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How to Conceive Twins

Are you interested in discovering how to conceive twins? While there are no guarantees, both science and folklore offer some options when it comes to conceiving twins.

Science

Demographic trends at work in the Western world actually make twin conceptions more likely. More and more women are delaying pregnancy to pursue more education and more demanding jobs, and the chances of having twins goes up significantly when maternal age at conception is over thirty.

Many older women also find themselves undergoing fertility treatments, which also increase the likelihood of twins. Fertility treatments that work by stimulating ovulation make it more likely that a woman will shed two eggs in one cycle, increasing the odds of dizygotic (or fraternal) twins.

Women opting to undergo in vitro fertilization can even request more than one embryo be implanted, but that is no guarantee of a twin conception, as not all in vitro implantations are successful.

Studies also show that if you've had previous twin pregnancies, or if twins run in your mother's family, you're more likely to conceive twins.

Folklore

If you are still too young and fertile to consider expensive fertility treatments, science has less to offer you when it comes to conceiving twins, but there is considerable accepted folk wisdom on the subject of conceiving twins.

Many people believe that a woman's odds of conceiving twins increases considerably if she eats a pre-conception diet rich in dairy and meat.

Some people also believe that you're more likely to have twins if you conceive while you are still breastfeeding your last child.

Others believe that your odds of having twins increases if you manage to get pregnant while you're on the pill. While physicians recommend that women discontinue pill use before trying to get pregnant or as soon as they realize they are pregnant, there is currently no data to suggest that pill use during early pregnancy, before a woman knows she is pregnant, is detrimental to the fetus in any way.

While folklore suggests that breastfeeding and taking the pill while attempting conception may increase the odds of having twins rather than a singleton conception, both significantly decrease your odds of conceiving at all.