same gender twins?

Ever since I was a kid I was afraid that if I ever had twins that were the same gender I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. (I watched a lot of full house and this is where I got the idea from.) Now that I am having identical twin boys this fear has gotten even bigger. I was thinking when if it was girls I could give them different color bracelets. But what can you do with boys (other than the polish on the foot)? I know everyone says a mother just knows, but if there isn't a big difference like size I don't know that I will be able to.

I guess I was just wondering if anyone has this fear or if anyone has actually experienced this or an I just alone in this and crazy?????

 

no i am having identical twins also and i have a great fear of not being able to tell them apart. it certainly doesn't help that my mother in law is insisting that they be in matching outfits. i'm scared that they will be such mirror images of eachother that even i won't be able to tell the difference. i'm thinking about doing the nail polish trick on the toes until i can figure out who is who. fortunately for my husband and i the doctor is thinking that they will be girls based on an early ultrasound. if that's the case we'll just give them different hair cuts as they get older. my husband jokes that we will just tattoo their names on their foreheads with sharpie markers or something.

i don't know, i am in the same boat as you. hopefully we will be able to figure it out.

 

I have ID boys and it was never an issue. There was a 2 lb weight difference .. and to me they looked NOTHING alike .. I could always just tell them apart .. you will most likely be able to as well. BUT in case you cant .. maybe paint one of the twins big toe ? I've heard of this being an option.

Ps .. NOW at age 4 I have the hardest time telling them apart !

 

The thought definitely crossed my mind during pregnancy. And to be honest there have been several times that I have mixed them up, but I realized it later. My girls are identical, but they don't look anything alike to me. It helped that Kaylyn has always been about a pound bigger than Kylee, and Kylee had an umbilical hernia for the first few months she was home. Good Luck!!

 

I also have identicals. There is a very very good chance your boys won't come out looking alike at first. Mine had totally different head shapes, and although they were less than a pound different in wieght, the distribution of that wieght was different for the first 3 months no one had trouble telling them apart. By the time they started to look alike, they had totally different personalities and movements so it is easy for those of us who know them well to tell who's who.

 

i agree - i also worried about it while i was pregnant, and then, after the girls arrived, realized i had nothing to worry about. i also have mixed them up occasionally, but eventually, always realized who was who. they do look very different to me & DH, although other people have trouble telling them apart.

one tip you could try is assigning colours - so one baby always wears blue & the other always wears green, for example. we did that a lot - R always had pink socks & D always had purple socks, even if their outfits matched. it also makes it easier to know who's who in pictures.

 

I had this fear, big time while I was pregnant, especially when I was told they were identical (mono-di). I took a sharpie marker to the hospital and put big E's and A's on the soles of their feet as soon as I got my hands on them. We kept that up for several weeks after we got home while we learned to recognize them. After spending 24/7 with them and making a point to look for differences and say their names to them, we learned they had different head shapes/profiles. We still kept the marks on their feet for the sake of family and helpers. Then we got a bonus: Audrey developed a strawberry on her ribs. So then we had a fullproof way to tell them apart and stopped marking them at about a month. But seriously. It's not an issue. Others can't tell, but we can. I mean, I can now look back at their sono/newborn pics and tell them apart.

 

I've worried about this too - I think I'll use a sharpie on each of our boys feet and put their first initial. I'll also try to keep their hospital bracelets on as long as possible for easy access.

My friend has fraternal twin boys and i can't tell them apart - maybe because when they are around, they are usuallly playing with our kids too so i don't have much time with them. I've heard it's different for a mother though, especially as time goes by.

 

Thanks for the reassure. This is always on the back of my mind. When they get here I'll probably be "what in the world was I thinking these babies look nothing alike". I just hope I don't mix them up and they end up with the wrong names. I wonder how often this has happened?

 

Oh gosh i was so worried that i wouldn't be able to tell my boys apart i watched full house too !! but thank goodness my boys are frat and one has lots of hair and the other has none (poor guy )

 

LOL!! I wonder too. I guess no one could ever know though, so it wouldn't really hurt anything, but it's funny to think about.

 

We keep saying that if Gwen's birthmark fades, and Caroline suddenly becomes sweet and agreeable, we're totally screwed-lol. There was only a 10 oz size difference. The main concern is those first several weeks-After that you aren't *quite* as sleep deprived, and you get the chance to kind of study them. Caroline's toes are slightly different, and even though they have the same little vein that's visible accross the bridge of thier nose, in Gwen it's slightly *more* visible. I also think (I know, this sounds really weird) that they smell totally differnet. Things like that you'll start to notice after a few days. As for mixing them up, there's no doubt that we have, in the middle of the night when the birthmark isn't readily visible. If they are eating at roughly the same time and roughly the same amount, and no one is on medicine, there's not much concern in this. (If you're BFing, I'd get a twin BFing bracelet so you can remind yourself who was on which boobie last time. )
I've been known to put a sticker on one babies outfit, and I surely keep them dressed differently. You'll do fine.

 

I started the same topic a year and a half ago! Luckily in the hospital they were in their own isolettes/NICU for a while and couldn't get mixed up. When we brought them home, I could tell the difference. Except for that one sleep deprived night when I thought I had Ryan, but it was really Jake. Luckily Ryan has a birthmark on his back and we were able to check! One of my friends put fake tattoos on her boys (on the back) to tell them apart. You'll be fine!

 

Not everyone will be able to tell them apart but their mommies always will!

 

I've never mixed mine up for more than half a second. There are no two humans who look exactly alike and you will be able to see the subtleties. Heck, I thought mine were fraternal for the first few months because they looked SO DIFFERENT. Go ahead and paint a toenail if it makes you feel better, though.

ETA: mine weigh and measure the same but there are differences in head shape, one has a forehead dent, and they have mirrored bum quirks so even naked and running from me I can still tell!