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Original poster

How do new parents not mix their identical twins up?

101 replies

Woody479 · 27/01/2020 12:15

Do they keep their names bands on them? Just thinking back to how tired I was when DS was a newborn, you could easily get them mixed up and then they’d forever not be the baby they were born to be! I wonder if there’s any twins out there who got mixed up and never swopped back again?!

OP posts:

Duckyneedsaclean · 27/01/2020 12:48

They look completely different to me, always have.

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 27/01/2020 12:54

I have to be honest and say this is one of the main reasons I am glad y twins are b/g and also look completely different (one brunette, one ginge!).

Hats off to parents of ID twins!

Barbararara · 27/01/2020 12:58

I’m pretty sure that in my post-birth befuddlement I’d forget which nail polish colour was for which child.

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Dandelion1993 · 27/01/2020 13:02

My aunt kept the name tags on for quite a while.

onlyoneoftheregimentinstep · 27/01/2020 13:02

I pretty much just knew. But one did have a tiny mark on their buttock, so I could check if necessary.

PhilomenaChristmasPie · 27/01/2020 13:04

I've heard of painting the toenails of one.

8by8 · 27/01/2020 13:08

My friend with identical twins admits that they got mixed up a few times in the blur of sleep deprivation, night feeds, nappy changes etc. At some point they just said ok this ones A and this ones B and stuck with it, but there’s no real way of knowing who was eldest originally.

BillHadersNewWife · 27/01/2020 13:12

My DD has identical twins as her friends and they are SO identical that their Dad has trouble. Their Mother puts a thin plait in one twin's ponytail so that teachers can tell whose who.

DD knows which is which but I never can tell.

BillHadersNewWife · 27/01/2020 13:13

I’d forget which nail polish colour was for which child

Ha ha! You only put polish on ONE twin...the same twin every time.

Dartsplayer · 27/01/2020 13:15

I never used to dress mine the same - if people bought identical outfits then I would put them on them on different days

StoneColdSaidSo · 27/01/2020 13:16

It was very hard for us as they were born prematurely and were on different medications. We had to make sure the right twin got the medicine! Ended up putting a little dot on ones hand with my eyeliner!

Besidesthepoint · 27/01/2020 13:16

Identical twins are never truely identical. I went to school with identical twins. The first day I thought that I'd never tell them apart. A week later I wondered why I ever thought that, they were so different in so many ways.

Winstonwolfe · 27/01/2020 13:17

My twins aren't identical but even myself and dh would mix them up in the early days due to sleep exhaustion.

Besidesthepoint · 27/01/2020 13:17

I appreciate that telling babies apart might be more difficult.

Murinae · 27/01/2020 13:19

Mine had different birthweights and one had a slightly pointed ear. Now I can tell them apart just by their voice (though others can't!)

AudacityOfHope · 27/01/2020 13:19

I don't get why you'd put polish on a toenail and not a fingernail? You'd have to whisk their socks off every time, it would get really annoying!

BlueJava · 27/01/2020 13:20

Mum of identical twins here - inspite of what @multiplemum3 said I couldn't tell ours apart, especially in dim lighting or the bath! We had to give one medicine regularly and not the other so we painted his toenail with pale blue varnish and then it was pretty easy!! I got the idea as David Beckham had been in the news for wearing nail varnish

Happyandglorious · 27/01/2020 13:22

My sil put a bracelet on one of her girls. Bc she needed medication before every feed. She could always tell them apart. My brother still muddled them till they were 5 bracelet had been removed by few months old

Ariela · 27/01/2020 13:25

I was at school with two sets of identical twins, Jane and Sarah were easy, anybody could tell them apart because Jane wore her hair in 1 pony tail (single syllable name) and Sarah in two. Ruth and Debbie were a different matter hardly anyone could get it right. I could only tell them apart if I could get them to smile as Debbie's dimple on her left side was in a slightly different place to Ruth's. They never knew how I could tell them apart though, they often pretended to be the other one, but I knew if I could just get them to smile!

Didkdt · 27/01/2020 13:28

Dd has friends who are identical only a few children in the class can tell them apart.
DD looked at me when I asked her how she knew and she told me they are people mummy not faces.
That said I can now see subtle differences in the faces and the speech patterns which makes it easier
I always wanted twins

opticaldelusion · 27/01/2020 13:29

Does it matter? I bet loads of identical twins have swapped identity in the first few days. It's just a name. Once it matters, their parents will be able to tell them apart.

dellacucina · 27/01/2020 13:29

OP, can I recommend episode 691 of the podcast This American Life (recently aired)? There is a story that gets into just this question

MarySidney · 27/01/2020 13:32

A lady I knew had twin boys and they were identical, she said that one boy always wore blue clothes and one always wore green clothes to identify who was who!

That works until they're old enough to decide that swapping clothes is fun!

I don't get why you'd put polish on a toenail and not a fingernail?

Because babies suck their fingers?

StinkyHedgehog · 27/01/2020 13:33

I have identical twin girls. When they were born, with only half an ounce difference in their weight, they were "so" identical that staff put three name tags on each of them. We could find no obvious differences at all. I kept the tags on for three weeks and only had to remove them as they were getting a bit snug!

By that time, I had started to notice very subtle differences, but no-one (including DH) could see them. To this day, many people still struggle.

I always dressed them differently, but did end up with a colour scheme to help other people know who was who.

SnugglySnerd · 27/01/2020 13:37

I teach identical twins. When they are both is front of me in the classroom I know who is who but if one of them on their own says hello in the corridor or playground I struggle. Luckily my own dts are boy/girl or I would never have coped!

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