pregnancies has dropped 36% since 2004.

Chances of Having Identical Twins

In the general population, identical twin pregnancies occur 0.45% of the time, or 1 in 250 births. While about multiple pregnancies conceived with fertility treatments are fraternal twins, the employ of fertility handling besides increases your run a risk of having identical twins.

According to one study, identical twins made upward 0.95% of the pregnancies conceived with treatment. That's double the full general population's risk. It's unclear why fertility handling leads to more identical twins.

One theory is that the culture embryos are placed in during IVF increases the risk of identical twinning. Another theory is that treatments using gonadotropins pb to the increased take a chance of identical twins.

Odds of Higher-Lodge Multiples

Anyone trying to conceive will find their chances of having higher-order multiples much lower than twins or singleton births. Without fertility treatments, the odds of conceiving triplets spontaneously is effectually ane in one,800. For quadruplets, the odds are estimated to be around 1 in 729,000.

With fertility treatments, the chances of a higher-club pregnancy rise substantially. In 2019, for example, the rate for triplet and higher-lodge multiples was 87.seven per 100,000 births (0.877 per 1,000 births). Estimates are that just over iii-quarters of triplets and higher-order multiples are the result of fertility treatments.

A Word From Verywell

Your chances of having twins will depend not but on whether you undergo fertility treatment to excogitate but also on your family history, race, historic period, and many other factors. These factors are also cumulative. In other words, a tall person with a family history of fraternal twins is more likely to excogitate twins during fertility treatments than a curt person without any family history of twins.

The twin and multiple rates likewise vary from fertility clinic to dispensary. Twin rates differ based on how carefully they track ovulation stimulation during fertility drug utilise and how many embryos they routinely transfer during IVF.

While having twins may audio like the kind of two-for-one deal whatever couple would love to have after experiencing infertility, it actually is best to aim for one healthy baby. Your doctor can reduce the odds of multiples with careful monitoring and single-embryo transfer during IVF.

Even so, if yous practice conceive twins or more, know that good prenatal care tin reduce your take a chance of complications. In that location are too many positive benefits to having twins.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the chances of having twins if they run in your family?

A family history of identical twins volition not necessarily increase your chances of having them yourself, although the offspring of male identical twins are more likely to have them. Notwithstanding, you lot are more than likely to have twins if there are fraternal twins in your family unit. If in that location are fraternal twins on both your mother's and father'due south sides of the family, your chances of having fraternal twins yourself are even higher.
How tin I increase my chance of having twins?

Many of the factors that increase your odds of having twins are out of your control, like your family history and height, for example. Simply there are other ways to ameliorate your odds if you're hoping for multiples. Factors that increase the adventure of twins include: consuming high amounts of dairy foods, being over the age of thirty, and conceiving while breastfeeding. Many fertility drugs including Clomid, Gonal-F, and Follistim also increase the odds of a twin pregnancy.