# Do identical twins ever get switched? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 7, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820 "2006-01-07T00:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/41 "2006-01-09T15:09:56Z")
My sisters were twins and they were vaginal births. This C-sectioning of twins is a fairly recent phenomenom. Alot of OBs are no longer taught how to turn babies in utero etc–and the strong chance of liability if anything goes wrong makes docs more likely to choose C-section. Why anyone would opt for major abdominal surgery WITH twins is beyond me–although many women don’t have a choice. Recovery must be hell. and now back to the thread…(sorry) ---
**Author:** ![Seren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Seren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/42 "2006-01-09T16:39:31Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > This is embarassing, but on an episode of _Full House_, Uncle Jesse takes off the “stupid looking” hats his wife put on the babies to be able to tell them apart, and ends up having to take their footprints to identify them. [nitpick] They were booties, not hats. [/nitpick] My mom and her sister are twins and looking back at their baby pictures, it’s always easy to tell them apart. Mom was the chubby one and my aunt was the scrawny one. It did get a little harder to tell them apart when they got older though, since Grandma liked to dress them alike, but by then they knew who they were. Also, Mom was a surprise. They didn’t realize Grandma was having twins until after the first one was born. Not sure how Mom got her name… I’ll have to ask. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/43 "2006-01-10T00:35:43Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > On discovering the existence of the second babe (me), mum ducked into the bar across the road and had a gin and tonic, the first and only drink of her pregnancy. A second name was needed, and fast. Am I the only one who expected **araminty** ’s name to be Ginny? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/44 "2006-01-10T01:10:17Z")
My mother is an identical twin, and, according to her, her parents could not reliably tell them apart. I’m sure some of that is colored by her memory of getting punished for her sister’s misdeeds, but I’m willing to believe it. Having seen pictures of them as children and young women, I cannot tell them apart. My mom can, of course, but she remembers things like the clothes they are wearing and events that the pictures are of. My aunt is now in a wheelchair and heavier than my mom, but a few years ago when they weighed about the same, the twins and all us kids went out to dinner. Looking at them across the table, seated, the _only thing_ that distinguished them was hairstyle. My cousins agreed. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/45 "2006-01-10T02:31:27Z")
> [@Seren](#): > > It did get a little harder to tell them apart when they got older though, since Grandma liked to dress them alike, but by then they knew who they were. “I’m Izzik and this is my brother Gizzik. You can tell by the scar…” ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/46 "2006-01-10T04:16:50Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > This C-sectioning of twins is a fairly recent phenomenom. Alot of OBs are no longer taught how to turn babies in utero etc–and the strong chance of liability if anything goes wrong makes docs more likely to choose C-section. > > Why anyone would opt for major abdominal surgery WITH twins is beyond me–although many women don’t have a choice. Recovery must be hell. > and now back to the thread…(sorry) twins are a statistically high risk pregnancy & birth. my wife delivered naturally with twin b coming out 40 minutes later limp, blue and not breathing. serena still has some neurological problems 1 year later. since it was xmas eve i could have opted for the unforgiveable names of Eve & Noelle (opted for audrey & serena) eldest daughter jacqueline at 5.5 years old has no trouble telling them apart by sight, sound or feel. jac is the official twin spokesperson for telling strangers who is who ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/47 "2006-01-10T04:45:40Z")
My grandmothers are twins (yes, that sounds odd but they came as a set, so I was lucky enough to have three grandmothers when I was born!) and during the war, their husbands went to fight, and they were drafted into a munitions factory. In order to keep the kids looked after as a family and not be put into daycare, the sisters amalgamated their households and one worked nights, the other days, so there was always a Mum in the house for the kids. My Dad said as a kid the only way he could decide which was his own mum was by smell. He did say this was of course made worse by it being wartime so the sisters shared all their clothes, making sure that there were no external distinguishing marks. And my grandmother, at their golden wedding party, asked my grandfather if he remembered their first date. He replied that he did indeed remember it very well, whereupon she declared that she had no memory of it whatsoever, as she had not actually gone on the date, but had had to ask her sister to stand in at the last minute when she’d been unable to get out of work. My grandfather was also known as a “tight” man because he and his “wife” would wait for the same bus every morning but they’d get on and pay separately and sit separately. (It was the sister, not wife!) ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/48 "2006-01-10T17:09:42Z")
> [@China Guy](#): > > The hospital named them Twin A and Twin B. I knew a set of twins in high school who still went by “A” and “B” - they had real names, but for whatever reason the labels they were given in the hospital stuck as nicknames. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/49 "2006-01-10T18:37:01Z")
> [@Hokkaido Brit](#): > > And my grandmother, at their golden wedding party, asked my grandfather if he remembered their first date. He replied that he did indeed remember it very well, whereupon she declared that she had no memory of it whatsoever, as she had not actually gone on the date, but had had to ask her sister to stand in at the last minute when she’d been unable to get out of work. What a fantastic family story! (Sorry, I have nothing to add to the thread.) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820/50 "2006-01-10T21:21:37Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > You would just have to wait for the evil twin to start acting out again - problem solved. Actually you don’t even have to do that. The evil twin will have a little mustache and goatee. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-identical-twins-ever-get-switched/338820.md?page=2)