29 Facts about Twins
Twins Are Multiplying
If a recent CDC report is to be believed, the birth rate for twins has increased a
whopping 76 per cent since 1980. As a matter of fact, one in every 30 babies born
in 2009 was a twin (compared to 1980, when the rate was one baby in every 53).
So what exactly is it with the two-for-the-price-of-one boom? One factor
contributing to the upsurge: The age of mothers has trended up over the years,
and a woman in her thirties is more likely to have twins than someone in her
twenties, according to the study’s lead author, epidemiologist Joyce Martin, MPH.
However, while age is an independent risk factor for twins, it also tends to
correlate with increased use of fertility treatments, which
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It’s rare, but it is possible for a woman to release two eggs during ovulation and
then get impregnated by two different men at the same time — also known as
heteropaternal superfecundation. In fact, about 1 to 2 per cent of all fraternal
twins have different dads, Hilda Hutcherson, MD, clinical professor of obstetrics
and gynecology at Columbia University, recently told Today.
Heteropaternal superfecundation can also be the result of a botched fertilization
procedure. In one particularly shocking case, Dutch couple Wilma and Willem
Stuart were surprised when they welcomed twin baby boys to the world — one
was white and one was black. A year and a half later, the couple discovered that
another man’s sperm had accidently been mixed with Mr. Stuart’s during the in
vitro process.
Some Twosomes Speak ‘Twin Talk’
Have you ever been witness to two young siblings readily conversing in complete
gibberish, you likely witnessed idioglossia — an autonomous language often
created and shared between twins (remember that YouTube video of two chatty,
18-month old twins that went viral in 2011?). According to research published