If you have identical twins....,

[TellerTuesday4EVA]

Can you say with 100% certainty that they haven't been swapped at some point?

I don't mean as they've got older I mean that at some time when they were babies could you of thought A was B and then continued to think so until now?

This has really got me thinking as DD has identical twin boys in her class & I mean identical, there's no visible differences at all, no birthmarks etc.

Their dad was chatting with a group of us at school pick up time & someone asked what was the best way to tell them apart & he said one A has a deeper voice. For school they have their names embroidered on shirts, jumpers etc & different coloured jackets to aid the teachers.

Then someone said if their voices didn't become apparent until they were talking did he think they'd ever been mixed up at some point when they were babies or did they dress them in different colours etc & he said 'no it's entirely possible'

Obviously it was said in a joking way etc but really got me thinking if that could actually of happened in cases of extreme identicalness (not sure that's actually a word)

I have twin brothers and when my dad went to register them it was him that made a mistake and s is now t and t is now s!it probably happens but in the grand scheme of things it’s quite minor

I’ve wondered this before and I bet it has happened.

I have identical twin boys - people are always asking me how on earth do I know who is who- but to me they look very different (and to their elder sister who can’t understand people’s confusion!) —It’s weird really.
As babies though they were quite different size wise and didn’t even out till the last couple of years so it was much easier for everyone else then

Rainbowknickers - it needn't be minor though - in days gone by it could end up with the wrong person inheriting a title, estate etc. (Ok, it's unlikely but it could have happened, in theory.)

I confuse my non twin DC's so I'd have to Sharpie the soles of dtwins feet if I had some

I have identical twins who are the same size and weight (they were only 100 grams apart at birth) and I kept their hospital ID bracelets on for ages. Then painted Twin A’s big toenail for months.

I know they were never mixed up, but it used to really worry me. I especially worried if something happened to me that no one would know who was who. Their own father couldn’t tell them apart until well after they started talking 😂

I will say that they look completely different to me now (they look the same to everyone else) but in photos I find it very hard to tell who is who.

I nannied for newborn identical twins, one of my jobs was to keep the nail varnish on their toes up to date.

Did you see the mother of quadruplets who shaved 1 2 3 4 into their hair?!
(Trashy Daily Fail link www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199605/Hairs-looking-kids-Chinese-quadruplets-numbers-shaved-heads-teacher-tell-apart.html)

I ALWAYS wonder this!! I have decided I would have to put something like a little coloured dot on their foot from day one and redo every time it looked close to coming off

Oops didn't read last few posts - glad my method is approved!

I know it’s the stuff of films but I wonder if there has ever been a real case of an ‘evil’ identical twin who murdered or arranged the murder of their more successful twin for financial gain?

I can say with 100% certainty mine have never been swapped! To me they looked entirely different from birth. I understand they are are identical to others but I just don't see it. I get that - I find it hard telling them apart in old photos! But in real life, no shadow of a doubt. Same for their older brother (he was 3.5 when they were born). DH couldn't tell them apart until 4 months.

Back up: one also has a tiny birth mark on the sole of their foot!

FiremanKing Read Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey for that plot.

I can say 100% mine haven't been swapped. Even from birth I could tell slight differences, little things like they have slightly different shaped ears, though there dad couldn't for quite a while. Also have never dressed them the same to help family tell them apart.

The only time I struggle is looking back now at baby pics when they are together, that's when I actually realise how identical they are, I now print them and write on back so I know for the future.

@Witchend

Thank you

Usually their weight is different as newborns so that might help. I've wondered the same before.

I've always wondered this as well. My friend has incredibly identical twins, now in their 20s, and she used to put nail varnish on their toes. She was so relieved when one of them developed a tiny visible mole as a toddler!

Yep I have sneaking suspicion that we got our girls the wrong way round at 1 weigh when they were about 8 months old.
1 was always slightly heavier than the other apart from 1 week where they swapped.
What the consequences of that are / were who knows?

I am not even a twin of any kind but my sister and I did used to look very similar - we were mixed up in a hospital when we were both in to have the same operation done at the same time! At the ages of 19/21!

So I can well imagine this happening.

My Grandma always said she got my Dad and Uncle mixed up as babies

If I look at childhood photos of them I couldn’t tell you which one my Dad is.

I have identical twins and I did bring nail varnish into the hospital but didn’t need it.

The bones in the back of their skulls have different shapes which I could see when they had fine baby hair but most of the time I just knew. Also one had a weaker suck.

They are 15 now and a friend made a “where’s Wally” birthday card with a collage of all lot photos of one twin and one photo of the other and I couldn’t find it. I was pretty shocked at myself.

I did a photo collage for my girls' 10th birthday on line and I was asked why I'd only included photos of the 1...it was very embarrassing!

My friend has identical triplets. She always just says "you just know" etc. But we recently reminisced over baby photos of them and quite a few times she said she genuinely dont know which is which in the photos 🤷‍♀️ so who knows

I had friends with twins and she did the nail polish trick.

Interestingly with the comments about photographs. There was a girl in dds old school who very often I would get mixed up for mine if the photo wasn't fully front on.
This girl wasn't even a known relative but it was spooky!

My dh is an identical twin, the thing used to tell them apart as babies was a mole on a face. Dh has a mole, BIL doesn't.

Oh, and dh was born with major heart defects so a doctor could listen and tell you which child was which, if in doubt now you just need to look for a massive scar down their front! (Dh has one after open heart surgery and, of course, BIL doesn't.)

Apart from that they were very difficult to tell apart when younger.

Justanothernamechsnge2 - I think in person that my girls look completely different, but it’s their different mannerisms. I think that’s why photos are harder. My own girls can’t tell themselves apart in pictures. I have tested them with pictures where I know who is who and if they can’t tell by their clothing, they have no clue!