Newly Born Twin Twice Heavier than the Other

A pair of newly born twin brothers got reversed weight, and the younger brother who was born later is twice heavier than his older brother. With thoughtful care, the younger brother Kangkang (psydonym) about 6 kg heavy has been discharged from hospital, while the older brother Jianjian (psydonym) had to stay in hospital for further observation because of weight problem.

Twin brothers 1.5 kg different in weight.

Twins are supposed to be similar, but this pair of twins obviously look different. The older brother is the miniature of the young. Early this year, doctors found this problem when doing B type ultrasonic check for the mother. In order to make sure that the twins get delivered safely, the hospital made all kinds of good preparation in advance.

Before long, this pair of twins got born. The 1.3-kg-heavy older brother was born first, and the fat younger one got born two minutes after that. The younger brother was tested to be 1.5 kg heavier than the older one.

"With careful physical check, we knew that the babies were in good condition despite the weight difference." Associate chief physician Yao Lan in the obstetrical department of the maternity and child care hospital introduced that with care, the younger brother was 3 kg heavy, and the older brother has grown by 0.3 kg. Since the older brother hasn't reached the weight standard of normal babies, he can't leave the hospital until all the signals get stablized.

Small percentage for twins to have different weight.

"There is very small percentage for twins to have different weight. Among the 100-150 pairs of twins born in our hospital, only two or three of them are like this." Yao Lan said that twin babies are usually about 2 kg, with a difference of about 0.1 kg. If they are more than 0.1kg different, then they can't get balanced nutrition. The heavy baby may suffer from heart failure, and the light one anemia or blood volume deficiency.

Why is there such great difference between the twins' weight? Yao Lan explained there are usually two kinds of reason. The first one is because of the nutrition supply in the uterine cavity. The one with enough supply grows larger, vice versa. The second one usually happen to non-identical twins. If they have combined blood vessels, then one provides blood for the other, causing the weight difference for the twins.

"Being pregnant with twins means the mother needs more nutrition, more weight, and more risk. It is suggested that mothers-to-be with twins pay more attention to nutrition, and take rest at home, especially after 28 weeks in pregnancy, so as to avoid anemia or premature delivery." As for the situation that most women take drugs to get twins, Yao Lan reminded, "Intentional actions to get twins will not only impair twins' health, but also cause the mother side disease like high blood pressure or heart attack. Pregnancy should obey the rule of nature."