The eye color of your baby

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. The sparkling eyes of your baby immediately captivate you – regardless of which color flashes back at you at that moment. Still, many expectant parents wonder in the months before birth: What eye color will my child have? Here we reveal why eye colors change, when your little explorer's eye color is final, and how you can predict it even before birth.

What determines eye color?

Already in the the fertilized egg contains the genetic information that will later determine eye color. Then, in the second month of pregnancy, the eyelids also form, but babies only start to use them for the first time in the seventh month to open their eyes. Amazing, isn't it? :)

But when is it actually decided what eye color your baby will have later? For 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 consists of a combination of maternal and paternal genes, with each gene containing two alleles that determine a color. One of these alleles is dominant, 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 be a surprise, despite all your calculations, what the eye color of your baby will be. ;)

Why is my baby's eye color changing?

White babies are likely born with blue-gray eyes. The reason for this is the outermost layer of the iris, which has not yet produced enough melanin to color the eyes. Over time, you will then be able to observe that your baby's eye color changes. Then, the light stimulates the production of melanin, which further pigments the iris. The higher the concentration of melanin is, the darker the eyes become Your little explorer. 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 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 of life of your little explorer, you will be able to fall in love with different eye colors – and that is completely normal. Because your baby's eye color can change from blue to green to brown before it finally settles. Experts estimate that it is two to three months can take until the actual eye color develops, 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 will soon be able to admire every day. It is 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. ;) But still, a few tendencies can be identified that allow you to 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 could 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 also dominant in this case, you shouldn't be surprised by a brown eye color. However, it could also happen here that you will look 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 who two different eye colors What? A rare, but not impossible phenomenon, because the combination possibilities are in the so-called heterochromia no limits set: a blue and a green eye, a brown and a green eye, or 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 to clear up a myth , which you have probably also encountered before: Light eyes are more sensitive to light than dark eyes. This is not entirely correct, because as you now know, eye color and its 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 thus also protects blue or green eyes from sunlight. So no need to worry! :)