Telling identical twins apart

raraavis28 · November 2012

This seems to be a kinda common thread lately, and honestly something that's been on my mind ever since I found out my boys are identical. It seems that some MoMs have no problem telling their identicals apart, but that some use a kind of marker to help distinguish them (like a bracelet, nail polish, etc.). If you're in the latter group, what system worked the best for you and why? I'm sure that in time I'll have no problem telling them apart but when they're super brand new it would be nice to have a strategy in place just in case. TIA!

Jen0204 · November 2012

DD1 has a red mark on her neck (can't remember what it's called, it's supposed to go away by the time she's 2) and DD2 has a birthmark on her back, but we also painted their toenails, they each worse bracelets for a couple of months, and they have different color pacifiers. From day 1 we could tell them apart when we were looking at both of them, but if we just had one baby it took a few seconds for a little while (especially if we were looking at a picture of just one). Our families obviously took longer then we did to figure out how to tell them apart so those things really helped.

yinyang124 · November 2012

At 2 weeks old, my boys look totally different. They have different head shapes because Damien was molded in my pelvis for so long, and Jace has noticeably more weight on him. I bought hemp bracelets for them to wear on their ankles to help other people tell them apart, just in case those differences level out over time. Damien's is green and Jace's is orange.

aprilsarahjune · November 2012

Just a warning: My problem has actually gotten somewhat worse as they have gotten older. We did okay telling them apart when we first brought them home - different head shapes, size difference. Then their hair started to grow in differently because of their sleep positions (I suppose). As time has passed, most of those physical differences have disappeared. Their teeth are even the same. God forbid that someone other than me dresses them (in which case I lose the back up plan of knowing baby A is in a red shirt, etc.) Now on bad days, I have to wait for them to act or react somehow to know the difference. Most of the time it takes only a few moments to see those personality markers but every now and then they get me. At their 18 month doctor appointment, I stripped them down to diapers for their weigh-in and lost track of who was who. The nurse had already marked one chart according to what I had told her when I had to backtrack and tell her I had them wrong

emilyec1 · November 2012

We had blue non-toxic toenail polish all ready to go but ended up not needing it. We just kind of knew. I had prayed for some kind of non-intrusive identifying mark on one of our twins, and Thomas has a small skin tag on his earlobe if ever we're in doubt.

angelfire02 · November 2012

I didn't think it was really going to be a big deal, but at almost 6 months I STILL can't tell my boys apart. When they were born it was impossible, we kept their hospital bracelets on until they were 6 days old, but they started to peel off and I thought they were going to scratch themselves with the plastic so we had to cut them off. We painted one baby's toenails, three of them on one of his feet. Since they were born in the summer that worked great while you could see their feet. Now that it's getting cold it's a lot more guessing. I felt bad painting his nails because he is a boy, but we were desperate. One of them has a bigger flat spot on the back of his head but I truly can't tell them apart without some searching. They have always been within ounces of each other for weight, and the same height, so for the foreseeable future, we will paint ones nails.....

brookith · November 2012

I will admit I get mine confused! We always keep nail polish on Hayden's big toe- just in case!

yinyang124 · November 2012

aprilsarahjune:
Just a warning: My problem has actually gotten somewhat worse as they have gotten older. We did okay telling them apart when we first brought them home - different head shapes, size difference. Then their hair started to grow in differently because of their sleep positions (I suppose). As time has passed, most of those physical differences have disappeared. Their teeth are even the same. God forbid that someone other than me dresses them (in which case I lose the back up plan of knowing baby A is in a red shirt, etc.) Now on bad days, I have to wait for them to act or react somehow to know the difference. Most of the time it takes only a few moments to see those personality markers but every now and then they get me. At their 18 month doctor appointment, I stripped them down to diapers for their weigh-in and lost track of who was who. The nurse had already marked one chart according to what I had told her when I had to backtrack and tell her I had them wrong

Sounds like my days of "Of course I can tell them apart" will be short-lived. Gah!

meldoo2002 · November 2012

We painted Joey's toenails blue... just the big toes for a few weeks, but after a short time I had no trouble telling them apart. Sure if they have their backs to me and are dressed the same there can be a split second when I don't know who's who, but 99.9% of the time I know who's who.

srbmvp · November 2012

We painted one of Ben's big toes blue when we took the bracelets off... fortunately I knew within the first few days who was who, based on amount of hair, slightly different birthmarks, and slightly different head shapes. Because the nail polish came off without me knowing it.... I was changing Ben one day, noticed no polish, got confused thinking it must be Alex afterall, then realized what had happened. Yikes!

So I guess my advice would be... paint more than just one toe!

drgeli · November 2012

I did blue nail polish on the big toe and had it accidentally rub off over time too. Luckily, my other sons toe was painted gret and by then, I found a freckle on his hand. Also, over time when their hair grew in, one had one cowlick, while the other had 2. I didn't know that was even possible, but it makes telling them apart from the back so easy now. I also color coded their clothes frim day 1. One wears blacks, blues, and dark colors, while the other wears greens, greys, beige, and light colors. This is also super helpful for family and friends to consistently know who's who.

RobinR91 · November 2012

Our three are identical But vary by weights. Since this is already changing, we needed a back up plan. My dt warned against nail polish, as some of the chemicals can be absorbed. So we went with organic yarn of different colors tied in a braided anklet for each girl that matches the number of letters in each girls name ex: Anna is blue, 4 letters in each word. In my sleep deprived state it was a good system. Everyone laughs when u tell them tho! Hey, I haven't confused them yet and it's been 5 weeks!