A mother of fraternal twins took to the internet for support after her mother-in-law slammed her way for telling her babies apart.
The mother explained in a Reddit post after five years of her and her husband trying to get pregnant and getting medical help, she gave birth to two boys.
For the sake of the story, the mother gave them fake names – Jack and Adam – and asked whether she was in the wrong for giving Jack a tattoo to tell the two apart.
While the twins are fraternal, the mother says it is difficult to tell them apart as babies, which is troubling as Jack requires an injection once a week due to an undisclosed condition.
“I’ll be honest, my husband and I even mix them up sometimes,” the mother admitted.
“Everyone does.”
When the twin were aged between nine months and 16 months, the woman’s mother-in-law looked after them when she went back to work.
“During this time she would give his injection as we had a schedule,” the mother said.
“10am before snack and nap. Worked very well until a month ago when she gave the shot to the wrong kid.”
The mother-in-law immediately realised what she had done and called emergency services and the twins were taken to hospital, where Adam received a reversal agent.
Mother opts to tattoo child
The ordeal devastated the mother-in-law, though both Jack and Adam were fine, and refused to babysit the children again, so the parents decided to put them in daycare.
The daycare had a nurse, so she could give Jack his medication, however there was still the concern of mixing the two up, that’s when a doctor suggested a medical tattoo which was smaller than the end of a pencil eraser.
The mother explained the tattoo would be on an area of skin that’s easily seen and would be done while Jack was under a mild sedation and would not be permanent.
“Because of the area it usually fades in 2-3yrs but by then they should have developed more personal features and may not need it redone,” the mother said.
“So after discussion with my husband, we did it.
“He has a 2mm brown freckle on his earlobe. From entering the office to leaving it took 30 minutes. Never felt a thing.”
The mother-in-law “lost her s**t” at the mention of the tattoo, but after inspecting the twins for 20 minutes she couldn’t find it.
“I finally pointed it out and she went ‘that’s just a freckle’,” the mother explained.
“I just said… ‘My point exactly. Adam doesn’t have a freckle there.. So that’s how daycare can tell them apart’.”
Despite this, the mother-in-law is apparently “still pissed and ranting”. The mum said when she explains the situation to other people, they understand but still think she went “too far” in tattooing her child.
“I believe I took the necessary precautions recommended by the doctor and the tattoo will fade with sun exposure and as he grows,” the mother wrote.
“By the time he’s 5 it probably won’t even be visible or it’ll just look like a faded freckle.”
Reddit supports the mother’s decision to tattoo child
For the most part, people on Reddit were in support of the mother’s decision, especially due to the fact that it was recommended to her by a doctor.
“You took the recommendation from a medical professional and made the decision with your spouse for the safety of your child,” someone said.
“Absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially for something so small.”
Someone else theorised maybe the mother-in-law was so upset because she felt as though the tattoo was a result of her own mistake.
Others pointed out the tattoo wasn’t anything drastic.
“It’s not like you gave him a full sleeve of pin up girls and muscle cars,” someone said.
Other people on Reddit discussed what their kids would get tattooed, if they could have a say in it.
“Something tells me it would be filled with Paw Patrol and dinosaurs,” one person said.
“Mine would go for a full Elmo back pieces. She’s classy,” another added, among the other suggestions were Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine and Elsa from Frozen.
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2020-12-10 10:08:00
