The rate of having twins have increased over the years. This rise may be due to women waiting to have children at a later age. As women grow older, hormonal changes increase their chances of releasing more than one egg at a time. Fertilization of more than one egg usually means more than one baby.
 

 
Fertility drugs and the use of assisted reproductive technology ART to help women conceive is  the common reason for the rise in multiple births.  These treatments highly increase a woman’s chances of having multiples.

Fertility treatment and having multiples

 
Having multiples depends on the type of fertility treatment. Fertility drugs stimulates your ovaries thereby increasing your odds of releasing several eggs at one time.

Intrauterine insemination IUI is when sperms are placed into the uterus with a syringe. It is the only fertility treatment that does not increase your chances  of having twins or higher order multiples. However most women who undergo this treatment also take fertility drugs which does increase your chances.

Your chances of having more than one child with invitro fertilization is about 20 to 40 %. It however depends on the number of embryos that are placed in your womb.

Fertility drugs and other treatments usually increase your chances of having fraternal twins. Fraternal twins results when 2 eggs are fertilized by two different sperms. There is some evidence which also suggests that women who undergo IVF have a somewhat higher rate of  having identical twins.

What other factors increase your chances of having twins or other multiples ?

 
Identical twins can happen by sheer chance  however  several factors may increase your chances of having fraternal twins. These include the following :

• age : the older you get, the higher your chances of having fraternal twins or other high order multiples due to hormonal changes
• heredity : if you are a twin or have twins in your family, you are more likely to have a set
• race : multiples  are more common in the African American race and less common in Hispanics and Asians
• number of pregnancies : the more pregnancies who’ve had, the higher your chance of having twins
• body type : large and tall women are more likely to have multiples than small women .

 
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