Twins, Triplets & More Support Group

Use your logic, identical twins look the same. Fraternal twins do not look the same, they could be 1 girl, and 1 boy. My twin is a boy, so I am a fraternal twin.

i know my twins are identical... i was looking at it by way of medical reasoning. by the way it is possible for boy girl twins to be identical. medical science has recently found this out... thanks anyway.

My twins also shared a placenta, which I thought meant that they had to be identical. However, I recently read that two separate placentas can become fused early in the pregnancy so it's possible for fraternal twins to appear to only have one placenta. If the babies are the same gender, the only way to tell for sure is to have DNA testing done or blood testing of the umbilical cord.

thankyou Liz, i know that what i was trying to explain was kind of wierd but i was sure that someone would understand what i was trying to say. my twins look just alike so i'm pretty sure that they are identical but when they were born we really couldn't tell if they were alike because the were brothers or because they were identical.

The only way to truly determine if twins are identical is through a DNA test. My twins had the same situation, DNA revealed that they are identical. The test was done shortly after birth. My boys have always looked almost exactly alike.

when I was pregenat with my twins, I found out that they were fraternal. Mine had 2 placentas and 2 sacks. i was told the the difference is known by the placenta but then again there not 100 % sure until there born.

The only way to really be sure is to have a DNA test done on them. My boys are as fraternal as fraternal gets and most people think they are identical. I know they are fraternal because they had their own sacks and individual placentas.

Fact be known: The medical community has done tons of studies on twins and found out that identical twins are rare and more fraternal twins look just alike than not. That is a proven fact. e.g. Mary-kate and Ashley are fraternal twins and they look IDENTICAL. Fraternal twins DO NOT always look different and identical twins DO NOT always have to be the same sex. I was watching a show on National Geographic Channel it was called In The Womb: Multiples and it was really educational and very cool to watch. They show an inside view of concention for both fraternal and identical, they show growth at several periods of gestation and it is loaded with lots of valuable information about twins and twin life. I hope it is on again and if it is ALL parents of twins should check it out. VERY ENLIGHTENING!!

Be Blessed, Jeanne

My twin sister and I were born the same as your boys; one placenta but two amniotic sacks. The only way to tell whether we were fraternal or identical was to do a DNA/blood test (I'm not sure about the details) and my mom didn't want to do that since we were born premature and were too sick. At the time, the doctors said that the chances of us being identical were 99% so we've always believed we were identical - we looked exactly the same for a long time. As we get older, we look less and less alike and now I wish that we could find out, once and for all, if we are identical or not. Not sure why it matters - maybe just curiosity.
Anyway, I don't know if you are that curious but I thought I'd let you know that there are tests that can be done to find out but that they involve taking blood and may not be so fun for the boys!

When I was pregnant with my twin boys, they told me they were identical because there was only one placenta, but they had two sacs. Twins in the same sac is very rare and extremely dangerous. They look identical, but the only real way to find out is to have a DNA test done.

My doctor told me my twin girls were identical just by examining the placenta and sacs, I have never had them DNA tested but they are very similar in looks even though their personalities are miles apart which I like, when one egg splits that causes identical twins, if it is two eggs that are fertalized then they are fraternal. I just wanted healthy happy babies so I didn't put any emphasise on identical or fraternal, like most of the responses mention if you truley want to determine that do a DNA test they are inexpensive and it will put your mind at ease.