How Long Do Babies Have Blue Eyes?
– Your baby’s first birthday is a significant milestone, especially if they get to dive into a cake for the first time. But it’s also about the age you can safely say your baby’s eye color is set. “Typically, a baby’s eyes can change color during the first year of life,” says Benjamin Bert, MD, an ophthalmologist at Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center.
However, Daniel Ganjian, MD, a pediatrician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center, says the most significant changes in color occur between 3 and 6 months. But the hue you see at 6 months may still be a work in progress — which means you should wait a few months (or more) before filling in the eye color section of the baby book.
Although you can’t predict the exact age your baby’s eye color will be permanent, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) says most babies have the eye color that will last their lifetime by the time they’re about 9 months old. However, some can take up to 3 years to settle into a permanent eye color.
63% brown20.8% blue 5.7% green/hazel9.9% indeterminate0.5% partial heterochromia (a variation in coloration)
The researchers also found that there were significantly more white/Caucasian infants with blue eyes and more Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Black/African American infants with brown eyes. Now that you have a better understanding of when your baby’s eyes may change color (and become permanent), you might be wondering what’s going on behind the scenes to make this transformation occur.
How long do baby blues eyes last?
At birth your baby’s eyes may appear gray or blue due to a lack of pigment. Once exposed to light, the eye color will most likely start to change to blue, green, hazel, or brown over a period of six months to one year.
Are all babies born with blues eyes?
Are All Babies Born With Blue Eyes? – 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.
Can eyes see color at 2 months?
When Is Eye Color Set? – Permanent eye color is not set until a baby is at least 9 months old, so wait until your child’s first birthday to determine what color they will be. Even then, sometimes you may find little surprises. Subtle color changes can still occur all the way up until about 6 years of age.
- For example, green eyes may slowly turn hazel or hazel may slowly grow to a darker brown.
- An infant’s eye color is influenced by the eye color of their parents.
- Eye color is often studied in the field of genetics because of its inheritance patterns but is still not fully understood.
- Eye color inheritance patterns are much more complicated than what we learn in basic genetics taught in high school biology.
Your baby’s final eye color depends a lot on you and your co-parent. We used to think that brown was dominant and blue was recessive. But modern science has shown that eye color is not at all that simple. Eye color is controlled by three basic genes. Researchers understand two of those genes really well, and one of them is still a bit of a mystery.
Do babies start with blue eyes?
Why are babies born with blue eyes? – Many babies will have light-colored eyes at first, but iris color continues to develop for months after birth. Some babies may be born with blue eyes, but others are born with brown or hazel eyes, In fact, blue eyes may be a little less common than you think.
- A 2016 study involving 192 newborns revealed that almost two-thirds of them were born with brown eyes.
- Only about one in five had blue eyes.
- Eye color, just like skin and hair color, is determined by melanin.
- These natural pigments are produced by cells called melanocytes.
- Melanocytes help provide protection from sun damage, and increase their production in response to sun exposure.
When a baby is born, their eyes may be light or even blue, but they will likely change color as the melanocytes respond to light. Race is also a factor, as researchers note that the majority of babies born with blue eyes are Caucasian. Other ethnic groups, including those of African and Asian ancestry, are more often born with brown eyes.