When a baby inherits skin color genes from both biological parents, a mixture of different genes will determine their skin color. Since a baby inherits half its genes from each biological parent, its physical appearance will be a mix of both.
Beginning at 6 to 8 weeks of pregnancy, the cells that will later produce melanin – the substance that accounts for skin color – first appear in your baby's skin. The more melanin that's produced (a process that's regulated by genes), the darker your baby's skin, eyes, and hair will usually be.
The pigment, melanin, passed on to your baby by you, determines skin tone. In the same way she inherits your hair colour, the amount and type of melanin passed on to your baby is determined by a number of genes (approximately six), with one copy of each inherited from her father and one from her mother.
Most parents assume that this is their baby's actual skin colour. But a newborn's skin darkens slightly as more of the natural pigment that gives it colour - melanin - is produced. So it's normal for your baby's complexion to change a bit on it's own at first.
The short answer is, yes! A couple can have a baby with a skin color that isn't between their own.
When a baby inherits skin color genes from both biological parents, a mixture of different genes will determine their skin color. Since a baby inherits half its genes from each biological parent, its physical appearance will be a mix of both.
Therefore dark skin is a dominant character. The lightest skin color indicates the presence of recessive alleles (aabbcc). Because melanin is a dominant phenotype, and all-white skin genes are recessive.
Baby's skin color may change
(In fact, some babies can take up to six months to develop their permanent skin tone.) This is perfectly normal, but do keep an eye out for a yellow cast to the skin, which could be a sign of jaundice.
Black babies and other babies of color may have sensitive skin that's prone to dark spots (hyperpigmentation). At birth, your baby's skin is likely to be a shade or two lighter than their eventual skin color. The skin will darken and reach its natural color in the first two to three weeks.
Genetically, you actually carry more of your mother's genes than your father's. That's because of little organelles that live within your cells, the mitochondria, which you only receive from your mother.
Because boys have the sex chromosomes XY, they must inherit their Y chromosome from their father. This means they inherit all the genes on this chromosome, including things like sperm production and other exclusively male traits.
Unlike nuclear DNA, which comes from both parents, mitochondrial DNA comes only from the mother.
When a baby is first born, the skin is a dark red to purple color. As the baby begins to breathe air, the color changes to red. This redness normally begins to fade in the first day. A baby's hands and feet may stay bluish in color for several days.
Its perfectly normal for mixed heritage babies to be anywhere on a spectrum of colour and features. It's as expected for your baby to be pale like you as it would be for him to be dark like his father.
Multiracial babies can get much, much darker after they're born. Their hair texture can completely change, too.
Vernix caseosa is a white, creamy, naturally occurring biofilm covering the skin of the fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy. Vernix coating on the neonatal skin protects the newborn skin and facilitates extra-uterine adaptation of skin in the first postnatal week if not washed away after birth.
Protect your melanin-rich baby's skin from the sun at all times, limiting sun exposure and applying a broad-spectrum sunscreen free from nano-particles and high in natural ingredients like zinc oxide.
This is normal right after birth. In fact, most newborns have some acrocyanosis for their first few hours of life. It happens because blood and oxygen are circulating to the most important parts of the body, such as the brain, lungs, and kidneys rather than to the hands and feet.
Recognizing Skin Color
If your newborn's skin is bluish all over (cyanosis), however, let your physician know right away. If your skin is dark, you can expect that your newborn's will be lighter than yours at first. Newborns with fair skin may show some mottling, with blotches of reddish and whitish skin.
Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents and or individual gene alleles), exposure to the sun, natural and sexual selection, or all of these.
Uneven skin color in babies is very normal, you only need to wait more than 6 months to know exactly if your baby's skin color is white or black. Unruly baby skin is also very common which can come from race, age, body temperature and even whether baby is fussy or not which affects skin color.
Differences in skin and hair color are principally genetically determined and are due to variation in the amount, type, and packaging of melanin polymers produced by melanocytes secreted into keratinocytes. Pigmentary phenotype is genetically complex and at a physiological level complicated.
Normal Function. The MC1R gene provides instructions for making a protein called the melanocortin 1 receptor. This receptor plays an important role in normal pigmentation. The receptor is primarily located on the surface of melanocytes, which are specialized cells that produce a pigment called melanin.
Caucasians, for example, tend to have a lower amount of melanin, which leads to a lighter skin tone. This can make Caucasians more susceptible to pronounced photoageing, the premature appearance of ageing due to damage caused ultraviolet (UV) rays.