How Long Will My Babies Eyes Stay Blue

When Will Your Baby's Eyes Change Color?

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on June 24, 2021

Your baby's eyes may be a shade of blue, light gray or brown as a newborn, but will that always be the case? Here's how to tell when (and if!) your baby will go through a change in eye color.

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You may have heard that if your newborn has blue or light gray eyes, there's a chance they could become brown (or go green) as she gets older. But if and even when your baby will experience eye color changes is anyone's guess.

What's responsible for this magical transformation in your little one's eye color? The answer depends on the amount of melanin in the iris (the colored part of the eye) — which, in turn, is determined by the genes your baby has inherited from each parent — as well as other factors.

When does a baby's eye color change?

The most dramatic eye color changes will probably occur when your child is between the ages of 3 and 6 months old. By that point, the iris has stashed enough pigment so you'll be able to better predict what the final hue will be.

But even so, your baby's eye color may still hold some surprises. Your baby's eye color may continue going through a number of changes due to pigmentation of the iris until baby's first birthday, andyou may still notice subtle eye color changes (green eyes slowly turning hazel, say, or hazel ones deepening into brown) until she's 3 years old. 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. Caucasian babies are more likely to be born with dark blue or slate-gray eyes that may change several times before the first birthday.

A Look At Your Newborn

What role do genetics play in baby's eye color?

The final hue of those pretty peepers also depends on you, your partner (or your child's other biological parent) and a roll of the genetic dice.

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Since there's still a lot that's not understood about the interplay of genes and their part in determining eye color, it's hard to make hard-and-fast predictions about the shade your baby's eyes will end up. But if your child has blue or light gray eyes as a newborn, there are some probabilities:

• If both biological parents have brown eyes, but one had a blue-eyed parent, then there's a slight chance your little one's eyes will be permanently blue.
• If onebiological parent has blue eyes and the other brown, then your child has a 50-50 chance of having permanently blue eyes.
• If bothbiological parents have blue eyes, then it's very likely that your child's eyes will be permanently blue.

What role does melanin play in baby's eye color?

Melanin, produced by cells, is the pigment that's responsible for giving you the color of your skin and hair (or at least the hair color you had as a child).

Just as sunlight turns the skin a darker shade, it does the same thing to eye color by way of the iris. When your child enters the world (and is exposed to bright lights of the birthing room), that light kick-starts melanin production in the iris, which can lead to eye color changes.

Just a smidgen of melanin and your baby will have blue eyes; add some more and you get green, gray or hazel; even more and a newborn's eyes will be brown or black.

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Expect When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

• What to Expect the First Year, 3rd Edition, Heidi Murkoff.
• WhatToExpect.com, Your Baby's Vision Development, June 2021.
• WhatToExpect.com, Fetal Eyesight: What Your Baby Can See in Utero, June 2021.
• American Academy of Pediatrics, Newborn Eye Color, June 2020.
• American Academy of Ophthalmology, Why Are Brown Eyes Most Common? April 2017

How Long Will My Babies Eyes Stay Blue

Source: https://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/ask-heidi/baby-eye-color.aspx

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