, where you’ll find plenty of resources to support and guide you throughout your journey as a new parent.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
How is a baby’s eye color linked to that of their parents? Is it possible for a baby\u2019s eye color to differ from their parents’?<\/h2>\n
Of course, the genetic makeup passed on by the parents plays a major role in the factors influencing a child\u2019s eye color. There\u2019s a very high chance that your baby will inherit the eye color of one of their biological parents. But that doesn\u2019t mean the odds are 50\/50 \u2014 far from it.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, certain genes can skip one or even several generations. For instance, even if both parents have brown eyes, a baby can still be born with the light blue eyes of their grandmother. A person\u2019s genetic makeup is a mix of their biological parents’ genes \u2014 but also includes combinations from earlier generations.<\/p>\n
Can a baby’s eye color be predicted based on the parents?<\/h2>\n
As we just saw, the genes passed down by biological parents heavily influence a baby\u2019s eye color, even though genes from earlier generations may also come into play.<\/p>\n
Putting those cases aside, if each parent passes on their own genes, you might assume that if one parent has blue eyes and the other has brown eyes, the child has a 50\/50 chance of inheriting either color. Well \u2014 not quite.<\/p>\n
Some genes are considered \u201cdominant,\u201d while others are \u201crecessive\u201d (recessive genes are overshadowed by dominant ones). Brown eye color comes from a dominant gene, while blue eyes are associated with a recessive gene. That\u2019s why a child is more likely to have brown eyes if one of the parents passes on the brown gene.<\/p>\n
However, life is full of surprises \u2014 even if both parents have eyes of the same color, and that color is linked to a dominant gene (like brown), you still can\u2019t be certain what color your baby\u2019s eyes will be.<\/p>\n
For example, if both parents carry one blue and one brown gene, the baby has a 1 in 4 chance of inheriting both blue genes and having blue eyes, a 2 in 4 chance of inheriting one brown and one blue gene (and thus having brown eyes but still carrying the blue gene), and a 1 in 4 chance of inheriting both brown genes.<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019s possible to make predictions with varying levels of reliability depending on your situation \u2014 by considering your own eye color and that of your parents \u2014 but it\u2019s impossible to be 100% sure of your baby\u2019s final eye color before birth, and even up to around 8 to 18 months afterward.<\/p>\n
What is the most common eye color in newborns?<\/h2>\n
To revisit what we mentioned earlier: eye color is determined by the amount of melanin in the iris. Most often, babies with lighter skin are born with blue-gray eyes, while babies with darker skin are usually born with brown or even black eyes, as their genetic makeup tends to include a higher concentration of melanin.<\/p>\n
Did you know?<\/p>\n
Eye color can also result from a genetic \u201cmutation.\u201d For example, heterochromia (where the two eyes are different colors), or albinism (which results in very pale skin and red eyes).<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to learn more about key milestones in your baby\u2019s development, feel free to check out our other articles:<\/p>\n
\n- At what age do babies start talking? Everything about first words<\/li>\n
- Guide to measuring baby\u2019s shoe size month by month<\/li>\n
- When do babies start rolling over, and how can you help?<\/li>\n
- Motor skills: When can a baby sit up?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
**<\/p>\n
Photo: nualaimages, Envato<\/p>\n
This text was translated from French by an artificial intelligence. The information, advice, and sources it contains comply with French standards and may therefore not apply to your situation. Make sure to complement this reading by visiting the May ES\/UK app and consulting the healthcare professionals who are supporting you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your baby is full of surprises \u2014 and their eye color is no exception! Most often blue-gray or brown\/black in the first few months, the pigments in their irises will gradually develop and settle into their final color. When can you be sure, and how can you try to predict the true color? Here’s everything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":11567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,196,197],"tags":[150,160],"class_list":["post-24057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newborn","category-infant","category-baby-6-12-months","tag-baby-daily-life","tag-baby-awakening"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24057"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24059,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24057\/revisions\/24059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.may.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}