How many quintuplets are there in the world

While becoming a parent can be a scary and worrying time for anyone, what is it like to raise six babies all at once? We spoke to two families raising children born in multiple births to find out. Lauren Perkins said she was in "complete shock" and "overwhelmed" when she found out that she would be giving birth to sextuplets.

Luckily for Lauren, her community stepped in after her family grew by six overnight. The Perkins sextuplets came home from the hospital one at a time, which Lauren says helped her adjust. With six babies to feed, bathe and clothe, Lauren developed a tight schedule. Because of the different nutritional needs of the sextuplets, the family were using four different types of formula milk at one point. She also developed a shift system so that those volunteering to help could have the biggest impact.

There are many factors that lead to multiple pregnancy, including a family history of twins, falling pregnant over the age of thirty, or having previous pregnancies. African-American women are more likely to have twins than any other group, while white women, especially those over age of 35, are most likely to give birth to triplets or more.

Reproductive technologies have greatly increased the multiple birth rate in recent years. In vitro fertilization IVF and other techniques that help couples conceive often use ovulation-stimulating medications to produce multiple eggs. These are then fertilised in the laboratory and returned to the uterus to develop. According to the Centres of Disease Control and prevention "more than three-quarters of triplets and higher order multiples in the United States resulted from conception assisted by fertility treatments".

In , there were only 31 babies born in the US as part of quintuplets or a higher-order multiple. Like twins, other multiples can be identical where one egg splits into two or more embryos , or fraternal when more than one egg is fertilised.

Medical complications become increasingly likely with each additional foetus in a multiple pregnancy, and can result in serious health problems. The rest of the set was born on Dec. A week later, the smallest of the babies died. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the first set of octuplets was born in Sydney, Australia, in , although none of the babies survived.

Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey became the proud parents of the septuplets by way of fertility drugs. May 25, Holding the title of the first sextuplets born in the U. The four boys and two girls were conceived using an infertility treatment called Pergonal. May 28, Canada's most famous multiple birth, the Dionne quintuplets, were delivered in a northern Ontario farmhouse.

The set would become known internationally during the Great Depression and become a tourist attraction. The quints were the world's first set to survive through infancy and were born naturally before the advent of fertility treatments. Science Multiple births Facts and a timeline on some of the more publicized multiple births in Canada and around the world. Social Sharing. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Quintuplets are a set of five babies born in one birth. A baby that is part of such a set is called a quintuplet and sometimes referred to as a "quint. Though quintuplets and other higher-order multiple births also known as super twins are rare, the increased use of fertility drugs and assisted reproduction techniques has also brought an increase in these special types of pregnancies.

Here's all you need to know about quintuplets. Quintuplets can be fraternal polyzygotic , identical monozygotic , or a combination of both. Fully monozygotic quintuplets are rare—so rare, in fact, that it is difficult to assess the odds of their occurrence.

Quintuplets can be all male, all female, or a combination of both, but monozygotic quintuplets will always be of the same sex. Most quintuplets are a combination of boys and girls; all male or all female quintuples are rare. The first set of all-female quintuplets were born in the United States in In , the National Vital Statistics' U. The spontaneous conception of quintuplets is extremely rare; the average estimate is 1 in over 60 million births. Most recent quintuplet births are the result of assisted reproductive techniques such as fertility-enhancing drugs or in vitro fertilization IVF.

The average gestation for a quintuplet pregnancy is 29 weeks , as opposed to 40 weeks for a full-term baby. Many parents of multiples will gain more than 50 pounds during their pregnancy, and mothers may have to undergo a cervical cerclage, a surgical procedure in which the cervix is sewn shut to prevent preterm labor. Nearly all quintuplet pregnancies result in cesarean C-section delivery and have an average birth weight of about 2 pounds, 12 ounces each.

Most quintuplets receive medical care in a hospital neonatal intensive care unit NICU until they reach their original birth date. That said, quintuplets don't always share the same birthdate. A delayed interval delivery also known as iatrogenic asynchronous birth may mean that individual babies are born days or even weeks apart. Perhaps the most famous set of quintuplets are the Dionne quintuplets born in Canada in They were the first documented set of all identical quintuplets to survive infancy.

They were removed from their parent's care and placed in the custody of a doctor, who displayed them as a tourist attraction. Are you having quintuplets? While often considered a blessing, having multiples comes with unique parenting challenges. It can be helpful for families to seek support and advice from other families in the same situation for support and advice. Here are some organizations that can offer resources and assistance:. Get diet and wellness tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy.

Lishi J. National Vital Statistics Reports. Births: Final Data for