My list of questions about conceiving twins

[ItsMeKate]

I posted in this forum because I am not currently TTC but am interested in trying for twins in the future. I googled tips on how to conceive twins, and what I found in common among basically all of the webpages that give advice on increasing the odds of conceiving twins are: eat more dairy, eat cassava, take more folic acid, take Clomid (or soy isoflavones), and conceive right after stopping the birth control pill.


But I have a few questions about this online advice I mentioned earlier:


1. Would eating lots of dairy that was not treated with RBST or RBGH hormones still increase the chances of having twins? Nowadays, the vast majority of milk/yogurt/cheese/ice cream and other dairy products sold in stores are being made without adding those said growth hormones.


2. How about low-fat/non fat dairy?


3. Would consuming boatloads of dairy and taking soy iso while on the BCP still increase the chance of twins? It’s said that taking soy isoflavones and eating lots of milk/dairy products would make you ovulate more, but the birth control pill inhibits ovulation, so would the BC pill cancel out the twinning effects of the dairy and soy isoflavones, or would they all work together to increase the odds of twins even further?


4. (last question about dairy & soy iso) If eating dairy (and soy isoflavones) to the extent that it makes you ovulate and taking the BC pill at the same time would NOT increase the chance of twins, then which of the two choices is more effective? (choice 1 would be taking the BC pill for a while and then conceiving right after stopping it; choice 2 would be dairy + soy iso but using a different form of birth control that is not The Pill)


5. Which is also more effective in increasing the chance of twins, eating cassava or TTC after stopping The Pill?

 

[lilmisscaviar]

Didn't want to read and run but I just wanted to tell you that I've conceived twice on the pill and I really don't recommend it. My first surprise pregnancy while on the pill resulted in the birth of my DS but he was born early and with a rare birth defect that required surgery. He is still far behind his peers academically and has a speech delay. I should never have went back on it because my second pregnancy on the pill resulted in a chemical pregnancy (loss). I will never take artificial hormones ever again. Don't risk your health or the health of your baby(ies) by trying to get pregnant on the pill or immediately after just because you want twins.

I know some ladies ended up with twins after upping their folic acid (not sure how much though) and taking cavassa root capsules which are available online. As to the dairy, we raise livestock on our farm and it is against rules to treat our animals with rBST/rBGH because it can lead to cancer. I've heard that a third of dairy cows are still injected with it commercially but I've never seen any labels at our local grocery stores that sell it. If you do happen to find some, low fat and non fat dairy has more water than actual milk in it so I would stay clear of those. As for soy iso... it is pretty much used to help you conceive in general. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will result in twins.

 

[MindUtopia]

None of that has any scientific basis, except for the use of Clomid, which can cause hyper-ovulation. It can also cause hyperstimulation of the ovaries, which is a serious medical condition, and can be fatal in rare cases. Of course, no doctor would prescribe it to you for recreational use anyway. Many twins happen when women have a genetic tendency to release multiple eggs during ovulation or when they are implanted in IVF. So I would try not to overthink this. If you genuinely end up needing IVF (hopefully you don't), then it might be something to think about.

 

[LoraLoo]

I fell pregnant with twins after taking Soy but they were identical so nothing to do with the Soy, just a random thing that happened (we lost one at 7 weeks)

 

[arturia]

Twins are no walk in the park. A friend of mine just had twins at 34 weeks. She was measuring well over term at that point. Her pics all showed her huge. She kept saying how miserable and painful it was to keep carrying them around the end. And yes, her poor twins ended up in NICU (and are still there since they're only a couple weeks old) and her whole pregnancy was considered high risk. Luckily everyone seems to be OK.

I thought I wanted twins and now that I'm actually pregnant I think I'm happy with just one.

I'll second the pp who said none of your suggestions with the exception of clomid or ivf has any scientific basis.

 

[Starlight32]

I got pregnant right after taking the pill and I only have one baby 😀 But I didn't even think about twins.