Desperate Mother Who Couldn't Tell Twin Sons Apart Calls Police to Take Fingerprints. Here's What Happened Next

A mother in Argentina couldn't tell her newborn twin sons apart, so she called the police for help. "Tomorrow I have to go to the police so they can fingerprint my twins and tell me which one is which," Sofía Rodríguez wrote on Twitter. "I won the Mother of the Year award." Her post, which she made on March 2, has racked up more than 15 million views, and Rodríguez has continued to report on her saga after that visit to the police. 

Twins Look Different in Photos, But…

Rodríguez shared photos of the twins, Lorenzo and Valentín, who are now three months old. She said she can tell which baby is which in photographs, but "in person, they are the same." "In the photos they look different, but it is because they come from different angles or the light gives them different, in person they are the same," she wrote. Rodríguez said, "the whole family is betting who is who."

"It Was Crazy"

Rodríguez told the Today show that at first, she tied a ribbon to one of the boys to tell them apart, but she had to cut it off when it became too small. She said the babies were recently sick, and as she was changing them, she got confused. "It was crazy," she said.

"We Still Don't Know Who Is Who"

Rodríguez says that in early March, she asked the police to have her babies fingerprinted, however, the prints "did not look very defined." Argentina's National Registry of Persons was slated to follow up and identify the boys through their fingerprints. One of her follow-up posts included one of the infant's footprints. "We took his prints but they don't appear in the system. We still don't know who is who," she wrote.

Social Media Responds

Several Twitter users commented on the posts, with some saying they could relate to Rodríguez's ordeal. "With my twin brother we used a bracelet, one on the left (hand) and one on the right," one poster wrote in Spanish. "Mine today at 3 years old still weigh the same! They were born with the same weight, so that we did not know who was who," one woman wrote.

"I am a babysitter for identical twins. I have been taking care of them since they were a month old, the parents put colored ribbons on them. Eugenio (purple) Álvaro (yellow), the topic when they lost this little ribbon, (they couldn't distinguish them) today, with 1 year and 2 months, I know who is who, but there are times when I doubt," another user commented.

A Common Plight for New Parents

Los Angeles psychologist Dr. Joan A. Friedman, author of Emotionally Healthy Twins, told Today that Rodríguez's confusion is common. "Identical twins look much alike, especially at birth," she said. "Excluding a difference in weight, birthmarks or other obvious identifiers, it can be difficult to tell them apart," especially when parents are anxious, stressed or sleep deprived. Using bracelets, nametags, or a painted toenail can help.