[owensmom]

so, this might be a silly issue, but i'm just going to get it out there...We are having identical girls, we know that for sure. I am terrified that we might accidentally mix them up at some point. not in the "i called you the wrong name mix up" but in the "I really don't know which one is which" way. I plan to leave the leg bands on for a while and paint thier big toes diff colors, but I am still afraid it might happen. I know that we give them names arbitrarily and its a crap shoot as to which is baby A and baby B, so as an infant its prob not THAT big of an issue, but I truely feel like I will lose it mentally if we do somehow end up in a position where we have no idea who is who.

I know that ppl say you will just be able to tell...but idk - can you? esp right away? I know some older ID twins and some I can tell apart and some I can't, but it's more because they are older and have grown in different ways.

thanks for listening to my vent. any advice or experience is GREATLY appreciated.

[MarieJ]

we got lucky with our id boys, one had an umbilical hernia and the other had a scar under his nose from a tape tear in NICU. When in doubt we check their bellies

[Celry]

I could always tell, not necessarily individually, but once together there was never a question of which baby was which. Until recently, they didn't have any birth marks, freckles or any other marks to use to tell them apart. We left their hospital bracelets on for a week and painted one toenail for another week, but I found that I wasn't use either. I can look back at pictures of their birth now and still know who is who.

[mom2pne]

For me my twins had different skin shades. Eli was redder and also had a bump at the end of his sternum because he was thinner than Peyton. As they got older Peyton had torticollis and so we could tell from that. Now that they are almost 6 years old they have scars on their heads in different spots.

[owensmom]

thanks. its good to know from someone who's been there that you really can tell! It eases my anxiety a bit.

[anexia]

This sounds bad but, Permantant marker on the bottom of their feet. Will wear off eventually but by then you will know who is who. And in the hospital, different color hats right from birth. We had the hardest time in pictures knowing who was who. If it weren't for the fact that our girls were very different weight and digital cameras are time stamped we never would have figured them all out.

Also, we didnt decide which baby got which name until we got a chance to sit down with them and really meet them. So no mixing up during delivery.

[dalynnrmc]

I worried and wondered about this too!

Funny story?

My twins are boy/girl, not to mention a pound and a half different at birth, so it shouldn't have been that big of a deal....


As we were leaving the hospital, I got out all the fun pink stuff (remember, I have three older boys and this is my first and only girl) and went to change Lynndi's diaper and get her going home outfit on. Got to her crib-tub thing (those hospital cribs with wheels), and went to change her. Opened her diaper and about had a kiniption --- I KNOW I had a girl! This baby was not a girl. I went to wondering if I was having a bad dream, a nightmare. I made myself search to see if it was a dream. I went to wondering if I'd imagined one was a girl and I was honestly crazy and they were both boys....


I was honestly, truly having a breakdown - freaking out in the truest sense of the word. But, it didn't last long. Maybe 10 seconds max....

I realized, the nurses just put the babies in the wrong tubs.



(Much of my little mini-breakdown just had to do with the whole my-first-and-only-girl thing. I'd been praying for a girl for 12 years by then, and maybe I just was looking in all the dark places to make SURE I really finally had her. LOL)

Maybe that story sounded freakier here than it was. Within minutes I was laughing at myself -- too funny!



When the babies were little, I'd stick a white diaper on them both and when hubby got home we'd have them in different rooms and ask him - POP QUIZ!! Which baby is this??

Took him about 3 days before he was 100% certain all the time, but even he got where he could tell.

And I must add -- I think the whole painting the toenails different colors is a FANTASTIC idea!!! Love it!

[brwneygirl]

My girls are three months old and their ears are folded a little different. I kept the hospital bands on them for a few days, but once I knew for sure who was who, I took them off. Sometimes I do still mix them up, but I check their ears to be sure.