Twins

[CAJ1]

My boyfriends mum is a twin and my dad is a twin. If and when we try for a baby is it likely we will end up with twins or is that all an old wives tale??

[whiskeysheri]

Only non-identical twins are hereditary. You aren't any more likely to have twins than anyone else, as the tendency to release more than one egg at a time is passed down through women; your boyfriend's mum, nor your dad have any bearing on that. :)

[PatriciaH]

I thought it skipped a generation ?

[4getmenot]

yes it skips a generation

[whiskeysheri]

Nope. A twin (female and fraternal) has a 1 in 17 chance of having twins herself.

[obNOXious]

It may appear to skip a generation but I think this is because (estimatedly) as many as one in eight intial pregnancies across the board may start off as twins wheras only a very low percentage lead to twin birth at or around noticeably full term.
Hence my ex's grandmother was a twin, who also had twin sisters, but my mother in law was not a twin. However my ex ( also not a twin) has had one set of fraternal twins and is currently carrying twins again, so it would have appeared to have skipped, however I believe in those circumstances it's put down to the mother herself having been one of a set of twins one of which didn't develop beyond the early egg stage.