Compute. Knowing which twin is the older one is usually a no-brainer. The time of birth is recorded, and whichever one is born first is officially the eldest.
So the firstborn is really the youngest. Answering the “which twin is older” question from strangers is one thing. Fielding the questions from friends, family, or the twins themselves is another story. You should discuss as a couple your approach for answering this question with people you know.
In addition, previous studies have shown that first-born twins are, on average, taller and heavier than second-born twins until adolescence (Silventoinen et al., 2007; Pietiläinen et al., 2002).
Timothy and Lydia were born in Oregon from embryos frozen in 1992, making them the world's 'oldest' twins on a technicality.
There is one particular power though which twins possess, longevity. Fraternal twins live longer than singletons and identical twins longer still. Male identical twins on average, saw the most benefit.
Twin babies have been born to an Oregon couple from embryos frozen more than 30 years ago. It is believed to be a new record for the longest-frozen embryos ever to result in a successful live birth. They were stored at around -196C (-323F) in liquid nitrogen on 22 April 1992.
The fetus with more blood flow is called the recipient twin, and the fetus with less is called the donor twin. Because the donor twin has less blood flow, this baby grows slower and is smaller.
In prenatal ultrasounds, the baby positioned lowest in the uterus is given the designation of “Baby A.” Under this convention, Baby A will likely be born first in a vaginal delivery. However, about 75 percent of twins are delivered by cesarean section.
Her brother, Adrial Luka Nadarajah, joined her 23 minutes later, weighing not quite 15 ounces. According to Guinness World Records, the pair are both the most premature and lightest twins ever born.
Monoamniotic-monochorionic Twins
This is the rarest type of twin, and it means a riskier pregnancy as the babies can get tangled in their own umbilical cords. If you have monoamniotic-monochorionic twins, your healthcare provider will monitor your pregnancy closely.
This is supported by a Dutch study of adult twins, which found no significant difference in IQ between singletons and twins from the same families.
When people refer to Irish twins, it's important to recognize that although the siblings are close in age, they are not actually twins. In other words, they were not born during the same gestational period. Calling them Irish twins is just an informal way of classifying siblings that are born close together.
It is inferred that superfecundation by the same man is relatively common and that therefore dizygotic twins quite often have different gestational ages.
Once the cervix is open, each baby will have its own pushing stage. This means you will have to push twice, but the majority of the time the second twin is born much more easily than the first.
There is no right or wrong answer, it's a personal preference. Some chose to be completely open or tell their twins to give a “smaller” twin leverage if he/she is older. Other choose not to tell so that they don't bicker about the subject or the dominate “older” twin doesn't have more leverage.
OBJECTIVE: By convention, twins are labeled as twin A or twin B at the time of birth, depending on their birth order. However, antenatally twins are labeled as A or B according to their location relative to the birth canal. Antenatal labeling is usually established by prenatal ultrasound.
Vanishing twin syndrome was first recognized in 1945. This occurs when a twin or multiple disappears in the uterus during pregnancy as a result of a miscarriage of one twin or multiple. The fetal tissue is absorbed by the other twin, multiple, placenta or the mother. This gives the appearance of a “vanishing twin.”
It has been well documented that twins are shorter at birth than are singletons and that a difference in body height remains for at least a few years after birth (1–4). It is unclear, however, whether the difference persists into adulthood.
Within the Taylor family (USA) there have been four consecutive generations of twins born from 1919 - 2002. The first were Gail and Dale Ritchie Taylor (b. 19 October 1919) to Jedidiah and Margaret (neé Ritchie) Taylor.
But then, to everyone's surprise, she gave birth to two – in the space of just six-and-a-half months. Against all the odds, Ronnie and his little sister Sienna were born only 208 days apart. Miss Budden, 31, a pre-school teacher, was stunned to get pregnant three weeks after Ronnie was born.
Can twins have different fathers? In rare cases, fraternal twins can be born from two different fathers in a phenomenon called heteropaternal superfecundation. Although uncommon, rare cases have been documented where a woman is pregnant by two different men at the same time.
Identical twins reported similar levels of happiness, while fraternal twins exhibited greater variation in their reported sense of well-being. These results were found in families of twins raised together and extended with twins reared apart.