When you hold your little explorer in your arms for the first time after birth, a quick glance is enough to make you fall in love. Your baby’s sparkling eyes immediately captivate you—no matter which color shines back at you in that moment. Still, many expectant parents wonder in the months before birth: What eye color will my child have? Here, we explain why eye colors change, when your little explorer’s eye color is final, and how you can estimate it even before birth.

What determines eye color?

The fertilized egg already contains the genetic information that will later determine eye color. Then, in the second month of pregnancy, the eyelids form—but babies only start using them in the seventh month, when they open their eyes for the first time. Amazing, isn’t it? :)

But when is it actually decided what eye color your baby will have later? To answer that, we need to take a brief detour into biology and look more closely at the genetic inheritance of eye color. In short, each baby’s genetic material is a combination of maternal and paternal genes, with each gene containing two alleles that determine a color. One of these alleles is dominant, while the other is recessive and is masked by the dominant allele. The good news is: The order in which colors dominate can be determined quite easily . Colors listed higher in the following list are more dominant than those listed lower and are therefore passed on more frequently:

1. Brown

2. Green

3. Blue

4. Gray

Your little explorer will inherit a total of four allele colors from the eight colors in the parents’ genetic material. However, this happens by random selection , which is why it might still be a surprise—despite all your calculations—what your baby’s eye color will be. ;)

Why is my baby's eye color changing?

White babies are often born with blue-gray eyes. The reason is that the outermost layer of the iris has not yet produced enough melanin to color the eyes. Over time, you may notice your baby’s eye color changing. Light stimulates the production of melanin, which further pigments the iris. The higher the concentration of melanin is, the darker your little explorer’s eyes become . Conversely, a light eye color is due to a low concentration of melanin. The same phenomenon can be observed in black babies or babies of Asian descent. Here, too, the originally gray or light brown eyes often darken in the first few months after birth.

When is my baby's eye color permanent?

In the first days of life and the months that follow, you may fall in love with different eye colors—and that is completely normal. Your baby’s eye color can change from blue to green to brown before it finally settles. Experts estimate that it can take two to three months for the actual eye color to develop, at least if a dark eye color is encoded in the genes. With light eyes, it can sometimes take even longer, and you might have to wait nine or ten months for your baby’s final eye color to become clear.

What eye color will my baby have?

Probably, the anticipation for your little explorer grows with each month of pregnancy—and along with it, the curiosity about which eye color you’ll soon be able to admire every day. It’s completely understandable that you want to know in advance what eye color your baby will have. You can’t make a 100% prediction, because genetics sometimes follow their own rules. ;) Still, a few tendencies can help you estimate your baby’s eye color:

• Both parents have brown eyes : The probability that your little explorer will also have brown eyes is 75%. However, your baby’s eyes could also turn green or retain the initial blue color. This is made possible by an allele from the grandparents that your baby may have inherited.

• One parent has green eyes, the other has brown eyes. : This combination makes it a bit more difficult to determine your baby’s eye color. Since brown is dominant in this case as well, you shouldn’t be surprised by a brown eye color. However, it’s also possible that you’ll be looking into green eyes in the future.

• One parent has blue eyes, the other has brown eyes. : The chances are 50-50, and your little explorer could have either brown or blue eyes.

• Both parents have green eyes : Most likely, your baby will also have green eyes. However, a blue or brown eye color is also possible.

• One parent has blue eyes, the other has green eyes. The probability that your little explorer will develop blue eyes is just as high as the probability that their eyes will turn green.

• Both parents have blue eyes : With this combination, you can be quite sure that your baby will also have blue eyes.

The phenomenon of heterochromia: two different eye colors

Have you ever seen someone with two different eye colors ? It’s rare, but not impossible. With so-called heterochromia , there are virtually no limits to the combinations: a blue and a green eye, a brown and a green eye, or even just a brown spot in a blue or green iris. Wondering how this is possible? This peculiarity is due to an excess or deficiency of melanin. However, this pigment difference is extremely rare and is usually inherited directly. Therefore, the chance that your little explorer develops heterochromia is very low.

Are light eyes more sensitive to light than dark eyes?

Finally, we would like to clear up a myth that you’ve probably come across before: Light eyes are more sensitive to light than dark eyes. This isn’t entirely correct, because as you now know, eye color and pigmentation are related to the concentration of melanin in the outermost layer of the iris. However, there is a second layer of the iris that protects the retina from sunlight. It is brown in all people—regardless of eye color—and therefore also protects blue or green eyes from sunlight. So no need to worry! :)