This is because melanin, the pigment that determines your baby's eye color, increases over the first year of life. Eye color is determined by genetics, but it's not as easy as just looking at the parents' eye colors. Even if both parents have brown eyes, it's possible for their child to end up with green or blue eyes.
That said, if your baby was born with brown eyes, it means they already have the amount of melanin assigned by their genetic code, so their eye color won't change.
Eye color changes over time
Over time, if melanocytes only secrete a little melanin, your baby will have blue eyes. If they secrete a bit more, his eyes will look green or hazel. When melanocytes get really busy, eyes look brown (the most common eye color), and in some cases they may appear very dark indeed.
“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.
Is there a way to predict my baby's eye colour? Not really. Two brown-eyed parents are likely to have a brown-eyed child, but could potentially have a child with blue, green or hazel eyes, depending on the combination of genes from each parent.
If the melanocytes secrete just a little more melanin, this baby may end up with blue eyes. Just a little more melanin and his eyes will be green or hazel. Brown eyes, which are the most common, are the result of very active melanocytes secreting lots of melanin. Brown eyes are likely to remain brown throughout life.
But in simple terms, two blue-eyed parents, for example, are more likely to have a blue-eyed baby. But there are no guarantees. Likewise, parents with brown eyes will usually produce a brown-eyed child, but not always. The eye color of a grandparent can change the odds a little.
In as much as 15 percent of the white population (or people who tend to have lighter eye colors), eye color changes with age. People who had deep brown eyes during their youth and adulthood may experience a lightening of their eye pigment as they enter middle age, giving them hazel eyes.
Natural changes with age
Most babies are born with brown eyes. However, many of Caucasian heritage initially have blue or gray eyes. This color may darken over time, to become green, hazel, or brown. Infants with brown eyes rarely experience changes in iris color, although the shade of brown may become more prominent.
The most likely explanation for a change in eye color is to change the amount of pigment producing proteins made. There are lots of cases where something in the environment changes the amount of protein that is made. The color of a person's clothing can “bring out” their eyes, making them appear a different color.
Natural Age-Related Eye Color Changes
As they are exposed to light, melanin production increases, causing the color of their eyes to shift. However, eye color changes can also occur as a person ages. Those with lighter color eyes – especially Caucasians – may see their eyes lighten over time.
Your child's newborn eye color may be blue, but that doesn't mean it'll necessarily stay that way. “Babies' eyes tend to change color sometime between 6 and 12 months, but it can take as long as three years until you see the true color of what their eyes are going to be,” says Barbara Cohlan, MD, a neonatologist at St.
Each parent will pass one copy of their eye color gene to their child. In this case, the mom will always pass B and the dad will always pass b. This means all of their kids will be Bb and have brown eyes. Each child will show the mom's dominant trait.
Yes. The short answer is that brown-eyed parents can have kids with brown, blue or virtually any other color eyes.
Just don't expect brown eyes to revert to blue — dark eyes tend to stay dark for most babies. Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) infants are more likely to be born with dark, usually brown, eyes, though the shade may change slightly during the first year.
It's a common belief that all babies are born with blue eyes, but this is actually a myth. A baby's eye colour at birth depends on genetics. Brown is also common, for example, but a newborn baby's eyes can range in colour from slate grey to black.
All men inherit a Y chromosome from their father, which means all traits that are only found on the Y chromosome come from dad, not mom. The Supporting Evidence: Y-linked traits follow a clear paternal lineage.
Unlike nuclear DNA, which comes from both parents, mitochondrial DNA comes only from the mother.
Green is considered by some to be the actual rarest eye color in the world, though others would say it's been dethroned by red, violet, and grey eyes. Green eyes don't possess a lot of melanin, which creates a Rayleigh scattering effect: Light gets reflected and scattered by the eyes instead of absorbed by pigment.
If both the parents have hazel eyes, there are 99% chances that the baby will also have hazel eyes. If both the parents have brown eyes, there is a 75% chance that their child will have brown eyes. If both the parents have green eyes, there are 99% chances that the baby will also have green eyes.
As you grow up, the melanin level increases around your pupil, making the eye darker. However, 10-15% of Caucasian eyes change to a lighter color as they age, as pigment in the iris changes or degrades.
As previously mentioned, exposure to light causes your body to produce more melanin. Even if your eye color has set, your eye color could slightly change if you expose your eyes to more sunlight. As a result, your eyes might appear a darker shade of brown, blue, green, or gray, depending on your current eye color.
The genetic switch is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 and rather than completely turning off the gene, the switch limits its action, which reduces the production of melanin in the iris. In effect, the turned-down switch diluted brown eyes to blue.
Both parents with brown eyes: 75% chance of baby with brown eyes, 18.8% chance of baby with green eyes, 6.3% chance of baby with blue eyes. Both parents with blue eyes: 99% chance of baby with blue eyes, 1% chance of baby with green eyes, 0% chance of baby with brown eyes.
In as much as 15 percent of the white population (or people who tend to have lighter eye colors), eye color changes with age. People who had deep brown eyes during their youth and adulthood may experience a lightening of their eye pigment as they enter middle age, giving them hazel eyes.