Discover When Babies Eyes Change Color: A Helpful Guide
You have waited so long for this moment — gazing into your newborn’s eyes for the first time. Interestingly enough, the eye color your baby is born with may or may not be their permanent eye color: the color can still change over the months and years to come. And if you are asking yourself if your child’s eye color will resemble your eyes, your partner’s eyes, or maybe even one set of the grandparents eyes, keep on reading! We’ll go over what determines eye color, why it can take a while for your baby’s eyes to settle into that final color, and when you might know what color their eyes will be. Further you can see our eye color chart for different color range possibilities.
What Is Eye Color?
The term eye color actually refers to the appearance of the colorful ring of muscle around the pupil — the black part — of each eye, called the iris. The iris regulates how much light is allowed to enter the eye Iris colour can be very pale blue to very dark brown.
Your baby’s pupils will always be black and the sclera (the whites) of your baby’s eyes will almost always be some shade of white — unless, for example, your infant is sick with jaundice, which causes a yellow color, or their eyes have some type of inflammation and are pink or red.
What Color Eyes Are Babies Born With?
It is widely believed that every baby is born with blue eyes. The color of babies’ irises is actually determined by melanin, a protein secreted by special cells called melanocytes that also provide your baby’s skin with its hue. Dark-skinned babies are often born with brown eyes and light-skinned babies are often born with blue or gray eyes.
Since melanocytes are light-sensitive, at birth a baby may have gray or blue eyes due, in large part, to the absence of pigment, and also because they’ve just been in a dark womb until now. An example would be before exposure to light, a baby’s eye color can change over the next few months (even a few years).
If the melanocytes secrete just a bit more melanin, a child might have brown eyes. A tad more melanin and their eyes may be green or hazel. Brown eyes, the most common variety, are created when highly active melanocytes release plenty of melanin. Once brown, eyes are likely to stay brown for life.
Do All Newborns Have Blue Eyes?
No. As we explained above, the lack of pigment means that some babies will have gray (or blue) eyes. This is when the eye can begin to change color as the baby gets exposed to light. Babies born to darker-skinned parents are more likely to be born with brown eyes.
When Do Babies’ Eyes Stop Changing Color?
When do a newborn’s eyes change color, and when is an infant’s eye color set? The melanocytes usually take about a year to complete their work and for the final color to set in. Although the rate of color change does slow after a baby is around 6 months, color can still change after this time.
In some cases, the shift from one color to another may last for several years until the eye color finally becomes permanent.
What Color Will Your Baby’s Eyes Be?
One of the most common questions expectant parents ask is, “What color eyes will my baby have?” Eye color is controlled by several genes that affect the amount and quality of pigment in the iris.
You can’t necessarily tell if your baby will have brown eyes or blue just by looking at your eye color and your partner’s eye color, but sometimes you can make an educated guess.
Here are a few options when it comes to your baby’s eye color (but keep in mind that’s not guaranteed):
- With two blue-eyed parents, your baby is most likely to have blue eyes.
- If you and your partner have brown eyes, your baby is likely to have brown eyes.
- If the parents of your baby have one blue-eyed parent, than your baby has a much better chance of having blue eyes than does a baby whose grandparents are all brown-eyed.
- If you have blue eyes and your partner has brown eyes, or the reverse, your baby’s chances are about 50-50 for either eye color.
What Is the Most Common Eye Color?
Brown is the most common color worldwide. The brown-eyed people of the United States make up around half the population. Brown eyes are also more prevalent in hotter climates, as people’s skin, eyes, and hair can also have more melanin that help protect against the sun’s rays.
Why Do Some Babies Have Different Colored Eyes?
Certain babies are born with different color eyes, a condition called heterochromia. The differences could be in the color of each eye, so one blue eye and one hazel eye, for instance, or one eye could have patches of colors — like a brown eye with a portion of gray. The condition is typically triggered by differences in melanin, the pigment that gives our skin, hair, and eyes their color. This difference can be caused by genetic mutation, genetics, or an injury or illness.
If your baby has two eyes that are a different color, discuss this with your healthcare provider, who will provide additional information. When heterochromia develops suddenly or if your eye color changes over time, it’s also a good idea to check with a health care professional for further assessment.
Eye Color Chart
While you can’t really predict the eye color of your newborn baby, that shouldn’t stop you from playing a little game of guessing what you think will happen. From light shades of gray and blue to dark green, hazel, and brown eyes, refer to our eye color chart for some potential colors for your newborn baby:
At the end
Your infant’s eye color is as one-off as they are! Whatever color your baby’s eyes will be, you’ll just love looking into them. We hope you enjoyed learning some of the science behind your baby’s eye color, as well as perusing our eye color chart of possibilities. Much sooner than you think, your baby’s permanent eye color will be revealed. It’s the first of many physical and personality traits that will begin to reveal themselves to you over the next few months and years.
Speaking of eyes, you may enjoy our story on when babies can see. And remember: You’ll be changing a ton of diapers during this time. With the Pampers Club app, you will earn points on all your purchases and use them to get discounts on products you already know and love.
FAQS
> What is the rarest eye color?
Green and hazel are rarer eye colors. Only about 9 percent of people in the United States have green eyes and 18 percent hazel eyes compared to 45 percent who have brown eyes.
>Are gray eyes considered blue or green?
Gray is like blue in that there’s no pigment/melanin in the iris’s front layer. The color often appears blue or gray because of the light reflecting off the eye. Some gray eyes can have flecks of other colors, such as green or brown.
>When can you tell what color a baby’s eyes will be?
Your baby’s eye color could be in by around a year, but any color change will typically start to slow down when your babe is about 6 months old. The change of color, in some cases, can persist for years.
> What determines a baby’s eye color?
Eye color is mostly genetic. The amount and quality of melanin (pigment) in your baby’s eyes is determined by several genes that work together.
> What color will gray baby eyes turn?
Your baby’s eyes might look gray or blue at birth because of the absence of pigment. If darkened as a baby, once the baby is exposed to light, its eye color will rapidly change to blue, green, hazel or brown, which can take six months to one year.
