Your little one may have been born with beautiful baby blues, but don’t be surprised if his eye color changes in the coming months. It’s not magic that’s responsible for your baby’s eye color change, it is biology.

Somewhere between six and nine months, you may notice your baby’s eyes are getting darker. So what gives? Blame it on melanin.

Melanin is a substance that gives your hair, skin and eyes their color. Compared to what they will have as an adult, babies have low levels of melanin. Some babies have less melanin in the iris of their eyes than others. The level of melanin a baby is born with may vary based on their genes.

The lower the level of melanin, the lighter the eyes. For example, babies who have the least amount of melanin are born with blue eyes. In some cases, a baby’s melanin will increase in their first year, and their eyes may darken.
Depending on how much melanin is produced, your baby’s eyes may turn green, hazel or brown. If the level of melanin remains low, your baby’s peepers will stay blue. Although it’s not set in stone, Caucasian babies tend to be born with lower levels of melanin than African-American, Asian and Hispanic babies.

The change in your baby’s eye color is pretty gradually, so you might not even notice it day to day. Although the biggest changes in color are between six and nine months, you may notice subtle differences continue to occur. For example, you might notice blue eyes are becoming a deeper blue, or hazel eyes have specks of brown. Usually, most babies have their permanent eye color by about a year.

Keep in mind, while eyes change color from light to dark, it doesn’t work the other way around. Your dark-eyed beauty will not wake up one day with blue eyes.

2 Comments

1. 

   Ruby August 16, 2018, 4:38 am Reply

   Thanks for the terrific guide

2. 

   Norberto August 30, 2018, 10:08 am Reply

   It works quite well for me