Ensuring twins don't get mixed up? How?

middletree wrote:

Ok, I'm goign to say something shocking here, but please know ahead of time
I'm not trying to be funny, insensitive, hurtful, or dumb. I'm serious. My
question is, as a father who never had this problem (I have b/g twinkies),
why does it matter to the parents of newborn ID twins if you get them mixed
up? I mean, at some point, you'll be able to tell them apart, and at that
point, if you refer to Baby A as Joe and Baby B as Bob, those names will
stick with the same kid from then on.

Please don't flame me; I'm asking an honest question about why it even
matters.

Also, please don't give examples of if one kids has a health issue the
doctors want to track, etc. My question is assuming healthy kids, and none
of those kinds of parameters were present in the original post anyway.


Its the not knowing which is which that would bug me. For example,
someone comes over to visit, they ask which child is which, and you can'
t answer that.. it would be a little frustrating and embarrassing.
Also, Thanks for all the advise from everyone, we decided to paint the
big toenail, that seems the easiest.

Rob Lenihan

middletree wrote:

Ok, I'm goign to say something shocking here, but please know ahead of time
I'm not trying to be funny, insensitive, hurtful, or dumb. I'm serious. My
question is, as a father who never had this problem (I have b/g twinkies),
why does it matter to the parents of newborn ID twins if you get them mixed
up? I mean, at some point, you'll be able to tell them apart, and at that
point, if you refer to Baby A as Joe and Baby B as Bob, those names will
stick with the same kid from then on.

Please don't flame me; I'm asking an honest question about why it even
matters.

Also, please don't give examples of if one kids has a health issue the
doctors want to track, etc. My question is assuming healthy kids, and none
of those kinds of parameters were present in the original post anyway.

snip

Sometimes the need to keep the identities straight is personal taste.
More often it has to do with making sure all caretakers are using the
same name label for a particular child. This keeps things on the same
page for who is going longer between feedings, who is starting to sleep
through the night and how much medicine each baby has been given when
(for fevers and such).

Cindy Wells
(my sister and I had different hair colors so it wasn't as much of an
issue but mom still replaced our hospital bracelets with anklets with
our names engraved on them. Mom was a bit blurry after the drugs she
was given during labor and knew that the upcoming sleep deprivation
could result in similar, and potentially hazardous, mistakes. (Illness
was a concern since my brother was about to start kindergarten and
would bring home various bugs.) )

middletree wrote:

Ok, I'm goign to say something shocking here, but please know ahead of time
I'm not trying to be funny, insensitive, hurtful, or dumb. I'm serious. My
question is, as a father who never had this problem (I have b/g twinkies),
why does it matter to the parents of newborn ID twins if you get them mixed
up? I mean, at some point, you'll be able to tell them apart, and at that
point, if you refer to Baby A as Joe and Baby B as Bob, those names will
stick with the same kid from then on.

Please don't flame me; I'm asking an honest question about why it even
matters.

Also, please don't give examples of if one kids has a health issue the
doctors want to track, etc. My question is assuming healthy kids, and none
of those kinds of parameters were present in the original post anyway.

snip

Sometimes the need to keep the identities straight is personal taste.
More often it has to do with making sure all caretakers are using the
same name label for a particular child. This keeps things on the same
page for who is going longer between feedings, who is starting to sleep
through the night and how much medicine each baby has been given when
(for fevers and such).

Cindy Wells
(my sister and I had different hair colors so it wasn't as much of an
issue but mom still replaced our hospital bracelets with anklets with
our names engraved on them. Mom was a bit blurry after the drugs she
was given during labor and knew that the upcoming sleep deprivation
could result in similar, and potentially hazardous, mistakes. (Illness
was a concern since my brother was about to start kindergarten and
would bring home various bugs.) )

Wow! 2 sets of identicals! How is this possible? I was under the impression that only fraternal twins are hereditary. At least, that's what our ultrasound technician told us.


wrote in message ...
Hi
I am the mother of 2 sets of identicals- we got a permanet marker
(black) and just wrote there intials of the bottom of their feet ,
because the middle intials are all differant even though there first are
the same for the boys and also the girls, at bath time then just checked
it to make sure it was still clear- as they got older we just learned
differant expressions -etc. Good luck to your family-cyndi
Mother of joshua&jacob 4/26/1997
&Samantha&savannah3/30/2000

Wow! 2 sets of identicals! How is this possible? I was under the impression that only fraternal twins are hereditary. At least, that's what our ultrasound technician told us.


wrote in message ...
Hi
I am the mother of 2 sets of identicals- we got a permanet marker
(black) and just wrote there intials of the bottom of their feet ,
because the middle intials are all differant even though there first are
the same for the boys and also the girls, at bath time then just checked
it to make sure it was still clear- as they got older we just learned
differant expressions -etc. Good luck to your family-cyndi
Mother of joshua&jacob 4/26/1997
&Samantha&savannah3/30/2000

wrote in message
...
Hi
I am the mother of 2 sets of identicals- we got a permanet marker
(black) and just wrote there intials of the bottom of their feet ,
because the middle intials are all differant even though there first are
the same for the boys and also the girls, at bath time then just checked
it to make sure it was still clear- as they got older we just learned
differant expressions -etc. Good luck to your family-cyndi
Mother of joshua&jacob 4/26/1997
&Samantha&savannah3/30/2000



"sasha" wrote in message
gy.com...
Wow! 2 sets of identicals! How is this possible? I was under the
impression that only fraternal twins are hereditary. At least, that's what
our ultrasound technician told us.

I know a woman who had two sets of identicals.

You would expect this to happen in a certain number of cases given the large
population of the earth and despite the randomness. In fact, given the odds
of an identical twin birth are ~ 1 in every 270 births, I believe the odds
of two identical births to one mother are ~ (1/270) * (1/270) or 1 in every
79,200 births.

--
sharon, momma to savannah and willow (11/11/94)

wrote in message
...
Hi
I am the mother of 2 sets of identicals- we got a permanet marker
(black) and just wrote there intials of the bottom of their feet ,
because the middle intials are all differant even though there first are
the same for the boys and also the girls, at bath time then just checked
it to make sure it was still clear- as they got older we just learned
differant expressions -etc. Good luck to your family-cyndi
Mother of joshua&jacob 4/26/1997
&Samantha&savannah3/30/2000



"sasha" wrote in message
gy.com...
Wow! 2 sets of identicals! How is this possible? I was under the
impression that only fraternal twins are hereditary. At least, that's what
our ultrasound technician told us.

I know a woman who had two sets of identicals.

You would expect this to happen in a certain number of cases given the large
population of the earth and despite the randomness. In fact, given the odds
of an identical twin birth are ~ 1 in every 270 births, I believe the odds
of two identical births to one mother are ~ (1/270) * (1/270) or 1 in every
79,200 births.

--
sharon, momma to savannah and willow (11/11/94)

You would expect this to happen in a certain number of cases given the
large
population of the earth and despite the randomness. In fact, given the
odds
of an identical twin birth are ~ 1 in every 270 births, I believe the odds
of two identical births to one mother are ~ (1/270) * (1/270) or 1 in every
79,200 births.

--
sharon, momma to savannah and willow (11/11/94)


Sharon --

I think it would be somewhat less than that, as you have to take into
account the fact that many parents of twins choose not to have more
children.

Julie
Mom to Erica & Chris, 07/97

You would expect this to happen in a certain number of cases given the
large
population of the earth and despite the randomness. In fact, given the
odds
of an identical twin birth are ~ 1 in every 270 births, I believe the odds
of two identical births to one mother are ~ (1/270) * (1/270) or 1 in every
79,200 births.

--
sharon, momma to savannah and willow (11/11/94)


Sharon --

I think it would be somewhat less than that, as you have to take into
account the fact that many parents of twins choose not to have more
children.

Julie
Mom to Erica & Chris, 07/97

I agree with the idea of painting more than one toe but only on one baby.
Seems "safer" to me ... with all that lost sleep maybe one day Joe is red
and Steve is orange seems obvious ... and the next day neither of you have
any clue which kid is which color :-))

A side note: our boys aren't at all identical, but in the NICU they were in
beds at opposite ends of the room so we never saw them side by side til
after they both came home (on separate days -- day 17 and day 19) and all
that time we were terrified we'd mix them up. I had the nail polish at the
ready. Boy did we laugh when we saw them side by side and saw how TOTALLY
different they are ... not even similar enough to look like brothers. Ah,
for the bad old days. :-)

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor
"Rob" wrote in message
...
middletree wrote:

Ok, I'm goign to say something shocking here, but please know ahead of
time
I'm not trying to be funny, insensitive, hurtful, or dumb. I'm serious.
My
question is, as a father who never had this problem (I have b/g
twinkies),
why does it matter to the parents of newborn ID twins if you get them
mixed
up? I mean, at some point, you'll be able to tell them apart, and at
that
point, if you refer to Baby A as Joe and Baby B as Bob, those names will
stick with the same kid from then on.

Please don't flame me; I'm asking an honest question about why it even
matters.

Also, please don't give examples of if one kids has a health issue the
doctors want to track, etc. My question is assuming healthy kids, and
none
of those kinds of parameters were present in the original post anyway.


Its the not knowing which is which that would bug me. For example,
someone comes over to visit, they ask which child is which, and you can'
t answer that.. it would be a little frustrating and embarrassing.
Also, Thanks for all the advise from everyone, we decided to paint the
big toenail, that seems the easiest.

Rob Lenihan