Tips for Parents raising Identical Twins

Below are several "tricks of the trade" used by parents to tell their identical twins apart--especially when your tired and it's the middle of the night:

- If girls, paint the toenails of one baby. If boys, tie a thin blue ribbon around one baby's ankle.

- Keep each baby's I.D. tag from the hospital on their ankle, especially during those first few weeks.

- Color code their clothing. (i.e. Dean wears green or Joshua always wears red. This works until they are old enough to make their own choices -- usually around age 2+)

- Parents of girls sometimes pierce thier ears and they wear different earrings.

- When your babies move to two cribs, assign cribs from the beginning.

- Older twins sometimes prefer to have their hair cut differently.

- Always try to offer tips to family and friends on methods you use to identify your children (as your little ones mature, try to focus on personality traits unique to each child since many physical cues change as the child grows.) Tips can be subtle such as directing the child in an activity when you first arrive that uses his/her name helping the family member or friend quickly make their own associations.

Other helpful Web sites on this subject:
- Telling Multiples Apart
- Facts and Figures about Twinning and Multiples