Two's Company

Most parents can barely handle one baby. For couples who want to double their fun, there are a range of options to increase the odds of conceiving twins. From eating yams to putting on a few pounds, here are five ways to put two buns in the oven and ensure you'll never have a moment of peace again:

Get pregnant while breastfeeding

Lactation is supposed to keep women from ovulating and getting pregnant, but that isn't always the case. Dr. Gary Steinman claims that women are nine time more likely to have twins if they conceive when they are still breastfeeding.

Develop an affection for yams

The prize for the highest twinning rate on earth goes to the Yoruba tribe in West Africa. Women in this tribe get pregnant with twins at five times the average worldwide rate. Exactly why is unknown, but many scientists think the Yoruba's high consumption of yams may be a factor.

Yams are high in phytoestrogens, which mimic estrogen and likely stimulate human ovaries to release more eggs. Women who want to have twins probably do increase their chances by eating more yams.

Wait until you're older

As women age, their ovaries go into hyper drive. Conceiving becomes harder, but when the conditions are right to conceive the ovaries want to make sure as many babies result as possible. Thus, older mothers have a significantly higher chance of getting pregnant with twins. This is a double-edged sword, though. Older mothers also have more dangerous pregnancies and greater risks of delivering infants with birth defects.

Eat some cheese

In studies comparing the pregnancies of vegans, vegetarians and omnivores, the women with dairy in their diet had a five times higher rate of multiple births than their vegan sisters. The theory is that hormones fed to cattle to increase milk production end up over stimulating the ovaries of women who eat dairy products. The ovaries release more eggs than normal, resulting in a higher percent of multiple births. This theory isn't proven, but it does also go a long way toward explaining the spike in multiple births in the US in the past 30 years.

Eat some more cheese

Women with a body mass index of 30 or over have a higher twinning rate than non-obese women. Again, hormones are the likely cause here. Fat cells stimulate estrogen production, which can signal the ovaries to release more eggs than they normally would.

Women with dairy in their diet had a five times higher rate of multiple births