Ever wondered how new parents tell their identical twins apart? Especially when they are sleep deprived and trying to figure out how to care for them at all hours of the day and night! Well, it seems that there are a few common tricks that parents of identical twins use so that they can keep track of which baby is which!

Painted the big toe nail.

It doesn’t take long as a parent of identical to figure out who is who. We had the toe nail painted for maybe a week before it was easy to tell who was who. (FBG-123)

Back in the 90s, a tiny drop of nail polish on the toe (careful to be sure they can’t put their foot in their mouth. Different color clothing. Most importantly, using their names with them individually is super important. Repetition of their names means they will start to look and respond to their own name early. (MyCouchPulzOut_IDont)

So this would be 2011, they put a hat with Baby A on my first son and hat with Baby B on my second as well as bracelets. I was with them the whole time for the weighing and vitals check and they take foot prints right away. For my wifes sanity she put a little sharpie dot on Baby A’s sole of his foot. Then within a day, you kind of just knew. They’re identical, but family and all their friends can tell them apart pretty quickly even if you try and trick them. It’s tough to explain unless you have friends that are twins you understand it.

I still call them the wrong name but all parents do that. I called one by the dogs name once. That cost me an apology and a Lego set. (CTnaturist)

When our twins came along, we decided to assign each a color – one was always in blue, the other in green. It started off as a practical thing, but as they got older, they each developed a preference for their own color, it became part of their individual identity. As funny as it sounds, that color coding stuck with them and now as teenagers, their rooms are themed around their colors, their gadgets and even their bikes. It’s hilarious looking back at baby pictures trying to figure out who’s who, but now, we can tell them apart by the color aura they literally chose to live. (Edda_Housand)

Neighbours of mine do this with their twin sons but in a very subtle way… they’re always dressed identical (age 5) but things like shoelaces, school bags, bibs, hats, scarves, socks and other accessories would always be either red or blue depending on the twin. It is so cute, and very effective. (DummyDumDum7)

i babysat identical twins. the parents dressed them the same and gave them names one letter different from each other. so name wise i couldn’t. but visually i could. one twin was skinnier and smaller than the other. not by a dramatic amount but enough that you could see it. their father was clueless and just drew on the kids feet with something, so they were literally numbered. the thicker twin was 1 and the skinner twin was 2. also it was weird to see they had a favorite twin. (AvocadoPizzaCat)

I heard that twins’ parents identify them from the belly button. Since it is a scar, the buttons look different. (hardalive)

It wasn’t that hard; one was always just a bit chunkier than his brother. That one also had a scar on his chest from when liquid was removed from his lung. The freckles are different. They sound different, have different mannerisms. 

For my own ease I did dress them in different colors, and I tried to keep bracelets made of embroidery floss on them. That didn’t work entirely to plan; one would always rip his off but the other really liked his bracelet and I had to replace it when it got worn for the first four years of his life.

People have a hard time mentally handling twins, especially identical ones, but they’re just two brothers who look very related. (Ivan-cat)

Color-coded socks – it’s like giving each twin their own mini-fashion statement from day one. (Strange-Show-55)

One of mine had a birthmark on his head that his brother didn’t have. Once they got enough hair it got harder to tell (Fitz_2112)

As an adult identical twin I have wondered many times if we were accidentally switched as babies and all this time I’ve really been Tom. This is an actual shower thought of every identical twin lol. (i_guess_this_is_all)

Do you have identical twins or know someone who does? How do you tell them apart?