How likely are twins?

[mistressploppy]

Apologies for the clueless phrasing , but can is there a way to know how likely you are to have twins? My dad's cousins are triplets and my mum's cousins are twins, and I've just found out that DH's mum was a surviving twin (I'm not sure when the other passed away, but it would have been before birth or during birth - DH's mum no longer with us and no-one else seems to know )

Is there a way to know roughly the likelihood or is it just wait and see?

I have non identical twin girls, as far as i know anyone can conceive identical twins as it's down to the egg splitting after fertilization

Non identical twins can run in families but normally only on the mothers side as it's down to the woman producing multiple eggs which tends to be hereditary, any twins on the fathers side will have no influence as to whether you may conceive twins

Don't quote me on this though, I may have totally got it wrong

Like Millie77 says, there is no way of predicting identical twins, they are entirely down to chance. Non identical twins, it all depends on the mothers family, so it doesn't effect it that your husband's mum was a twin. However the fact that your Mum's cousins are twins and your Dad's cousins are trpilets does mean that there is a genetic tendnacy for multiple egg release in your family, whether you have inherited it or not, you will just have to wait and see. And even if you have inherited it, multiple egg release doesn't always happen every month. My great granny (people on here will be sick of me dredgind up this story again) had nine pregnancies, three of which resulted in twins, so had 12 children in all. But if you think about it only 1/3 of her pregnancies were twin ones, even though she obviously did multiple egg release.
So, sorry probably not much help, but I think you will have to wait and see!

Can I throw a spanner in the works (so to speak)

I had identical twins boys last year (they're now 11 months) and my younger sister (younger than me by 18 months) had identical twins boys last year too (her's are 17 months).

So although identical twins are a random occurrence where the egg splits after conception, my sister and I had identical twins 5 months apart!

(I know, we're still amazed by it as a family)

I've heard/read a bit about factors that make conception of identical twins likey, such as having a previous miscarriage, taking a plane flight before conception takes place and a high incidence in women who eat diary products! Some of these could be just myths mind you.

However, FYI my sister had a miscarriage before her twins were conceived. I took a flight actually before mine were conceived (to spain for the weekend) and my sister drinks LOTS of milk (always did) whereas I don't really like dairy products.

anyway, hope this weird and wonderful info helps!

1 in 65 pgs are twins (1/3 of those are identical)

ID twins aren't supposed to be hereditary but I'm an ID twin and I'm having ID twins so quite a coincidence.

I had flu the week I found out I was pg and temp was 103.8 degrees - I think the heat split the egg. No medical proof for this!

And I have identical girls who are almost 3 and 10 week old twin boys (we think are identcal too). No flight or excessive dairy consumption here though lol

Thanks everyone! I think it's pretty unlikely, but if I do find out there's two in here, I'm come back and let you know!!

Does it depend on ethnicity (sp).........I'm sure I read somewhere that twins are very rare in China.

I thought 1 in 80 in the UK were twin births, and 1 in 80 X 80 were triplets. That figure might be out of date/pre IVF.

The only twins I know are non-identical, and their maternal GM was also a twin. Non identical twins often skip a generation.

I have 2 sets of no-id twins...and there is no history of twins going back generations in my family. It all has to start somewhere ( I have slightly concerned sisters)

As others have said, the general theory is that identical twins are a fluke, non-identical twins run down the mother's side of the family.

Have to disagree with the poster who said that they skip a generation - my consultant said this is just an urban myth - if you have non-identical twins in your mother's family, you have an increased chance of non-identical twins.

I am a non-ID twin, and I've had non ID twins (although have since had a singleton too). I also thought it skipped a generation until I found out I was expecting twins, and having looked into my family history in more detail, my mother's aunt had a twin pregnancy (but one baby died) and my mother's sister also had an unsuccessful twin pregnancy - so basically there have been twin pregnancies in 3 consecutive generations.

Good luck!

Same as idobelieveinfairies here - two sets of non-ID twins and no family history of twins anywhere.