I'm sure this has been discussed before...

But I wasn't sure what to do a search for.

How do you tell your twins apart?

Even if my little guys are fraternal they'll look tremendously alike. My four other kiddos are carbon copies.

I keep having a My three Sons episode playing in my head... you know the one where the oldest brother and his wife can't tell their triplets apart? They have to keep going back to the hospital to have feet print checked to know which son was which and they keep trying all these different systems like safety pins on their clothes and the spouse removes them or dots on their feet and the other gives the babies a bath thinking they're helping out.

I'm sure getting them mixed up in the beginning is quite common but I really would rather avoid if I could.

 

I'm not ashamed to say that we kept the hospital ID bands on their ankles for the first 2-3 weeks (we eventually had a big videotaped ceremony to cut them off and then we painted a toe nail of the first born for a few weeks, and then fortunately, some spots (like freckles) appeared on one of their foreheads.

And currently, one has a deep dimple in her chin which is how all friends and family can tell them apart as well now. To me though their faces look different, or rather, their expressions look different, but their features are identical. Thank god for that dimple

I wouldn't worry, you'll find ways to tell....

 

My boys were a pound apart at birth and they had a bit of TTTS at the end so one baby got more red blood cells and was VERY red and the other got fewer and was VERY pale. That made it really easy for me to tell them apart.. plus a lot of people on here will tell you they don't think their babies look alike- even when the rest of the world can't tell who's who! I think it's a mom thing...

 

I did not know my boy were ID until about 2 when I did a dna test. So I obviously had no problem!

I will admit though...when I was in the hospital, I did not know who was who. I mixed them up a lot but I think that was just because I was so tired and did not know them yet and just everything that was going on.

 

I threatened to leave the hospital bands on for a while and even went so far as to ask the L&D nurse if it might be possible for us to take a few extras home with us. They were very nice and would have done it if it was necessary. Given mine are frats and were day and night different we didn't have to worry about it. There are 2 other sets of twins in my immediate family. A set of frat girls, and ID boys. I was there when both were born and could easily tell them all apart. The youngest are 3 now and I have a harder time telling the frat girls apart than the ID boys. As a mom you will know. You probably won't even think they look alike!

 

My girls are identical and at birth looked exactly alike! I have pictures from that time that I have randomly assigned names because neither me or DH knows who it is. I left their ID bands on when they came home until they were getting tight and DH cut them off--I was terrified! But it didn't take long for me to know who is who--both by looks and behavior. I still get confused at times now, but it's quite obvious who is who. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

My ID girls will be 6 months next week and I still mix them up occasionally! My DH and I can usually tell them apart, but not always. So, one of our girls has a full pedicure. It is the only way that grandparents and their nanny can tell them apart (although the nanny is getting there quickly). I don't know what we will do this winter with their shoes on! We also kept their hospital bracelets on as long as we could (3 weeks). We painted toenails on DD1 at the hospital in case the bracelets fell off for some reason.

 

We color-coded the kids. Ainsley wore pink & yellow and Sierra wore blue, green, & purple. I made it easy for everyone (including other relatives) to tell the kids apart at a glance. There was never any question about who was who and even my more forgetful and unobservant relatives would always call the babies by the right name.

As an added bonus, we can always tell which baby is which in those early pictures.