For me, one of the fascinating aspects of parenthood is witnessing the mysterious combination of myself and my husband that has come about in our daughter. It’s mind-boggling to see how she has received little pieces of each of us, and yet she is her own unique little person as well.
Perhaps one of the more defining characteristics of our physical appearance is our eye color, and just as each of us inherited our eye color from our mom and dad, we pass it on to our kids. Did you ever wonder what color eyes your kids will have? Or whether the eye color that they’re born with will change?
Keeping an eye on eyes
Many babies are born with blue or gray-colored eyes, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way.
Eye color is determined by the amount of melanin that is present in the iris of your eyes. Melanin is a pigment that responds to light, and since babies have spent their entire lives in the darkness of their mother’s womb, their eyes often appear gray or blue at birth. However, over time and in response to light, the color may change.
Those who have inherited small amounts of melanin will retain blue eyes. Those who possess greater amounts of melanin will develop brown eyes. And, the hazel and green-eyed folks lie somewhere in the middle.
Over the first year of life, baby’s eye color can change from that blue-gray color to green or brown. So, even if you want to predict what color baby’s eyes will eventually be, you might have to wait. Usually by nine months to one year of age, you’ll know their hue.
Making an educated guess
Whether your child’s eyes produce a little or a lot of melanin depends primarily on one thing- the genetic material contained in their DNA. Each biological parent offers one copy of genetic material, and the combination gives your child his or her unique characteristics.
The basics work like this: brown trumps green trumps blue. It’s really just a complicated game of rock, paper, scissors.
- If Mom and Dad both have blue eyes, the child will have blue eyes
- If both parents have brown eyes, it is likely that the child will also have brown eyes. However, if the parents have a parent with blue eyes, the child has a small chance of having blue eyes, too.
- If one parent has brown eyes and one has blue, the child could have either one. If the parent with brown eyes has brown-eyed parents, the child will likely have brown. However, if the parent with brown eyes has a blue-eyed parent, you could have a blue-eyed baby.
It’s complicated, I know, but isn’t it interesting?
Check out this interactive tool that allows you to predict what color eyes your child will have: What color will your children have?
FAQs
Your baby's eye color may change over the first few months to a year. Newborns sometimes have dark blue or slate-gray eyes that gradually turn blue, green, hazel, or brown. A few children's eyes will continue to change color until adulthood.
Which color is the first one that baby's eyes detect? ›
The first primary color your baby can see is red, and this happens a few weeks into life. When choosing visual materials, toys, and books for your child, look for high contrast prints in bold colors.
What determines the color of a child's eyes? ›
Eye color is determined by variations in a person's genes. Most of the genes associated with eye color are involved in the production, transport, or storage of a pigment called melanin.
What color will the babies be if both parents have brown eyes? ›
If both the parents have brown eyes, then there is generally a 25% chance for their child to have blue eyes. Because both the brown-eyed parents have a recessive blue-eye gene and can pass it to the next generation. However, since eye color is polygenic, several other genes exert their effects as well.
How to tell if baby's eyes will stay blue? ›
Eye color change will often taper off around six months, but some babies' eyes keep changing hues for a year or even up to three. Until then, there's no way to know for certain what color your baby's eyes will ultimately be.
What is the most common eye color? ›
The most common eye color is brown. More than half of the world's population has brown eyes (some experts include amber as a shade of brown, too). A key reason is the range of shades that fall under this color. Brown eyes can range from light to dark.
Can you predict your child's eye color? ›
Eye color is a genetic property, but it's not quite as cut-and-dried as you might have learned in biology class. Two blue-eyed parents are very likely to have a blue-eyed child, but it won't happen every single time. Two brown-eyed parents are likely (but not guaranteed) to have a child with brown eyes.
What parent gives eye color? ›
Genetics and Eye Color
You inherit one from the mother and one from the father. If the two alleles of a specific gene are different (heterozygous), the trait that is dominant is expressed (shown).
At what age is a child's eye color determined? ›
As more melanin develops, the eyes can darken to green, hazel, or brown. Predicting when your child's eyes will stop changing color can vary. “The range of time when a baby will develop their 'true' eye color varies, but it usually happens between six and nine months of age,” Dr. Zepeda says.
Are all babies born with blue eyes at first? ›
Melanin determines several aspects of our appearance. And while we have the least amount when we enter the world for the first time, remember that babies may be born with eyes of blue, brown, hazel, green, or some other color. It's simply a myth that all of us — or most of us, for that matter — are blue-eyed at birth.
However, if the parents have a parent with blue eyes, the child has a small chance of having blue eyes, too. If one parent has brown eyes and one has blue, the child could have either one. If the parent with brown eyes has brown-eyed parents, the child will likely have brown.
Is eye color inherited from the mother or father? ›
A child's eye color depends on the pairing of genes passed on from each parent, which is thought to involve at least three gene pairs. The two main gene pairs geneticists have focused on are EYCL1 (also called the gey gene) and EYCL3 (also called the bey2 gene).
How do you know what skin color your baby will have? ›
Your baby's skin color is determined by the genes passed on from you and your partner. Skin color is what is called a polygenic trait, meaning that it depends on more than one gene. Genetics determine melanin, which in turn decides your baby's natural complexion. The more melanin, the darker the complexion.
How to calculate eye color? ›
Both parents with green eyes: 75% chance of baby with green eyes, 25% of baby with blue eyes, 0% chance of baby with brown eyes. One parent with brown eyes and one parent with blue eyes: 50% chance of baby with brown eyes, 50% chance of baby with blue eyes, 0% chance of baby with green eyes.
Can two brown eyes make a green? ›
Answer and Explanation: It is possible for children to have green eyes if both of their parents have brown eyes. Eye color is determined by genes.
