Did anyone here have vanishing twin syndrome?

[PennyRa]

Did anyone here have vanishing twin syndrome?

Hi OP,
Sorry we're not too sure this belongs here so we have moved it to Chat.

Yes I did. Scans at 8 and 10 weeks showed two heartbeats but normal 12 week scan showed just one heartbeat. I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for the early scans. Apparently it’s more common than you might think. No special action was taken after.

i was shocked to think of having twins and then wasn’t and I still occasionally think about it many years later.

I hope you’re doing ok.

Yes - after ivf. Two heartbeats were found at the week 6 scan but one was very strong and one was just about discernable thé second had gone by 12 weeks.

Sorry, I meant to post in Gifted and talented

@PennyRa

Have you got the right term - it's where you loose a twin early in pregnancy, nothing to do with gifted and talented

Yeah, I'm asking about the intersection of the two

I was the surviving twin - what’s the link?

So you have a child that had a vanishing twin and the child is now gifted and you are wondering if there is a connection?

I don't understand. Vanishing twin syndrome is actually quite common and most women wouldn't even be aware of it without early scans. I'm not aware of any connection with being gifted and talented but would be interested in reading any evidence.

Yeah, especially if they are later term

what connection could there possibly be? I cant think of a realistic one

Not something I have heard of.

I spent a number of years at Cambridge drinking tea in people’s rooms whilst we all discussed all sorts of random things with people who are presumably highly able if not actually gifted but no one ever mentioned being a surviving twin. (Brain damage from a forceps birth, cousin marriage in their family tree, a dad who was a painter and decorator by day and a Shakespeare obsessive by night and several horrendous parental divorces all came up but no vanishing twins.)

But I guess these were babies of the 70s and 80s so pretty much pre scans so maybe people just didn’t know.

I guess vanishing twins must be a fairly new thing.

@Mumoftwoinprimary not a new thing but maybe in the pre-scan times nobody knew?

I have never heard of a connection. I had this. Relatively late. My surviving child is similar ability to their siblings.

Is this something you’ve read about or your own theory? I can’t think of any logical reason for a link.

Yes “new thing” was the wrong phrase - something that we only really know about since scans would be better.

Well as they have more connections in their brain perhaps some of them where inherited from their twin

Do they have more connections on their brains?

Surely the twins would have separate brains?

I think I am one of a set of twins. DM was told she was expecting twins from an early scan had some bleeding mid pregnancy and only one birth. I am left handed and have read a theory that left handers were conceived as identical twins (the other twin being right handed).

I have never heard of a vanished twin having anything to do with giftedness though and cannot imagine how, or why, that would occur.

Who says they have more connections in their brain though?

Not twin, vanishing twin. It's when the fetus becomes no longer viable and gets reabsorbed

I had a vanishing twin. Remaining baby has been a high achiever academically and in their career, but maybe both would have been as they were identical.

I am a surviving twin and I can categorically say that I am neither gifted nor talented.

@PennyRa I know what it is. I had a late one.

But where is the evidence that the remaining twin gains extra brain connections?

Thats not going to happen. Thats not how connections in your brain develop