Twin growth charts

Twin growth has often been assessed using singleton growth charts. This can lead to over-diagnosis of growth concerns in twins. It can also increase anxiety for parents when twins are incorrectly diagnosed as too small and sometimes results in babies being born too early. At the same time, genuine growth problems may be missed.

Twin-specific growth charts aim to support better decisions in antenatal care. They can help reduce unnecessary intervention. They may also reduce the number of babies needing neonatal care after birth, and the risks linked to prematurity.

Although twins and singletons in the second trimester seem to have similar growth patterns, in the third trimester growth velocity in twins is consistently found to be less than in singletons, with the differences most pronounced and noted earlier in monochorionic pregnancies (Gielen et al, 2008; Stirrup et al, 2015; Shivkumar et al, 2015).

The key question for clinicians is whether this change in growth reflects normal adaptation or true growth restriction. The data in these charts is designed to help you identify twins who may be at higher risk.

Twin growth charts for dichorionic and monochorionic pregnancies are available to our Healthcare Professional Members. Join for free today [LINK HERE] or login to get access.