Any truth to twins having twins?

sammyslick

Im an identical twin, and I will be starting Letrozole to conceive next month. Is there any truth to the idea that if you are yourself a twin, that you could have a higher chance of having twins, then adding more chance to that with fertility meds. As a back note, the only other twins that I know if in my family are my Paternal Grandmother and her Twin Brother (obviously franternal).

kthappy76

IDs are random, frats are genetic (on the woman's side), so I don't believe you have a higher risk being an ID. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

MrsLnt

If you are a fraternal twin, you have an increased risk of having twins yourself. So my DD has a higher than average chance of having fraternal twins, because there is a gene that causes hyperovulation.  IDs are thought to be a fluke, but I know of at least one MoM on here who is an ID twin and has ID twins. 

Since it was your paternal grandmother that was a twin, she could have passed the gene on the X chromosome to your father, who could have then passed it to you. Has nothing to do with you being an ID twin, but it could increase your chances over that of the general public. 

sammyslick

Very Interesting!!! Thank you!!!!

Vortex80

I agree with everything above. I wanted to share with you my husband is a fraternal twin and I also have fraternal twins in my family...Great Grandmother and Aunts. I just started researching everything and most are in agreement that it comes from the Mother but a Father can pass the chance on to his Daughter. Best wishes!

2boys+twins

I have heard the same about fraternal being hereditary but not identicals....although I personally know of a identical twin that had identical twins. 

sfshawna

I'm an identical twin with identical twins, but the science behind twins says that it's just a huge coincidence. Personally, I feel there will be a discovery someday about identicals being hereditary. In the meantime, I'm loving that coincidence and I know I can be a really good mom to my twins (and my other girls, of course) knowing first hand what it's like to be an ID twin.

lovemygs

My DH is an ID twin, and we're pregnant with ID twins. I've always been told IDs are a wacky fluke, but my RE is convinced that's not the case. I guess only time and more research will tell!

koyn

Anything is possible.  My ID aunt had fraternal twins.

blueberries8

I also always have heard that IDs are a totally random, spontaneous event, but I do think it is interesting that both of my grandmothers (on both sides) were ID twins and then my mother went on to have a m/c with ID twins after me (though I sometimes wonder if perhaps one or more of those sets of twins were actually fraternal...I think it is possible, especially with the grandmothers, that without ultrasounds back then, they just assumed they were identical because they looked very much alike). Of course my twins aren't due to a genetic predisposition since we transferred two embryos, but when people start to ask nosy questions like "Oh do twins run in your family?" I love that I can honestly answer "Yes!"

nebrtwin

The night before I went in for my first ultrasound my husband did a lot of research on this subject. He found that most places said there was an increased chance of having twins if you yourself was a twin. Now I am not sure what kind of sites he was looking on so I wouldn't read too much into that. I am a twin myself, and had the help of Clomid to get pregnant. We knew going into it that Clomid would increase our odds of twins so here I am now, a twin having twins.