Hi ladies, okay I am definitely NOT pregnant, and NOT planning on it again yet what so ever, but I had a conversation with a family member recently and were talking about the "twin gene"
Anyways, from my understanding Twins generally are based on the Mother's side. But they are adamant about telling me that they are from the Father's side.
I tried to look it up but was confused, so I figured someone has to know the answer! Lol.
So tell me ladies, do Twins come from the Mother's side, or the Father's?
Thanks in advance! :)
Thank you for all the responses, and the time you took to write in! :)
From what I gather, I am right hehe. My Mother told me that having twins was dependent on my family and not my husbands so that makes me feel better.
This discussion was with my husbands father. His older brother and his wife had twins that are the same age as my son (4 days apart) and he says because THEY had twins, (a boy and a girl) he is telling me that I am going to have them now. Lol. I argued that I would NOT (of course I am not 100 percent sure, but I am not worried either) be having twins, he continues to think I will. My side of the family has no twins whatsoever, and my husband says his dont either, which would to me, explain why my husbands SIL would, because she does have twins in her family.
Now dont get me wrong please, there is nothing wrong with twins at all in any way, they are adorable, BUT it is a lot of work having just the one let alone two!! Lol, and this is not to say that I wouldnt be happy if I did end up having a set of twins myself. Just saying.
Anyways, thank you ladies for proving my point and enlightening me on this subject :) Maybe one of these days ill show him this lol!
Thanks again!
Two egg twins (fraternal) come from the mother's side. Identical twins can come from either parent.
The likelihood of twins increases with maternal age once over age 35, as the likelihood of multiple eggs being released at ovulation goes up...
Yes, to what Sara B. said. Also, the occurance of twins is only partly because "twins run in the family", twins are also more likely as a woman gets older, because she is more likely to release two eggs. And sometimes, twins happen totally randomly.
it all has to do with the eggs. If you release 2, you can get fraternel twins. if your egg splits, you get identical.
My understanding of twins is fraternal twins are the result of 2 eggs being released by the mother (of course) so the husband's genes would not have anything to do with that. So, the only way twins could come from the father's side would be if he passed the gene on to his daughter and she had twins, but he could not cause his wife to become pregnant with fraternal twins. Also, identical twins supposedly are not genetic, but I wonder if there is something genetic that has yet to be discovered such as the father and mother both possess genes that when combined causes the egg to split. :)
Another thing with twins is that the rate of twinning is supposedly higher/lower by ethnic origin with Black women having the highest rate of twinning and Asian women having the lowest rate. Also it is said that women between 35- 39 have twins twice as often as anybody not in that age range, but identical twins occurs equally among all races and age groups.
I have fraternal twins, meaning I released 2 separate eggs when I ovulated that month. From my understanding, the tendency to release more than one egg is the genetic trait I inherited from my female ancestors. Both my Grandmothers had twins, and my maternal great great Grandmother had two sets! So I don't know if the whole "skipping a generation" is actually true, but that is was happened in my family. Identical twins are another story, just a random occurrence that can happen to anyone (when one egg is released and then splits into identical copies).
I have twins, but mine are identical, I have twins on both sides of my family and hubby doesn't have any. I don't think there really is an actual right answer, some people say mom's side some say dad's side.
I have heard and read that it comes from the Mothers side but that it is only fraternal twins that can be a gene thing. Identical twins are just by chance and can happen to anyone without there being any passing down of a twin gene
This is from the link below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin
"Studies show that there is a genetic basis for fraternal twinning. However, it is only their mother that has any effect on the chances of having fraternal twins; there is no known mechanism for a father to cause the release of more than one ovum."
i asked my reproductive endocrinologist about that a few years ago... fraternal twins can be more likely based on the mother's family history. identical twins are a "freak occurrence" and have nothing to do with family history.
Hey this article gave a pretty good explanation:
http://multiples.about.com/od/pregnancy/a/familytwin.htm
Im a twin and as far back as I can find we don't have twins on my mom or dads side? Don't know where the heck we came from! Idk bout that but my mama always told me it skips a generation. Basically I wont have twins but my kids will? My mil is a twin so maybe ill have twin grand babies someday!
Im gonna blame the M.. She was the last one to have them...lol
Mother's side - reason being that she will have the genetic disposition for either easily split eggs for identical twins (sorry I can't think of these medical term right now) or ovulate more than one egg at a time for non-identical twins.
When we discovered we were having twins, I put all my research skills to good use. :)
Cupcake sweet nailed it, especially on the mother/father question.
It's funny to me all the misconceptions around twins. I have identical twin boys. I once had a cashier tell me boys couldn't be identical. Seriously, I want to hand out a tip sheet on biology 101.
Identicals are a fluke (hee,hee I just put my flukes on the bus).
There are many great books, but one of my favorites is: Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior by Nancy l. Segal.
The book lists some unexplainable things that are truly fascinating.
Twins just happen!
My b-i-l (my husbands brother) has twins, they used fertility drugs so twins were not a surprise. 9 months after my b-i-l's twins were born I concived a set of twins ( with no drugs) I just happened release 2 eggs which isnt uncommon for a woman who is 30 or older ( I was 30)
I did ask my ob about it and his answer was that it doesnt matter whom in the family has twins that doesnt increase or decrease anyones chances of having twins. P.s.- there are no twins whatsoever on my side of the family... my husbands brothers twins are the only other known set on either side.
My father was a twin. I've been told the gene comes from the father's side. i.e. from father to daughter who has the twins. I don't know if that's true.
I do think genetics plays a part in whether or not you release more than one egg.
RE: the Wikipedia article. It is the mother's genes that determine whether or not two eggs are released. The article doesn't say the gene's come from the mother's side. i.e. the mother of the pregnant woman.
I suggest here lies the confusion. Of course it's the mother who has the gene for twins. The question is from which parent did she receive this gene. The Wikipedia article doesn't answer that question.
Identical from the father's side, fraternal from the mother's side.
