Telling identical twins apart can prove to be quite a challenging task, especially when they’re babies. And while their parents might find it easier to do than others, even they need help sometimes distinguishing their little ones.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community who are parents to identical twins recently shared their methods for telling their kids apart after one user started a thread about it. Ranging from using color-coded socks to marking them with nail polish or a marker, some of their ways were as useful as they were amusing; so scroll down to find the parents’ honest answers on the list below and enjoy.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interviews with two experts, educational consultant and author of Twin Dilemmas: Changing Relationships Throughout the Lifespan, Dr. Barbara Klein, and Professor in the department of Psychiatry at The University Of British Columbia and an expert in twin research, Dr. Kerry Jang, who were kind enough to answer a few of our questions about twins.
#21
Baby A had an internal fetal heart monitor, which caused a small scab on her scalp. Those first few days, that scab was our only reference - up until we did the one toe with nail polish trick.
27points
#23
Color-coded socks - it's like giving each twin their own mini-fashion statement from day one.
25points
#24
I was so afraid of mixing them up, when I brought them home they still had their hospital stickers tegadermed to their backs so that was helpful, lol but they were different weights so that also helped and it wasn't nearly the problem I thought it would be. Sometimes I can't tell them apart in baby pictures, and they definitely can't tell themselves apart, but I have no fears that they were mixed up.
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24points
#25
My father and his brother came home from the hospital at different times. Knowing my grandmother, she probably had a good handle on one twin’s mannerisms by the time the other came into the equation.
24points
#26
I named my twins the same name, that way I don't have to tell them apart.
24points
#27
You just look at them. They are not perfect copies of each other. The first thing I look for in twins is head shape. Often one will have a wider head and the other will have a narrow head.
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24points
#29
My twins aren’t identical but you wouldn’t know it from looking at them. The big tell that they have is their hairline; baby A’s hair falls straight down his forehead while baby B’s swoops to the side naturally. Now that they’re getting more hair it’s tougher to use that to tell them apart using that but thankfully we can tell just by looking at them now.
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20points
#30
Girl identical twin dad here.
One girl had 2 identifying marks. She has a mole in the inside of her right leg, and a sugar vein on the bridge of her nose.
That made it super easy.
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20points
#31
Not identical, but close enough at birth that it was hard to tell them apart.
I did colors as someone else mentioned, but one has two scars from surgeries at 2 and 3 days old. When I was half asleep and delirious, I'd check for the scars. My cousin painted one of her twin's big toenails to distinguish.
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19points
#32
The hospital bracelets were invaluable to start, then we just painted one of their toenails. We had to really keep up with the repainting though, because if they were naked there was no way to tell them apart. Eventually we started dressing each in certain colours, and when they got old enough they got to pick their own colour. One had a freckle near an elbow we tracked as well.
I liked the idea of doing a Tomax and Xamot, permanent facial scar thing, but since they're girls my wife said that was a bad idea.
19points
#33
I think dressing them in slightly different outfits or adding unique accessories like hats or socks works. Not only did it help you keep track of who's who, but it also will be a cute keepsake.
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19points
#34
Medical tattoos are a thing. They put a small. Dot or comma on the back size of one of the babies ears.
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19points
