how early can twins be detected by ultrasound
People typically discover they're having twins during a routine scan, often in the first trimester. Ultrasound is almost foolproof at diagnosing twins, but the greater the number of babies, the less accurate the ability to detect how many there are. It's possible to see twins (or more) on a scan at around six weeks, though one baby may be missed at this early stage. Sometimes a heartbeat is seen in one sac, but not in the other. Rescanning in a week or two may reveal a second heartbeat, or the scan may show that one sac is growing and the other still empty.