They have a special bond like no other. They seem to understand every word. Sometimes even just a touch or a simple gesture can calm the other's fears. Their dynamic is unique and only between the two of them. And they always have someone to play with, which gives you a little more “me time” as they get older.
Identical twins have DNA that is 99.9% the same. They also have almost nearly identical brain wave patterns. But they do have different fingerprints and teeth marks! 22% of twins are left-handed as opposed to the 10% of singletons who turn out to be left-handed.
Maureen Healy, an expert on sensitive children and author of Growing Happy Kids, tells Romper that twins have a bond that is oftentimes unexplainable and are closer than typical siblings — whether they're fraternal or identical. Healy says a lot of experts believe it's because this closeness is rooted in genetics.
Growing up in the same environment ensures even more similarities. Twins can read each other's minds not because of a magical connection, but because those minds have been exposed to such similar things and are hardwired to react in similar ways.
Most bleary-eyed parents would agree that the lack of sleep is perhaps the worst thing about having baby twins. Any newborn is likely to keep odd hours, but balancing the demands of two newborns means that sleep is a scarce commodity for parents of twins.
Yes, some types of twins are hereditary, meaning that twins run in families. Heredity on the mother's side ups a couple's odds of conceiving fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are two babies from two different eggs that were released from the ovaries simultaneously.
It's equally unsurprising that a Danish study found that twins are less likely to get married than non-twins. As twins have a partner from birth, the study suggests that they may not have the same desire for marriage as singletons.
They examined reported levels of happiness in 1,300 sets of identical and fraternal twins. Identical twins reported similar levels of happiness, while fraternal twins exhibited greater variation in their reported sense of well-being.
Twins are more or less equally likely to be female or male. Contrary to popular belief, the incidence of twins doesn't skip generations.
Identical twins are almost always the same sex, although there are some rare exceptions to this rule. Because identical twins occur when a single fertilized egg splits and forms two embryos, each embryo has the same chromosomes (usually, XX for girls or XY for boys). Remember that sex and gender are not the same.
It is likely that twins' awareness of one another starts sooner than seven or eight months of age. An article by the late doctor, T. Berry Brazelton, observed that at age three to four months, an infant identical female twin seemed disoriented when her sister was removed from the room.
Longer lives
When analyzing the data by gender, the researchers found that female identical twins lived, on average, about 63.4 years, whereas female fraternal twins lived about 61.4 years and the general Danish female population lived about 58.8 years, Sharrow said.
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. The rarity of twins has inspired many myths about them.
They found that compared with mothers of singleton births: Mothers of twins lived longer after menopause. For women born before 1870, their annual risk of dying after age 50 was a statistically significant 7.6 percent lower than for moms of singletons.
Twins and other multiple-birth individuals can suffer from much deeper and troubling loneliness than single-born individuals.
Researchers analysed records from more than 100 countries and found a substantial rise in twin birthrates since the 1980s, with one in 42 people now born a twin, equivalent to 1.6 million children a year. According to the study, the global twin birthrate has risen by one-third, on average, over the past 40 years.
You're 35 or older
As you age, your chance of conceiving twins increases. Researchers have found that women over 35 produce more follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) than younger women, which may cause more than one egg to drop at ovulation.
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.
The second of these may also have implications for why some women respond better than others to in vitro fertilization. Unlike identical twins—who are genetically the same—fraternal twins are no more closely related in terms of DNA than regular siblings.
At six months:
During this stage, your twins can sit up and play independently. They'll sleep in longer stretches on their own, and you'll also have fewer middle of the night feedings.
Multiples are about twice as likely as singleton babies to have birth defects, including neural tube defects (such as spina bifida), cerebral palsy, congenital heart defects and birth defects that affect the digestive system. Growth problems. Multiples are usually smaller than singleton babies.
With a twin pregnancy, your body makes high levels of pregnancy hormones. So morning sickness may come on earlier and stronger than if you were carrying a single baby. You may also have earlier and more intense symptoms from pregnancy, like swelling, heartburn, leg cramps, bladder discomfort, and sleep problems.
“Scientific studies of identical twins have shown they gray at the same rate, while studies of non-identical twins have different rates of graying. Therefore, you might not gray at the exact same age as your relatives, but it will be very close,” say Dr.