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How To Tell Identical Triplets Apart – One Parent’s Great Idea!

Ffion, Madison and Paige Gilbert are 1 in 160,000 – identical triplets who were conceived naturally from one egg.

Their parents Karen and Ian were shocked to discover they were expecting triplets – especially identical ones and needed to upgrade their car to a large people mover to accommodate their three new babies along with older sister Faye.  Born in August 2013, during the girls first weeks of life the Gilbert family went through 120 nappies and 84 bottles of formula each week.

To help Karen and Ian (along with everyone else!) tell the girls apart, they have come up with a clever way of recognising which triplet is which by color coding their girls!

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Ever since they were babies, Ffion, Madison and Paige have had their toenails painted their ‘special’ colour and now that they are outgoing toddlers, they each wear a pair of their special colour shoes.

Ffion wears fuchsia, Maddison wears mint green and Paige wears purple as a way of helping to tell the girls apart.  Karen says “It’s not a fashion statement, we really struggle to tell them apart… We do try and dress them the same – but we use different shoes just to make telling them apart easier.”

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The girls have achieved a lot already in their short lives and have become extras on UK’s television shows Casualty and Stella.  As they are identical they can play the same little girl and each triplet is rotated to have a turn ‘acting’ before having a rest.

Karen says “They are lovely little girls who have already bought us so much joy – in triplicate.. We have treble trouble – but we would not have it any other way.”



Lauren

Lauren founded her website Create Bake Make as a way to justify the ridiculous amount of baking she loves to do. She has a super sweet tooth and enjoying a slice of cake (or two) is one of her guilty indulgences. As a Mum of two little boys, when she isn't creating fun activities for the kids or breaking up arguments over toy trucks and cars, you will find her in the kitchen baking up a storm - or hiding in the pantry with the latest cooking magazine and a hot cup of coffee!


14 thoughts on “How To Tell Identical Triplets Apart – One Parent’s Great Idea!

  1. AvatarCaz Aquilina

    because thats what happens when you have twins or triplets not that i have any either but i am expecting my second child but i think its great that they do dress them the same its cute.
    my son will be 4 when my baby is born and i will be dressing them the same as they get older too. nothing wrong with it just because mine wont be twins.

    Reply
  2. AvatarKarla Hoffmann

    It’s the cute factor that gets people with the matching. My ID twin boys rarely had a matching outfit, they had their own colors to help others tell them apart, I’d always buy just normal clothes, sometimes similar but different colors. The rare few things they have the same aren’t even worn at the same time haha. The only time I get mixed up is if they are a distance away/ I can’t see both, then I’ll often start saying one name and correct myself quickly. I’ve been able to tell them apart even nude from day 1.

    Reply
  3. AvatarLynette Duck

    I’m a twin & have a twin brother who has twin boys that are not identical. There mother dressers there twins sometimes in matching clothes & I think it looks so cute.

    Reply
  4. AvatarPaula Burke

    I think to dress them the same takes away from their individuality. They will be compared enough being twins and identical at that. If i ever had a multiple birth i wouldn’t dress them the same.

    Reply
  5. AvatarTara Louise

    I know someone who had triplets and was very fussy and over the top when it came to dressing them. She once told me that she had a go at the uniform shop lady when buying school uniforms that the boys jackets did not all look the same and it bothered her because her boys had to be matching exactly

    Reply
  6. AvatarBindi Rickays

    Umm…that’s not a new idea. My son went to school with twins. I could never tell them apart, especially as they had to wear the same school uniform, but the kids never seemed to have any trouble. I asked a few of them one day how they know which is which and they replied twin 1 wears black shoes and twin 2 wears white. I never had an issue again.

    Reply

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