Beech Tree News Network

Twins are not overly common, but my family has several. I recently spent time with my three-month-old great nieces – the youngest twins. They are precious, and they have amazing parents.

Thinking about twins, I did some reading and found some interesting twin information. Some of those facts are listed below [Sources: 11 Facts About Twins That Make Them Even Cooler Than You Already Thought | HuffPost Life; 17 Totally Crazy Twins Facts That Will Blow Your Mind | Best Life (bestlifeonline.com); 24 Interesting Fraternal Twins Gender Statistics - HRF (healthresearchfunding.org)].

-Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints.

-Twins interact with each other in the womb.

-Forty percent of twins invent their own languages.

-Twins are more likely to be left-handed.

-Fraternal twins come from the mother's genes.

-Twin birth rates in the U.S. were on the rise for 30 years, but started dropping in the last five.

-Once a mother has twins, the chances of having another set of twins quadruples.

-Fraternal twins occur in one out of every 90 live births.

-The average length of pregnancy for a mother who has fraternal twins is 36 weeks.

Parenting twins may look a bit different, so I asked the mother of college-age twins about her experiences:

“The best advice I ever received was to keep the babies on the same schedule. When one got up for a diaper change or to eat, we woke the other baby up.

Don’t try to be super heroes; accept all the help you can. Our parents helped out so much, like allowing us to get a good night’s sleep at least once a week.

Also, if the babies are identical twins, place the same baby on the left in each picture. If we hadn’t done this, we would not know which was which now.

If there are older siblings, make sure to make special time for them. The babies get tons of attention. Loving on big brother or sister is extremely important.

It is most definitely twice the love and fun! Watching them grow up as best friends is priceless. Lots of people say “double trouble,” but we prefer “double blessings.” It is more expensive, but I have two healthy young men, so I’d never complain. Buy one, get one free would be great for college tuition, but we make it work!”

Additionally, I asked the mother of infant twins about her experiences:

“I’m not really sure, but I think the most important piece of advice that we had was to keep the babies on the same schedule. If one eats, the other eats, etc.

They are definitely twice the fun. They each experience something new and different every day. I don’t know if it’s twice as much work because we would be feeding, changing and caring for one baby anyway. It just takes twice as long. It’s definitely more expensive! Since they are on the same schedule, I wouldn’t say we get less sleep, but maybe somewhat.

We didn’t buy two of everything. Like we only have one swing, and if one’s in the swing, then the other one is in the bouncer or something.

Mainly, as long as the babies are fed, clean, and alive and healthy, then you’re doing a great job.”

Twins are pretty amazing, and I have great respect for parents blessed with twins. American humorist Josh Billings said, “There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared: twins.” I’ve decided that twins are miracle babies. But isn’t every baby a miracle?