Telling identical twins apart.

Paradisemoon

My DH recently asked me how I plan on telling the girls apart after they're born. My DH is an identical twin and him and his brother wore name bracelets. I like this idea but they didn't start wearing them until almost 4 months old. So my question is, after the hospital bracelets came off, how did you tell your twins apart in the early days? I searched the board for this already and the thread I found had most everyone saying they painted their babies nails. I'm not really sure I'm okay with that. So what are the other choices people have used?
Thanks!

tootsscott

You might just get lucky that there is enough of a difference you won't have to paint their nails... Perhaps a dimple, or cowlicks that are in different places or 2 cowlicks vs 1.. A birthmark maybe. Otherwise, I think painting a nail is not a bad idea. Or a toenail

24karat

We didn't remove the hospital bracelets till we knew we could be certain which was which. It helped that one was a good 1/2lb and inch bigger than the other. C also has a very round head and ruddier complexion while K has a long/narrow head. There are a few other things and we really haven't had any trouble telling them apart other than their early baby pictures. They must be harder to tell for others though, since even DH's parents (who live nearby and babysit at least once per week) have difficulty telling them apart.

You could get coordinating outfits for them with one color always being worn by one twin, and put the other baby in a different color.

katieg314

This is more for other people that for you, but my friend always dressed hers in alphabetical order. So baby A always got blue and baby B got red... It was her system for helping grandparents, etc tell them apart and she said it worked pretty well.

raraavis28

I was worried about this before my IDs were born as well, but they ended up having enough of a size difference that we never had trouble telling them apart. This is still true today....they hardly even look identical to me anymore even though people will ask me "how do you tell them apart?" (seriously??)

You might end up just being able to tell, but if not, I've heard of all kinds of methods....as well as the toe-painting (like one toe w/ nontoxic polish) you could do anklets, or always dress one in a certain color or pattern, or use different headbands. Don't worry; you will figure out a system that will work great for you!

tiffwedd

We were lucky, one of our guys has always been just a little bit bigger and chubby and he also has more hair.  There are times where I've had to look twice but it has been a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Stephanie2167

I'm having di/di girls but I did order little name anklets for them to wear. I got them on Etsy and they are darling.

jcath

I was so worried about it when I was pregnant and everyone said oh don't worry you will be able to tell them apart.  But no I couldn't.  My girls weighed exactly the same and continued to be within a few ounces of each other for the first year and they had no distinguishing marks.

We brought the girls home with their hospital bracelets on and marked Baby A with a sharpie marker on the bottom of her foot. I would remark it every few days when it started to wear off.  I then worried I had poisoned her with some sort of sharpie chemical but my Ped okayed it.

I also kept the girls in alphabetical order (our Baby A is named Audrey so she's first) and when I could I dressed baby A in solids and baby B in prints b/c I'm OCD like that but it's a huge help looking back at photographs that I can figure out who they are by how they are positioned and what they are wearing.

And of course now I can tell them apart but I do think they have to grow out of that newborn stage before you start to see the subtle differences

Paradisemoon

AshB62 said:

You could always use different colored booties like Jesse and Rebecca on Full House

If I recall correctly didn't Jesse take those "silly booties" off and then got confused on which twin was which? And he tried to hide the mistake from Rebecca by stealing Stephanie's detective kit and foot printing the babies... I'd like to avoid all that if possible LOL. Good show though!

LaurenSara518

We left the bracelets on for the first 10 days or so- after that. I noticed silly little differences like Brayden's left ear was a little more pointy than Jake's round ear or the shape of their eyes was a little different. I'm not going to lie- it's hard... especially when you're sleep deprived and everyone just expects you to know. the more time you spend with them though, the easier it becomes.

GL

Sascha3

My girls have a stork bite birthmark on opposite eyes.  Vivian on the left, Chloe on the right.  In my uterus, Vivian was on the left and Chloe was right.  So I do this in daily life as well.  Vivian is always on the left in their RNPs, photos, etc.  It helps me keep them straight in my head.  Vivian also has a rounder head and Chloes is more oval.

tootsscott

Hold the phone!! Di/di twins can be identical?!?

Stephanie2167

tootsscott said:

Hold the phone!! Di/di twins can be identical?!?

 

If they are the same sex.

If the zygote splits very early (in the first 2 days after fertilization) they may develop separate placentas (chorion) and separate sacs (amnion). These are called dichorionic, diamniotic (or 'di/di') twins.  While all fraternal twins are 'di/di', this occurs 20 - 30% of the time in identical twins.

tootsscott

Whoa. Mind blown !

tootsscott

Whoa. That makes being Team Green extra exciting. 

How do they tell while babies are still in utero if they're fraternal then? I haven't done extensive research on the genetics (?) of twins because I just assumed di/di meant fraternal!

Stephanie2167

I think in utero they call them fraternal when they have two sacks and two placentas. Since they are more likely to be fraternal then di/di ID. you wont know until after they are born and they have grown a bit whether they may be di/di ID. I think most people who find out they have di/di IDs don't do the testing until they are older and don't see much of a difference between them. of course if both babies have different blood types then that can rule out di/di IDs from birth.

24karat

Stephanie2167 said:

I think in utero they call them fraternal when they have two sacks and two placentas. Since they are more likely to be fraternal then di/di ID. you wont know until after they are born and they have grown a bit whether they may be di/di ID. I think most people who find out they have di/di IDs don't do the testing until they are older and don't see much of a difference between them. of course if both babies have different blood types then that can rule out di/di IDs from birth.

This plus fraternal are more common than identicals so statistically, it's more likely.

megs2011

It was easy for us since there was quite a size difference. It's gotten harder to tell them apart now that they are the same size. But you will likely know who is who. I can tell mine apart easily. They don't even look ID to me most of the time (they are, I got them tested). I have bracelets for them Z is pink and E is purple.

Mrs. Alice

Never needed to. My identicals were much different in size thanks to TTTS.  For a while I questioned if they really were ID at all.  They are but have enough differences to tell them apart easily for whoever knows them.  They were also in the NICU for a while so we got to know them well before they came home. 

meldoo2002

We painted a toe nail.. just 1 nail.  It was more for other people and middle of the night wake ups, but it definitely helped.  More importantly because they were on different formulas than anything else.  Once they were a little older like 3 months we started dressing one in blue and one in green.