Mother And Child Reunions: How Soap Babies Were Un-switched

On One Life To Live back in 1979, Jenny and Katrina (Nancy Snyder) gave birth on the same day. Jenny's newborn died; her sister Karen didn't think she could handle it, so she and Marco Dane switched the tot with Katrina's baby. For three years, an unsuspecting Jenny raised young Mary as her own. In 1982, a guilt-ridden Karen finally 'fessed up to Jenny. Though heartbroken, she decided it was best for Mary to be raised by her biological mother, so she tearfully returned the baby to an overjoyed Katrina.

For the better part of 2004, All My Children's Bianca (Eden Riegel, l.) mourned the daughter she’d been told had died at birth. In actuality, little Miranda alive, but being reared as “Bess Chandler,” the supposed daughter of Babe and JR, thanks to baby-switchery by Paul Cramer. Babe found out who “Bess” truly belonged to, but kept mum. Finally, when she discovered the true whereabouts of her own bio child (he’d been illegally adopted by OLTL's Kelly and Kevin), Babe came clean with Bianca. JR refused to relinquish “Bess” to Bianca, and during a scuffle, Bianca wound up comatose. Happily, she got a Christmas miracle when her mom, Erica, placed Miranda in her arms, and her daughter’s touch brought Bianca back to consciousness.

On As the World Turns in 2005, Gwen and Jennifer (Jennifer Ferrin) gave birth on the same day, but Gwen's baby (who she planned to give up for adoption) died. Craig (who was actually the biological father of Jennifer's baby boy) and Rosanna were set to adopt Gwen's tot. Seeing the chance to raise his own child, he made the switch. It was Dusty (Grayson McCouch), who had fallen in love with Jennifer, who realized the truth. Dusty and Hal got a judge to sign off on returning the baby to Jen. Dusty had the honors of bringing the baby to a stunned and overjoyed Jennifer,  who decided to name him John Dustin, after her late brother (John) and the man who helped reunite them (Dusty). Tragically, their time together was short-lived, as Jennifer passed away in 2006.

OLTL's Starr (Kristen Alderson, r.) and Jessica gave birth on the same day in November of 2008. DID-suffering Jessica's baby was stillborn, and her alter Bess switched the babies. Marcie (Kathy Brier) and Michael, who had planned to adopt Hope's child, were crushed, as were Starr and the father of her baby, Cole. In 2009, Michael's brother, John McBain, gave Marcie and Michael the shocking news that "Chloe", who Jessica was raising as her own, was in fact the baby they had been slated to adopt. The baby was placed in their arms, but when Marcie learned that Starr truly wanted to keep the baby, she made the selfless decision to return the little girl to a grateful Starr. course their babies were switched — by DID-suffering Jessica's alter, Bess. Marcie (Kathy Brier). and Michael McBain had planned to adopt Starr's baby, and after the truth came out, the baby was returned to the McBains. But Marcie could see that Starr had a change of heart and wanted her baby back, so Marcie returned Hope to her grateful mother.

In 2009 came another complicated DAYS tale that had Nicole and Sami (Alison Sweeney) pregnant by EJ at the same time, though Sami kept her pregnancy a secret. Nicole lost her baby but faked the rest of her pregnancy, planning to pass off the baby pregnant Mia was set to birth as her own. After both Sami and Mia gave birth, Nicole forced Dr. Baker to swap the babies, so Sami went home with Mia's baby (named Grace) and Nicole went home with Sami's (named Sydney). After Grace tragically died, Rafe became suspicious of Nicole and ran a DNA test on Sydney, confirming her true parentage. thought was her own, died. He investigated Nicole, which eventually led him to run a DNA test on Sydney. The test revealed that Sami was Sydney's biological mother. An outraged Sami confronted Nicole for her treachery, slapping her rival (a couple of times!) to get the truth out of her. When Nicole finally spilled all, Rafe arrived and put Sydney back in Sami's arms.

In a mental hospital in 2009, Young and Restless's Sharon (Sharon Case) gave birth to Faith, her daughter with Nick (Joshua Morrow), then lost consciousness. While she was out, Adam took the baby and gave her to Ashley, who was in the same facility and suffering from a phantom pregnancy. Ashley raised Faith as her own, while Sharon grieved for the baby girl she was told had not survived. When Faith was about six months old, Phyllis started putting the pieces together. Ashley had to face the truth when a DNA test was done. Though heartbroken, she did the right thing and returned the baby to an appreciative Sharon.

General Hospital's Sam (Kelly Monaco) and OLTL's Téa gave birth at the same time in the middle of a storm in 2012, but the latter's baby died. Heather and Todd ended up switching them. While Sam grieved for the son she thought had lost his life, a blissfully ignorant Téa returned to Llanview with Sam's son, who she dubbed Victor, Jr. Using the alias "Susan Moore" (her late cousin/Jason's birth mother), Heather secured a job as Victor, Jr.'s nanny, then kidnapped him — much to the dismay of Sam, who had just learned that her son's father, Jason (Steve Burton), along with Spinelli and John, had obtained proof of the baby switch. In a dramatic showdown on the G.H. rooftop, Sam and Jason confronted Heather, who leaped off the building. Jason pulled the baby to safety and placed him in Sam's loving arms at last.

In 2015, courtesy of Dr. Anderson's baby-switching trickery, Sharon and Dylan (Steve Burton) were cluelessly raising Sage's (Kelly Sullivan, l.) baby, who they dubbed Sully, while Sage mourned the death of "her" newborn, Christian. In 2016, both Sage and Sharon stumbled onto the truth. Sharon begged for more time to break the news to Dylan, but Sage refused the request and raced off to tell husband Nick (Joshua Morrow) the truth. She ended up in a car accident. Sharon approached her at the accident site and placed Christian in her arms before she passed away. (Sharon then sat on the truth, which eventually came out — as did the news that the baby's bio dad was Adam, not Nick.)

On DAYS, Sarah (Linsey Godfrey, l.) and Kristen (Stacy Haiduk) were both pregnant in 2019. Over a long stretch during its time-jump storyline, viewers ultimately learned that Sarah was in a car accident and gave birth; her baby died, so Xander, thinking he was helping, switched her dead baby with Kristen's alive one. It was almost a full year before the truth came out in 2021 via "Mackenzie's" birthmark, which was the same as the one on the the supposedly deceased girl. When Sarah found out, she fled with "her" daughter, but eventually came to her senses and gave Kristen's baby, now known as Rachel, back to her.

When Hope (Annika Noelle) gave birth to her daughter Beth in 2019, she was told the baby had died. In actuality, her child was switched by Reese Buckingham with a deceased baby and adopted by Steffy, who named her Phoebe. Great lengths were taken to cover up the truth, which in time became known to Flo, Zoe, Zander, Thomas, Shauna and Emma. It was little Douglas who ended up unraveling the scheme, when he bravely uttered the magic words "Baby Beth is alive," to Liam (Scott Clifton). After it sunk in, Liam sprang to action. He confronted Thomas for keeping the secret, told Hope everything, and they raced to Steffy's house, where they joyously cradled Beth in their arms. Steffy, meanwhile, was in for a shock when she learned who "Phoebe" really was.