Family Tips

Identical twins appear from a single fertilized egg divided into individual halves and continuing to develop into some separate but completely identical babies. Such twins are genetically identical, with the same chromosomes and similar physical characteristics. They’re always the same sex and have the same blood type, similar appearance, color of hair and eyes.
Fraternal twins appear from two eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm and are alike as siblings born to the same parents. These babies may or may not be of the same sex. This type of twins is much more common and abundant, and only this type doesn’t depend on heredity, maternal age, race, and number of prior pregnancies.
Triplets and other higher-order multiple births, such as quadruplets or even quintuplets are often called supertwins. Such gemini can be identical, fraternal, or a combination of both. But higher-order births occur seldom; triplets occur in 1 in 7,000 births, whereas quintuplets are likely to be born only once in 47 million births. These babies, as a rule, are very small and small-for-date newborns, who are often prematurely born.