Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Multiple births

When do you start showing with twins? What is life with twins like? Join the conversation on our Multiple Births forum.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Apparently my identical boys are not"identical identical are they?"

52 replies

groovychick2 · 27/08/2008 20:54

Has anyone else had this said to them?My boys had ttts and one is very slightly smaller than the other with a slightly different shaped head.A few people have commented on this and implied that they cant be identical.Despite this they still cant tell whos who!!I would love to know the best response to this annoying comment as I know I am sensitive to it due my experience of ttts.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

msdemeanor · 30/08/2008 07:50

You could say, 'identical means they come from one egg and have identical dna, not that they look exactly the same' or just 'well X didn't get as much food in the womb so he came out smaller'
I know someone whose twins had this. They are both small, and one is smaller than the other, though I have to say, you don't notice when they are running around together.
People are curious about twins, I am sure they mean no harm and would be upset to think they were annoying you.

msdemeanor · 30/08/2008 07:51

sorry about double post - don't know what's happening.

Original poster

groovychick2 · 30/08/2008 09:20

Ghosty My boys are mirror image twins.I think it is thought to do with the later splitting of the egg. Their hair whorls go in opposite directions & one is right handed the other left -like in a mirror!Sometimes this can affect the teeth and even the internal organs in rare cases!!!

OP posts:

nappyaddict · 30/08/2008 17:45

what is FOL?

Original poster

groovychick2 · 30/08/2008 18:38

Could it be father in law???

OP posts:

piximon · 30/08/2008 21:44

Mars are you referring to this film which was on Channel 4? My DH taped it but with all the moving we've mislaid our copy, should turn up when we're eventually settled if you need a copy, although you'll probably be waiting till xmas.

snorris · 30/08/2008 21:53

I get the opposite to this. Right from an early scan at 8 weeks I was told my g/g dt's were non-id,apparently because there was a very definite dividing membrane and 2 separate placentas. They do look incredibly similar though (I think there may be a pic on my profile),I guess the only way to know for certain is to fork out for a DNA test!

shabster · 30/08/2008 22:27

After my two boy twins were born the midwife held up the placenta by the cord. She said 'oh you have identicals' then the cord unravelled like a telephone wire!! 'Oh, Oh you have non identicals!!'

I also had a small 'growth' type thing (very medical terms!) on the side of the placenta. It was like a pink lump of coal. Midwife said it suggested an undeveloped third baby all that for a few minutes enjoyment!!!

Must admit anything on tv about twins is fascinating to me....

nappyaddict · 30/08/2008 22:41

snorris - i thought they did a test of some sort to find out anyway? i think my cousin had one with her twins. btw do your girls ride? your horses are gorgeous!

MarsLady · 31/08/2008 02:06

That's the very one Pixi! I thought, for some reason, it was BBC but nope good old Channel 4. Thank you!

I'm going to have to buy a couple of copies. The one that I sent out never reached its destination and so is lost somewhere in the RM system

AnnVan · 31/08/2008 02:39

I was friends with a pair of identical twins from when I was little (sadly have lost touch now) they were almost impossible to tell apart. You could only tell who was who because one had a slightly rounder face than theother!Most people couldn't tell them apart at all, I only could because we grew up together and I knew them so well.

rubyloopy · 01/09/2008 10:49

Message withdrawn

PootleAndThePoseysMum · 02/09/2008 22:58

Groovychick - yes and IT REALLY IRRITATES ME !!!! (Caps on purpose to emphasis point) .

I have identical twin girls who developed TTTS at 16 weeks. The older twin by 4 mins is a bit smaller and has a flatter head than her younger sister. (Does TTTS affect head shape? I didn't know that) Generally a conversation with absolute strangers go as follows :

Stranger "Ooooh aren't they identical"
Me (Preening) "Yes"
S "Actually that one's a bit bigger"
Me (Impatient) "A little"
S "Actually you can tell the difference, they've got different shaped heads and that one is much bigger"
Me (Cross and silent but really wanting to say) "Well aren't you just an ultra picky observant git"
S "Actually they aren't identical at all, when do you think they'll get identical?"
Me (Seething and silent but wanting to scream) "P* off" and comment nastily on one of their physical traits but I generally just smile sweetly and walk away.

Aaaargh - If you get a good retort from this thread I'll be using it too.

I used to have similar conversations with my friends until after a few glasses of wine I drunkly and very bluntly put them straight and now all I get is "God, they're identical"/ "Spitting image of each other" / "Cannot tell them apart at all" whilst they purposely call them by the other ones name.

Original poster

groovychick2 · 03/09/2008 12:22

Hi PootleAndThePoseysMum-I feel exactly the same!Dread these comments,makes me feel like "Oh Sorry-must do better next time!" I often end up giving a biology lesson at the same time thinking"why should I have to justify this?" My boys have different head shapes too.The older twin by 20mins has a broader flatter head, the second is smaller and more rounded.He is also 1cm taller so they cant be identical can they???I know I am sensitive to this because of the TTTS and know how lucky I am that they are here at all!I think if they were dressed the same less people would comment as it meets more with their expectations and makes any slight differences less noticeable, but what do I know-I only gave birth to them!!!

OP posts:

tigerlily1980 · 10/09/2008 22:15

You will always get these type of comments! I have boy/girl twins who don't even look alike and people have asked me if they are identical! When I have explained that boy/girl twins are never identical as it is impossible they have then argued that they have known identical b/g twins!

Don't worry, you will get used to it!

campion · 01/10/2008 17:13

MarsLady - I came across this article which goes some way to explain about identical
boy/ girl twins
8e.devbio.com/article.php?ch=11&id=111

though it's quite a dense read. As far as I remember, the girl would be infertile and it is very, very unusual.

In the school where I teach we have several sets of identical twins ( it must be the water round here). They are in separate forms and I can usually identify each one correctly except for one pair who are the most identical I've ever met. Even their dad mixes them up, they tell me - but not their mum!

Blandmum · 01/10/2008 17:19

If you want the uber poncy, biology explanation, smile sweetly and say, 'Phenotype= Genotype + environment'

In other words we are all a product of our genes + the environment that we grow in

FairLadyRantALot · 01/10/2008 17:41

wow, I learned somehting on this thread...I never knew it was possible for boy/girl twins to possibly be a identical...
very interesting....

Blandmum · 01/10/2008 17:56

It is astonishingly rare.

Girl has to have Turners syndrome as she was 'destined' to be a boy, but 'lost' the Y chromosome during cell division. Withough the testosterone produced by the SRY section of the Y cromosome a baby will always develop the external genitals of a girl

thebutlerdidit · 01/10/2008 18:03

My sisters are mirror image twins. They hardly look alike at all now but they did until they were in their early 20s. One is about half a stone heavier which really makes them look different. I think mirror images can be quite easy to tell apart because they move differently from each other as one is left handed and the other right so when you know them you can instinctively tell.

FairLadyRantALot · 01/10/2008 18:07

oh, just looked at what it is (Turner syndrome) and I htink one of the girls in one of my sons classes has this...she isn't a twin....but I am sure her mum mentioned this was the name (her little one is tiny , tinier then her younger sister, bless) and is now on hormone therapy , and she did mention infertility , so, am thinking I got it right....
I just remembered, because when she told me about it I looked it up and was taken to teh same website that I just saw...

lulumama · 01/10/2008 18:09

i'm a twin, non identical but people could never seem to tell the difference. although even looking at baby pics we looked different, my sister had a rounder face than me we are equally gorgoues now, although i am older by ten minutes and More Important. see profile for pic of me and my twin rubyslippers
used to really bug me when people asked me where my other half was.. grrrr...

we are non identical but everyone told my mum she must be mistaken

FairLadyRantALot · 01/10/2008 18:13

lol, always amusing when peopel know better then the peson that would really know it best....

can see how that can become tiring and irritating...not the same, but the other day I had a woman going on and on at me, that I can't just be german, because my accent isn't german, but more dutch or SA or Kiwi or Ossie...she kept asking if I was sure....erm...yup, I kinda am, lol....think I should know, right...lololol

Leoloopydoo · 03/10/2008 08:42

adding to this late but I don't liek the term 'identical twins', for me there is nothing identical about my MZ twins. I am much more comfortable wtih the German 'Eineiige Zwillinge', literaly translated means 'one egg twins'.

Neenztwinz · 09/10/2008 14:29

are mirror twins where one is left handed, the other right?

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread