Have you heard that old wives-tale story about how all babies are born with blue eyes? The story goes like this: At birth, each baby, no matter where on the planet they are born or who they are born to, enter the world with blue eyes. After a short period of time, the baby’s eyes either change to another color and less likely, some of their eyes stay blue throughout their life. Today, we’re here to look further into this to find some answers once and for all.
What Does Science Say?
Let us be reminded that “Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic character determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye’s iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris” states Wikipedia. Did you know that blue eyes are actually considered a genetic mutation? This mutation is due to the fact that the eye actually produces less melanin/pigment that the owner of any other eye color. It is the lessened amount of the gene OCA2 that creates the lightened, or lack thereof, pigment in the iris. This mutation was first discovered over 10,000 years ago in Europe. In our world today, 8%-10% of the population has blue eyes, while some studies show that over 100 years ago, almost half of the United States population had blue eyes.
So Is it True?
Back to the babies. So, was that story true after all? The answer is no. Not every baby is born with blue eyes, in fact most babies are indeed born with brown eyes and they continue on throughout the rest of their lives with that very same eye color. In fact, brown eyed babies make up ⅔ of the tiny population, with 1 in 5 being born with blue eyes. Now, the reason why this tall tale has become so prevalent is because some babies are indeed born with blue eyes and they do indeed change within months after their birth. Healthline reminds us why this may occur “Melanocytes respond to light, and since your newborn has spent the last several months in total darkness, there wasn’t much light to trigger melanin production in the irises.” This is why once the babies are born and spend time outside of the womb, their iris’ access to light triggers the pigment production and often turns a blue eyed baby to a beautiful brown.
What Are the Odds?
Now, is the parent able to predict that outcome of their babies eye color once they are born? Not quite. Despite being unsure if the color will stick or change, one thing you can almost be sure of is that the colors will most likely stick once they are in motion. Did you know that even if two blue eyed parents have a child, they still aren’t guaranteed to have a blue eyed baby?
How about all the other gorgeous colors, like gray, green and hazel? Could those potentially be that of your newborns, yet change a little down the line? Anything is possible when it comes to eye color. This is one fun yet unpredictable element of parenting! Time to place your bets and see who is the best at guessing, as there is scientifically no guarantees with this matter!
