While the main factor in conceiving twins is genetics, studies suggest that there may be other ways to influence your chances of having twins.
Keep reading to learn how you may be able to raise the likelihood of having twins at home or with a doctor’s help.
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Get Into A Healthy Weight
Getting into a healthy weight will raise your chances of having twins.
According to experts, being underweight can greatly decrease your likelihood of having twins.
A study showed that a high body mass index (BMI), may increase your chances of twinning, although experts aren’t quite sure why this is.
So, let your trying to get pregnant include, eating a full, balanced diet to up your body weight if you’re underweight, a realistic and sustainable diet plan if you’re overweight, and something similar to maintain your current weight if you’re in your healthy weight range.
In another study, it was found that having a BMI of 30+ influenced the rate of twins.
2. Get Pregnant With One Baby First
The way it goes, your chance of having twins goes up with every pregnancy.
If you do not get twins the first time around, you can increase your odds by getting pregnant multiple times.
If you were already planning on having more than one pregnancy, this is a sign that you stick with it and stay optimistic.
3. Try To Conceive When You’re In Your 30s
Popular opinion is that women in their 30s are more likely to get pregnant with twins.
According to studies, it has to do with an evolutionary response from your body—when you’re older, you’re less likely to have an abundance of children, so your body may attempt to create a viable twin pregnancy.
Keep in mind, however, that older women are less likely to get pregnant than younger women.
And as always, having twins when you’re older is not a guarantee, it just makes the odds of twinning go up.
4. Ask Your Doctor About Clomid
Clomifene Citrate BP popularly known as Clomid, is a fertility drug that is believed to increase one’s chances of having twins.
It is originally used as a treatment for women who do not ovulate, turns out one of the side effects is a higher chance of conceiving twins.
The drug works by pushing the ovaries to drop more eggs in a cycle.
Statistics on this says the Clomid medication raises twin pregnancies by 5-12%, which is not so much in itself. 5-12% is about 1 in every 10 pregnancies, but worth the trial, since there’s no harm in this sort of trial.
The only clause is that since Clomid helps your body release multiple eggs, using it might result in fraternal twins (non-identical twins).
5. Use Gonadotropins
Similar to the Clomid pills, these are injectable fertility drugs that compel the ovaries to produce multiple eggs every month.
Since the ovaries are producing more eggs than usual, there is a higher chance of a multiple pregnancy.
Ensure you talk to your doctor to see if these drugs are right for you, before you take any steps.
6. Talk To Your Doctor About IVF (In Vitro Fertilization)
IVF is one of the surer ways to increase your chances of having twins.
The process involves a doctor collecting mature eggs and fertilizing them with sperm in a lab before implanting them in your uterus.
Have you read: Pregnancy: How To Determine Sex Of Your Baby
Unsurprisingly, IVF is normally used for infertility patients who are having trouble conceiving, so you can make an appointment with a fertility doctor to see if IVF is right for you.
The average cost for one round of IVF is N1.2m in Nigeria today, plus, there’s a chance you’ll need multiple rounds of IVF for a viable pregnancy to take place.
7. Eat Dairy. A Lot
There are few studies that claim that dairy has the potential to increase your likelihood of twinning, although they aren’t 100% conclusive.
One particular research claims that women who consumed enough dairy were 5 times as likely to conceive twins than women who ate no animal products at all.
A likely reason for this is likely a protein that’s found in an animal’s liver called insulin-like growth factor, IGF, for short.
Although these studies are not 100% conclusive, it won’t harm you to introduce more dairy into your diet as you try to get pregnant, would it?
In Summary
Find comfort in the fact that African women have the highest likelihood of having twins and if you are a twin or you have siblings that are twins, you are more likely to conceive twins.
Congratulations in advance, mama.
Get more resources on conception and pregnancy here.
