Pregnancy

The thought of having twins make some parents happy and some shiver as to how they would manage with twins. But actually, there are many people who want to have twins. The odds of having twins are determined by various factors. Since the past few years, twinning rates have changed considerably owing to some of those factors. Among the general population, there are about 3% chances of having twins in the 21st century. From the early 1980s, the odds of having multiples have increased by approximately 60%. A study (2004) by the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that every 1,000 births consist of 32 sets of twins.

What is Chance of Having Twins

The chance of having twins or multiples gets increased if:

The mother is more than 45 years of age. It has been seen that odds of having twins increase with age, 17% cases of mothers more than the age of 45 give birth to twins.
The mother takes fertility drugs or has undergone any fertility treatment. Such treatments enhance the chances of having multiples, about 1 case in 38 births.  
The mother herself or her mother has a fraternal twin. Since such females may carry a gene for hyper ovulation (suggesting they liberate more than one egg during an ovulation cycle), their ability to conceive fraternal twins gets increased. The chances could be as high as 1 in 17.
The mother has already had one set of fraternal twins. Such women have four times more chances of conceiving another set than the average woman.
The mother is overweight or tall. It has been found that mothers who have a BMI of 30 or higher, or who are tall, have more chances to deliver fraternal twins.

How to Have Twins

If you’re keen on getting twins, refer the aforesaid points and work accordingly. Being the mother if you have any fraternal twin, there are high chances for you to conceive twins, triplets or quadruplets. You can gain weight as women with BMI of 30 or more are found to have better chances. You can also increase the possibility by planning pregnancy after 45 years of age. Start having more of yams & dairy products, which have been considered to cause hyper ovulation.

The odds of having twins are also influenced by the number of kids you have, in case you have many kids there are more chances that you conceive twins in later pregnancy. Conceive while breastfeeding because studies have disclosed that the chance of twins gets high at such time. The chances of multiples also get increased if you get pregnant while taking birth control pills. You never know that one skipped pill could bless you with twins. Regardless of all these factors, there are many cases of twins where luck worked its best.