The DNA specialists at International Biosciences know all too well about the fascinating workings behind our genetic make-up. It can determine so many things about our identity, from our sexuality to the likelihood of growing up to be introvert or extrovert – and before expecting our first child, we can often wonder, what will the baby inherit from us in terms of our appearance? We can never be certain but we can make some assumptions based on family traits. Here are some tips for predicting your child’s eye and hair colour.
Chart your ancestry
Search for the recessive genes in your ancestry. Do your ancestors share a recessive trait of red hair for instance? If so, your child may be born with red hair in the first few months of his or her life. Red hair is a dominant gene, so even if both parents have either light blonde or jet black hair, red hair is in your baby’s heritage and is likely to be coupled with green or dark blue eyes, whilst brown eyes are often matched with dark brown hair.
If you’re unsure, ask relatives or consult an online family tree service for details. Sometimes, these can only provide general information such as occupation and home town but some finds could bring you to a birth certificate and other specific documents detailing their appearance.
Note down family eye colour
Make a note of the eye colour in you and your partner’s family i.e. the baby’s two sets of grandparents. If the eye colours are mostly the same, then there is a good chance that your child will have inherited this eye colour. If your family tree presents a kaleidoscope of different eye colours, your child can have a pick of any eye colour.
Check eyebrows
What colour are your newborns eyebrows? If your child’s hair is very fine or they are yet to develop hair, check the colour of their eyebrows. Eyebrows are typically two shades darker than our actual hair so use this to figure out the hair colour.
Keep in mind that the first few hairs on an infant’s head (or ‘scalp hair’) is lost when the permanent hair begins to grow at 6 months and so scalp hair is not a good indicator of your baby’s true hair colour.
It’s exciting to think about what the future could hold for your unborn child. If you’re curious about your ancestral genes and wish to journey back even further, why not create a DNA Ancestry profile with IB DNA? Their fully-trained specialists can pit your info against hundreds of global populations and fourteen anthropological regions for the best chance of discovering a long shared family trait.