Seven babies born at once are called septuplets, a term derived from Latin for multiple births, though it's an extremely rare event with varying survival rates for such high-order multiples, as seen with famous cases like the McCaughey septuplets.
The only known case of nonuplets, nine babies born at once, took place on May 4, 2021, in Casablanca, Morocco. Their mother, Halima Cissé, was originally thought to be carrying seven babies, but later medical scans revealed two more.
A daisy baby is another name for babies with TTTS. The Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome Foundation coined the term after its founder planted daisy seeds with her surviving twin son in their backyard. The daisy field is a symbol of hope that all babies affected by TTTS will survive.
Other pregnancy loss-related terms:
Sunset baby: A twin who dies in the womb. Sunrise baby: The surviving twin of a baby who dies in the womb.
An angel baby is a child who has died, before, during or after birth. A rainbow baby is a child live born after an angel baby. The term “rainbow” represents the light that follows the darkness of a storm and signals hope for brighter days.
Heteropaternal superfecundation is an extremely rare phenomenon that occurs when a second ova released during the same menstrual cycle is additionally fertilized by the sperm cells of a different man in separate sexual intercourse taking place within a short period of time from the first one 1-4.
Monoamniotic twins are identical twins that share an amniotic sac, the fluid-filled sac that holds the baby during pregnancy (also known as the “bag of waters”). Normally, identical twins each have their own amniotic sac. Monoamniotic twins are a rare type of “monochorionic” twins, meaning they also share a placenta.
For a given pregnancy, the odds of conceiving fraternal twins are only determined by the mother's genetics, not the father's.
The newborn 5-5-5 rule is a postpartum guideline for new mothers to focus on healing and bonding in the first 15 days home, dividing rest into 5 days in bed, followed by 5 days on the bed, and then 5 days near the bed, encouraging minimal chores, visitors, and activity to prioritize recovery from childbirth and establishing the new family unit, drawing on traditional postpartum rest practices.
Valentina Khromykh from Lev-Tolstovsky District, Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, gave birth to 20 children, 11 boys and 9 girls. As of May 2015, 15 of the children were alive (two died in infancy and other three at the ages of 12, 28 and 32), the oldest child was 46 and the youngest was 22.
Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye (born c. 1980) also known as Maama Uganda or Mother Uganda, is a Ugandan woman known for birthing 44 children, 38 of whom are still alive.
They are the first known nonuplets — meaning nine children born at once — to survive birth.
The record previously belonged to eight babies born in 2009 to Nadya Suleman (USA) aka "Octomom". Nonuplets are extremely rare, and until the arrival of the Cisse children, no cases had been recorded of nine babies from a single birth surviving for more than a few hours.
Because identical twins share all of their genes, they cannot be opposite sexes. To understand what happened, doctors took samples of the amniotic fluid. They found that the twins shared 100% of their mother's genes, but only 78% of their father's.
Monochorionic-Monoamniotic (Mo-Mo)
This type of monozygotic twin pregnancy is the rarest and riskiest, where identical twins share both the placenta and amniotic sac. Studies show that this type of pregnancy is associated with a survival rate of around 70% for both.
Occasionally, two sperm are known to fertilize a single egg; this 'double fertilization' is thought to happen in about 1% of human conceptions. An embryo created this way doesn't usually survive, but a few cases are known to have made it — these children are chimaeras of cells with X and Y chromosomes.
Between 4–7 months of age, babies develop a sense of "object permanence." They're realizing that things and people exist even when they're out of sight. Babies learn that when they can't see their caregiver, that means they've gone away.
The gene for hyperovulation can come from either side of the family, but the woman would need to have the gene in order for the couple to have twins based on genetics. In other words, twins on the father's side of the family will have no influence on your chances of having twins.
The first three months with your baby often seem the hardest. Sleep-deprived parents can feel overwhelmed, but that is normal and you will quickly learn how to read your baby's cues and personality. Don't worry about “spoiling” your baby at this stage.
Hold your baby until they're in a deeper sleep. Babies start in 'active sleep' (with faster, uneven breathing) and move into a deeper sleep after about 20 minutes. That's a good time to transfer them into their sleeping place. Many babies don't like being put down into a cot.
SIDS is less common after 8 months of age, but parents and caregivers should continue to follow safe sleep practices to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death until baby's first birthday. More than 90% of all SIDS deaths occur before 6 months of age.