Eye color question (and a chance for us to shamelessly share baby photos)!

[Lyndzies]

I have a question about eye color.

In your experiences, when did your baby's eye color "settle?"  I have no idea what color my Cady's eyes even ARE, let alone will be, so I'm just curious what others have seen w/r/t their kiddos. 

Thanks in advance!  (And, do feel free to share photos of the peepers so we can all go "awwwwww!")

This pic is from around 5 months (click for larger)...

ETA: My eyes are light blue, and our donor's are brown.

[Parker'smommy]

In my experience with my own children, their eye color seemed to "settle" by 1 month old. Ds' eyes were bright blue at birth though and they stayed that color. BUT....they are now changing now, many years later. They started changing around 7 years old...very slightly. He is 9 now and his blue eyes have definitely faded. We wonder if they won't turn green like his daddy's. DD1 had the classic slate colored eyes when born. By 1 month old they were brown, brown, brown, like mine. DD2 also had slate colored eyes so I thought they would turn brown also. By 2 weeks the outer rim line started looking blue and viola, by 1 month old her eyes were bright blue. They still are at 7 months old. 

I looked at your dd's eyes....and they are beautiful!!! I would probably call them...hazel? They look a little bluish in some parts, and brown in others. I think the "rule" about eyes is that they usually don't change after a year. So, they still might change. 

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

This baby started out with big brown eyes and they stayed that way!

[coffeegirl]

Looks like your baby has dark blue eyes that are (maybe?) trying to be brown. Who knows if they'll stay that way?

I have brown eyes and my husband has brown eyes....we thought for sure our daughter would have brown eyes since the brown gene is supposed to be dominant but she was born blue...at 7 1/2 months they're still a solid denim-blue color and show no signs of changing.

FWIW....my father has light blue eyes and my mom has green eyes. According to those eye-color genetic predictor online tool thingies, it should be impossible for me to have been born with brown eyes, but here I am!

[Lyndzies]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Amanda - I was stalking the September 2010 thread and saw your babe; She is DARLING!  OT, how is the amber teething necklace working out?  We ordered one for Cady and I hope it helps her...

Coffeegirl - Yeah, I was thinking the same; that they seem to be "trying" to be brown... or maybe that she'll have one of one color and one of another?  Who knows!  But, I am obsessed lately with staring at them.  Lol!  And, I agree... eye color genetics are a crazy thing!

Heather - so cool about your DD's eyes!  I didn't think they "could" get lighter (only darker). That's neat to know; I guess my Cady could still end up going a little lighter, then!

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

Aww thanks, there are few things I enjoy more than showing off my baby! LOL  I am  pretty happy about the necklace.  We didn't have to reach for the oragel or tylenol once.  She cut one tooth 3 days before 6mo (Avocado Day!) and another 4 days after 6mo, I only knew the second one was coming because I could see it.  With the first tooth she was a little crankier when she was tired, but not too bad.  Maybe she was just going to have an easy time with teething, but I won't risk taking the necklace off.  :)

I guess here is where I admit to having bought her a second one.  The first is in the pic (my favorite), and the second is yellow so I can coordinate the with her outfits. 
 

Originally Posted by Lyndzies 

Thanks for the responses so far!

Amanda - I was stalking the September 2010 thread and saw your babe; She is DARLING!  OT, how is the amber teething necklace working out?  We ordered one for Cady and I hope it helps her...

[Knitting Mama]

Cecilia's eyes are decidedly hazel, which is really interesting to me, because my husband has blue eyes and I have blue-green eyes (they're more green than blue, but definitely on the bluer side of green, as opposed to Cecilia's, which are on the olive side of green).

A lot of people will say things like, "What pretty brown eyes she has!" and I probably shouldn't let it bother me, but it does! Her eyes are hazel! I kind of hope they lighten up some more so that they're clearly hazely-green, but I don't really think that's likely since she's a year old in a week.

[luckiest]

Felix's started out gray and now are decidedly blue.  Mine are gray-ish blue, DH's are green.  His actually look most like my sister's - deep ocean-y blue with a dark ring around the outside.  They haven;t changed since he was about 8 weeks or so.

[P.J.]

Max's eyes have always been dark blue, and remain so at 10 months. I have blue eyes, and his papa has dark blue eyes, although not as dark as Max's.  Initially people would comment that they look like they'll turn brown, but seeing as both of his parents have blue eyes, that seems unlikely. I think he just has dark blue eyes, like his dad. They look even lighter in this photo because of the sun.

[OvenSeeksBun]

Caroline had the 'neutral' newborn eyes at birth. They are blue-grey at 3mo, with a dark blue ring around the iris. My eyes are green with that same blue ring, DH's eyes are brown. Brown eyes dominate in both of our families, but I'm guessing DD's eyes will turn green, like mine.

Shameless plug:

This is not a very flattering picture of me, but you can clearly see both of our eyes:

[heybabyquepaso]

I have more hazel-y eyes and my DH's are pretty dark brown, so I think my son got a pretty good mix. They've been like this since birth. It actually really impressed me because I had always thought that all babies were born with blue eyes. Nope :)

[babygirlie]

At 2 they are still changing. She's really fighting to not turn brown. They are a dark  moss color but I know will turn brown

[expat-mama]

nak so can't post a pic right now but DS's eyes started out dark, dark blue then turned dark green/brown. Now they are olive green brown with lots of red flecks! He's got some interesting genes though- I'm biracial (my french canadian-mom has red hair and green eyes and my zimbabwean african-dad has dark brown eyes) and DH is very fair with blonde hair and blue eyes.

DS's eyes were so blue that we filled out his citizenship papers that way...now they are definitely NOT blue! He's going to have some trouble later on in life because we can't change his citizenship card now to say he has brown eyes. Oh well.

[Lyndzies]

Interesting experiences, mamas, and thanks for sharing them (plus all the pics of your kiddos... Man, MDC babies are cuuuuuuute!).  :-)

I guess the moral of the story is that only time will tell.  I'm being a little vain, and hoping the DD's at least stay in the bluish family... I have baby blues, and would love for her to have them, too.  but I know that it's unlikely they'll get much lighter.

[34me]

One of my son"s had blue eyes until he was between 7 and 8 and then they turned kind of greenish, his brother was born with the baby blue and then went green pretty early and my dd had brown eyes by the time she was just a couple months old.  They all have bright red hair (neither dh nor I do ;-) )  and according to the genetics sites I can find regarding hair color dd isn't supposed to exist.

[livelovelaugh]

[MaerynPearl]

Okay well I have three kids, two with hazel (that started out blue) and one that is only 6 months and looks like they are turning green... here's their examples:

My little boy was definitely blue eyed at 3 months, started changing at 2 years and were settled by 4 years

My girly girl were blue still at 5 months and then darkened into their hazel by 3 1/2 years, between the two ages her eyes changed constantly until they settled on the hazel

Now baby mae... she was born with dark blue eyes that started to lighten and at 6 months have a ring of her daddys golden green on the inside