When they are born, babies may have bright eyes that later change color. Find out why and when your baby's eyes will change color.
In addition to frequently asked questions about when a baby starts to sit, crawl, and walk, many parents are also interested in what eye color their child will have. Will the baby's eyes stay so bright? Will the baby eventually have daddy's blue eyes? Or will she be like mom, brown-eyed? Why do babies change eye color at all?
EYE COLOR DEPENDS ON PIGMENT
When babies are born, especially those with fair skin, they have light eye color due to very little melanin in their eyes. Melanin is a pigment that gives color to the eyes, skin, and hair. "The amount of melanin in the iris, the colored part of the eye, determines what eye color a person will have," explains pediatric ophthalmologist Douglas Fredrick.
ARE ALL BABIES BORN WITH BLUE EYES?
Genetics determines how much melanin or pigment a person will have in their body. The DNA that your baby inherits from you and your partner determines whether the eyes will be brown, blue, green, or other colors. A baby can be born with blue eyes (because the eyes sometimes do not produce much or no melanin at all while the baby is in the womb), but after birth - light stimulates the production of melanin, which can change the color of the eyes over time.
"It is important to understand that it is not the color of the pigment that causes change. There is no blue, gray, green, or brown pigment in the eye," the ophthalmologist points out, adding that the only pigment we have in our eyes is brown. eyes are lighter or darker. Regardless of the science, it seems like a simple equation: One parent with brown eyes and the other parent with brown eyes should mean they will have a baby with brown eyes too, right? No, definitely! Multiple genes in our body determine eye color. Even if both parents have brown eyes, the baby can end up with blue eyes if the parents have blue eye genes somewhere in the genetic constitution, or if they have a mutated gene that can be passed down through the generations as recessive.
WHAT COLORS WILL THE BABY'S EYES BE?
How can a parent with one eye color have genes for another eye color? Through their mothers and fathers, of course. "Baby's eye color depends not only on mom and dad's eye color but also on grandma and grandpa's eye color," says the ophthalmologist. could be the reason for that.
Even if you have checked all the tables and calculators about the color of your unborn baby's eye color, don't think that all predictions are firmly determined. "No one, including doctors, can predict what eye color your child will have when he grows up," explains the ophthalmologist. And whatever your baby eats, does, or is exposed to light also means nothing. It's all a matter of genetics, nothing more. But, it should be remembered that if the baby is born with brown eyes, it means that he already has the amount of melanin determined by the genetic code, that is, the child's eye color will no longer change.
PERMANENT EYE COLOR UNTIL THE YEAR
Experts claim that you will most likely notice the biggest change from the sixth to the ninth month of life. Over a few weeks or months, you may notice that your baby's eye color becomes darker. "The change is gradual that you may not even notice until one day your child wakes up and surprises you with a different eye color," explains the ophthalmologist. By 12 months, most babies get their permanent eye color, although others. Fredrick says that in some children, the color of the eyes can change up to the age of six. However, such cases are very rare and change does not happen overnight.
In any case, the baby's eye color will change without any effect on vision or any other eye problems. But if the color of the eyes changes in one eye or if you notice that the baby's eyes are blurred, be sure to visit a pediatrician or pediatric ophthalmologist.
Comments