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My identical twins are definitely not 100% identical. Anyone who knows them can tell them apart no problem most of the time - they have different face shapes and always have. I even doubted they were identical when they were babies and had their DNA tested just to make sure...
Oh I read this article! I meant to post it here because I thought it was fascinating ... the article about twins is online here:
Twins - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine
Mocha, my BFF is an identical twin, and while people who don't know them sometimes mistake them, they are pretty easy to tell apart IMHO. It's a facial structure thing, much like you said with your boys. We had a playdate today with DD2's best pals who are identical twin boys, and the older they get ... even these past 6 months ... the easier it is to tell them apart from even across the room.
My mum was taller then her identical twin sister and their face shapes were slightly different.
That was one of the interesting things in the article about the twins ... the slight (and sometimes not so slight) differences, and some of it they chalked up to epigenetics. If you read anything about that it will lead you back to wondering how that impacts swaying. There are some intriguing potential links in all of it.
Also, there are 'mirror image' identicals where they are genetically identical, but reversed, so their facial features are slightly tipped the opposite direction, their hair parts on opposite sides, and one is right handed, one left handed.
Crazily, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are NOT identical twins. They're fraternal and just happen to look alike!! o.O
That was a fantastic photo journal essay. My great uncles are identical twins and they look very alike, but there are some facial difference, especially with the brow bone and lip shape. One has since passed, but while they were alive, they were similar to each other in temperament and personality, too.
I am due identical twins apparently! But have been they will sent the placenta off for DNA analysis when they are born to make sure it's not 2 fused placenta's. The nat geographical article was good with all the pics. Did it not say that twins that share a placenta (ID twins) can be very different due to how each of them spend time in the womb environment and that can cause many differences. I know non-ID twins that are more alike than ID twins.
fascinating. going to send this to my friend who has idential twin boys...they shared their placenta and unfortunatly had twin-to-twin tranfusion syndrome. it was so scary, because it was pretty severe. she had to undergo 2 in-utero surgeries to save them. one twin was getting all the nourishment, blood supply, while his twin was starving.
now at 2 years old, they definitely look pretty different. one is much much larger and fuller face...compared to his brother (the one who wasn't getting enough nourishment from the placenta). Also that twin had now at 2 years old because of the womb environment and the twin who got more blood/nourishment is much bigger than his twin. He also had torticollis and plagiocephaly -- he wore a helmet and had PT for over a year, so is fine now...but they def look different. So, you are 100% right that their experience in the womb is a factor.
I have another good friend/colleague who is an identical twin, now in her late 30s. She look sooo much like her sister!! If I see her sister alone, I have to really look closely and think about which person it is. LOL. But my friend is smaller (weight wise) than her sister and their eyes are just slightly different, which is how I tell them apart.
wow! that is crazy! i thought when they said identical it meant IDENTICAL! lol
Attachment 12633
Here are my identical twins at 10 months. I think for identical twins they look very different. When they were born they looked so different to me that I had the DNA test done. I find it strange how people can't tell them apart but I am their Mum.
Elliot (twin 2) is in the white and Matteo (twin 1) in the Navy. An example of one of the outfits I used to compensated for not getting girl(s) ;)
Matteo's ears stick out and Elliot's are normal and I thought it was due to position in the womb but it could be epigenetics because at 14 months it is more obvious than ever and I thought it would have corrected itself by now. Their head shapes are very different. Elliot has longer narrow face (was vertex) and Matteo rounder and shorter (was breech) and he has cute little cheek pockets from birth. Their personalities are totally opposite. They may be identical in terms of twin type but in no means by the dictionary definition of the word itself.
I love my boys!
My friend has identical twin boys who are 10 days younger than mine and they are mirror image twins and their hair swirls at the back of their heads go in opposite directions. It's amazing!Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
As for the Olsen twins, there is alot of confusion as to whether they are fraternal or identical. I can not claim to be right but my opinion from my experience of being a Mother to identical twins and meeting many other Mothers of twins through our local twin support group is that they must be identical. Fraternal twins have to have their own sac or placenta because they are from two different fertilized eggs implanting in the uterus and twins who share a placenta have to be identical but identical twins can have their own placenta if the fertilized egg splits early enough. About 30% of identical twins have their own placentas and that happens when the egg splits before implantation but I suppose people get lazy and since most twins with their own placentas who are the same sex are fraternal, many people are told they are having fratnernal twins. Many health care professionals wrongly call two placentas fratnernal twins and I know of two people this has happened to who had trouble telling their twins apart so got the DNA test that proved they are identical.
It's my Birthday and I am a little tipsey so I probably could have explained it better with references sorry!
Doctors told the Olsen twins parents that their girls were fraternal because they had their own placentas. They do have their differences in looks but so do all Identical twins. Mine look so different to me and mine shared a placenta so had to be identical but I still got the DNA test done to be sure. Another Mum I know never had the test done and her daughters are like two of the same person but she swears they are fraternal and wont listen when I try to tell her all this info.
Scientists are thinking of using a different word to 'identical' because identical twins are really only identical from the momment just after the egg splits but from then on they are effected by environment (especially womb position before birth giving some very different head shapes like mine) and epigentics to make not all features exactly the same.
The Olsen twins look too alike to be Fraternal. Of all the genes a person could get from their Mum and Dad it would be a miracle for so many to be the same for two siblings to look so alike and not be identical twins. In my experience, where many people think twins could be identical and then they get DNA tested, they almost always are. I have searched a a few times really hard to find evidence to see if the Olsen twins have been DNA tested for twin zygosity but I have not been able to find a definite answer as to whether they have or not
I babysat a set of genetically fraternal twins (they had different blood types and therefore were never needed to be tested) who looked more alike than my genetically identical twin cousins. The fraternal twins were also biracial, which made it even more amazing to me that their hair color, texture, skin color, and features were so alike. We had to put bracelets on them to tell them apart as babies (I did eventually learn the subtle differences). My aunts twins were tested as identical because they were IVF babies and it seemed more likely for them to be fused fraternals than identicals. But they are genetically identical.
As for Mary-Kate and Ashley. I do think it's possible they are genetically fraternal. Mostly because I have seen pictures of their sister who looks a lot like them. I think the genetic pool is just particularly strong in that family. Here is one of the pics of them with their sister:Attachment 12718
So clearly they all look a ton alike.
Ladies with identicals, can I ask! Did your twins cut their first teeth at around the same time?? My sis has twins and I swear they are identical, she thinks not:) never tested, and they got their first teeth days if not a day apart, my kids (no twins) have all been in different months! let alone a day apart:)
One got his first tooth the day he turned 6 months and the other the day he turned 7 months so a whole month apart exactly which was strange. The second one caught up over the next couple of teeth and now they almost have 12 and they have all cut within days of each otherQuote:
Originally Posted by ELP
By the way, all my family including my partner were convinced the twins were identical as new borns but I was sure they were not but I was wrong. I guess the Mother sees every tiny detail of her own babies face that no one else can. Now days all my friends and family or anyone who sees my boys on a regular basis can easily tell them apart. I make mistakes myself when I am very tired though or if I see them on the wrong angle but I quickly realise. I feel bad if I tell the wrong one 'No.' I always use their names so they know their names.
Wow, they do look very alike in that photo Hot Dogs and Boys. I guess the middle one is their Sister but to me this looks like it could even be a photoshopped image of an extra twin as they are all so alike! They do have a strong family resemblance. It helps to look at photos of them as young children but I agree that it is possible they are fraternal.
Usually the best indicators of being identical are singling out the eyes, nose and mouth. The eyes more colour but they can be different shapes slightly like my boys.
I guess we will never really know! That is an interesting story of the twins you know
Our twins are very identical! I can't tell them apart! Lol. :)
They are known as mono-mono identical twins, which is apparently not at all common and they were a very high risk pregnancy with weekly monitoring through ultrasounds.
During the last few weeks of pregnancy they suffered Twin-to-Twin-Transfusion Syndrome where one got all the blood and the other got very little so at birth one was 3.3kgs and one was 2.7kgs. We knew who was who then, but they bought up to the exact same weight and height so quickly and have stayed EXACTLY the same since! They are now 7.
They did cut their teeth at the same time too, they were actually involved in a teeth study of identical twins so we had to monitor and record it all.
Wow, that must have been such an amazing/scary journey. My boys were mono/di. They cut their same teeth mostly within days of each other. Since posting my last comment I think they look more similar now than they did back then. I can still easily tell them apart though and people who know them well.Quote:
Originally Posted by MumofSix_TTCPink
I always scroll down to the twin section and am disapointed to see it is never posted in so thanks for posting :)
ELP, has your Sister had her twins tested yet? Do you still think they are identical? I just re-read some of this post and change my comment before. The Olsen twins are so not fraternal. I know I know, who really cares though! It does not matter. My boys zygosity would not make them any different to me. I just peeved about misinformation about twins
OMG Mum of 6, just saw your signature. Congrats! I so hope this is your long awaited daughter xo
Thank you! :) I really hope so too! :fx:Quote:
Originally Posted by 1+2+3boys
My mother was big on the Olsen twins.... If you look at them as kids you can see a few differences. Once a child turns into an adult you can sometimes see how they change. With the Olsen's one tends to eat a healthy diet and the other likes her junk food. When people started to notice the size difference and also appearance that is when, she, started to starve herself. So many people labeled them as one unit that once one started to look different they had to point it out. They should have never been labeled as twins but just sisters.
As for their little sister. She did look a lot like them but now in her most recent pic she does not. You can see they are siblings and that is it.
I know people who have kids 9-18mths apart and they look like they could be twins. My step-bro just had his 2nd girl 18mth after the first and their baby pics side by side look identical. A friend of ours had 2 girls 14mth apart and they look a lot alike. When sibling close in age get older they will be close in size and may be called twins. But then eventually they be different after the teen years.
If my middle 2 didn't have nearly 4 years separating them, you'd swear they were twins. I can only tell their baby pics apart sometimes by where they were taken, since we moved when ds3 was 4mths.
Same personality too, which means lots of fighting.
Part of me really wants identical twin girls (have since I was about 12) & part of me thinks I have enough kids & one more is pushing it, never mind twins.
The fact an acquaintance had twins a couple days ago isn't helping. She had fraternal twins & 1 was 2 lbs bigger than the other. She hasn't bothered telling anyone (except hopefully her family) if they're b/b, b/g, or g/g
I can't imagine how hard it must be for famous twins to seperate themselves as individuals. It must be so frustrating when people don't always ask you about yourself but compare it to what your twin is doing. I am watching the Voice Australia at the momment and even I with twins of my own keep thinking it is strange not seeing Joels twin on the show even though I enjoy watching him on his own and really there isn't a part of him missing but I still keep hoping for a glimpse of Benji!