When Do Babies Eyes Change Color? Will They Stay Blue?

You may have heard that babies eyes often change color during the first year of life. Is that true? Find out now.

Find out what determines baby’s eye color (it's not just the parents!), whether all babies are born with blue eyes, plus when do babies eyes change color?

If your baby was born with a full head of hair and piercing blue eyes, it may surprise you to learn that, in a few months time, baby could have no hair and green eyes. Baby changes rapidly in that first year, so if your child was born with those baby blues, you’ll probably wonder will they change color—or will they stay blue? When do babies eyes change color?

On this page…

When Do Babies Eyes Change Color?

If your child is born with those baby blues, you’ll probably wonder when do babies eyes change color? Will they change color—or will they stay blue? 

It can take as long as 9 to 12 months for your baby’s permanent eye color to be determined and the change is so gradual, you might not even notice it happening. But by baby’s first birthday, you can be pretty sure whatever big eyes are staring down that smash cake are the ones they’ll have for life.

“Though some babies’ eye color changes rapidly with the onset of melanin, most infants undergo significant changes between six and nine months of age. This phenomenal occurrence happens once the iris has stored enough pigment to influence subtle changes like blue to grey, green to hazel, hazel to brown and so on.”(source)

Keep in mind that eye color generally gets darker, not lighter. Your brown-eyed girl isn’t likely to become blue-eyed later in life. But your blue-eyed boy may very well end up with green or even brown eyes.

Curious about baby’s eyesight? See our article on when babies can see.

Can You Tell if Baby’s Eyes Are Going to Change Color?

As noted above, if baby is born with brown eyes, he/she will almost certainly have those brown eyes for life. If baby has blue eyes, this simple (but not foolproof!) trick can help determine whether or not they’ll stay that way. (source)

  1. Look at baby’s eye from the side to eliminate any light reflecting off the iris.
  2. If there are flecks of gold in the blue of the eye, your baby’s eyes will likely change to either green or brown as they grow.
  3. If there are minimal or no flecks of gold, it’s less likely your baby’s eye color will change much.

Another indicator? If baby’s eyes are clear, bright blue, they are most likely staying blue. If they are a darker, cloudier blue, they are most likely going to change to hazel, brown, or a darker color.

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What Color Eyes Will My Baby Have?

There’s no way to know for sure what color eyes your little one will have.

Recent research suggests there’s a lot more than parents’ eye color that affects baby’s eye color, but you can generally expect:

  • Two blue-eyed parents to have a blue-eyed child.
  • Two brown-eyed parents to have a child with brown eyes.

Eye Color Chart


Want to dig deeper? Check out this  post for a cool eye color chart for a better idea of what color eyes your baby will have.

Read This Next…

Genevieve Howland

About the Author

Genevieve Howland is a childbirth educator and breastfeeding advocate. She is the bestselling author of The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth and creator of the Mama Natural Birth Course. A mother of three, graduate of the University of Colorado, and YouTuber with over 130,000,000 views, she helps mothers and moms-to-be lead healthier and more natural lives.

63 Comments

  1. Iridology, the study of the iris to detect a person’s health constitution, can provide a whole new perspective at why a baby’s (and adult) eye color changes and is the way it is. Your iris is actually a bundle of nerve endings that keep a recording of your health. Each color indicates a predisposition for weakness in certain areas like blue eyes are prediaposed to have lymphatic and respiratory weakness and inflammation. Other signs in the iris can indicate more direct issues that have taken place over a life time or are inherited. Pretty cool stuff!!!

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  3. My husband and I have brown eyes, my 6 year old has blue eyes, my 3 year old has green eyes, and so far our 4 month old has light blue eyes like his sister. I don’t think they’ll go dark but I am interested to see whether they’ll stay blue or turn green.

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  4. First, my own experience with eye color: I had blue/grey eyes until I was 27 years old and then they shifted to green!

    Second, in college I learned about punnet squares. They are very helpful at determining the likelihood of what you’re children’s eye color will be. Brown eyes are dominant and pass on the dominant allele (B), while blue or green pass on the recessive allele (b). Everyone has two alleles and the combination of the two determine eye color (mostly–brown v blue or green). Any combo of alleles with the dominant allele will express the dominant trait, which is brown. So BB and Bb will express brown eyes (this includes brownish hazels) and bb will express blue or green eyes. It is impossible for two parents with blue eyes to have a brown eyed baby because they will only pass on the recessive allele.
    Example:
    – husband’s mom: brown eyes and all blood relatives have brown eyes; likely BB alleles
    – husband’s dad: blue eyes; bb
    – my husband’s eyes are brown with gold’s and greens (brownish hazel). There was 100% chance for my husband to end up with brown eyes See my attempt at a punnet square for him below:
    B. B
    b. Bb. Bb
    b. Bb. Bb

    – both of my parents have recessive eye colors so the both have the alleles bb which means me and my sisters were 100% going to have recessive eye colors.
    – now my husband (Bb) and my (bb) babies are 50% to have brown eyes and 50% to have recessive eye colors. See punnet square:
    B. b
    b. Bb. bb
    b. Bb. bb

    Hypothetically if two parents had Bb alleles they would have 75% chance for brown eyes and 25% chance for recessive
    B. b
    B. BB. Bb
    b. Bb. bb

    Typically BB is brown, Bb is brown hazel, and bb could be blue or green (I think there are more genes that go into it)

    So far our son has blue eyes, but I know they could still shift. Eye color is so fascinating and I hope everyone enjoys punnet squares as much as I do 🙂

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    • My daughter went from blue to green at age 10… do you know why this happens later in where you experienced this too?
      Thanks

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      • My first son had blue/gray eyes until he was about 5 years old, and then they changed to green. My mother’s eyes did the same thing. His Dad and eye both have hazel (brown & green) eyes. My son’s Dad said his eyes were also blue until around age 5, when his eyes changed from blue to hazel (brown/green). My 2nd son who is now only 11 days old, was born with dark blue eyes. From the side, I can see gold in the blue, so I am wondering if they will change to green, as well, or possibly hazel, and when this will happen, since his eye color now looks the same as my first son’s eyes looked this young. My first son’s did change to a lighter blue/gray color, & then green at 5 years old. My second son’s Dad has green eyes. Eyes are a fascinating mystery. I wish I knew why this happened, for eyes to change at 5 or 10 years of age, or even later in life, but I don’t. I don’t hear this happening much, though! Thanks for sharing..

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  5. My baby has crystal grey blue eyes. With about 4 different shades of blue. Dad has blue eyes, I have green. However dad’s has sectoral heterochromia while I have the rings of heterochromia.

    It’s a big mystery what color eyes baby is gonna have because my mother has blue eyes and my dad has super dark brown. But i got my grandmother’s green eyes. Dad’s parents both have blue.

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  6. My eyes are like my Dads. The were brown when I was young. But in adulthood, the have become more and more hazel the older I am. My moms are blue, and both sisters are blue. My husband are dark brown. His moms are black, his dads are blue. I have 8 kids. 7 with brown to dark brown, and a 3 month old that looks like maybe they might go blue. I hope!!!!

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    • You need to put a cap on it. We get it, you like sex. But this world is so unbelievably overpopulated and your genes probably suck anyway, given how singleminded your are on sex and nothing else. You should see a therapist instead of procreating compulsively

      Reply

      • Wow. It sounds like you need a therapist! Telling this women who loves life and creating it that she should stop because you don’t approve. You should put a cap on it. Mind your business. I wish I could afford to have that many kids. I cant even afford to have one yet. She must be doing something right if she can. If you think the world is overpopulated then you are contradicting your own existence or you think you’re more important than her kids. The world isn’t over populated. There is so much open land all around people just like to live in the city because there are more opportunities. There are so many jobs that need to be fulfilled. We just need to raise more hardworking people and set kids up for success.

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        • Well said! Good for you to depend another persons honor! Too bad this world isn’t populated with more people like you.

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          • *defend

      • I agree with Melissa. Why are you even on this beautiful website if you think the world is overpopulated???

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      • Sounds to me like too bad your mommy didn’t put a cap on it when she should have. Too bad Earth is indeed way overpopulated with people like yourself.

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      • Replying to ‘What’: Are you serious??!!! If I could reach you I’d slap the living daylights out of you!!! Why would you say such horrible things??!! Your insensitive, negativity towards this lady is absolutely appalling and totally uncalled for!! You must need attention because no mature adult would say such horrible things!!! Unbelievable.

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    • What an absurd self-righteous stupid statement.

      Reply

  7. Eye color is all based on genetics and I do not see that mentioned at all in this post. I believe this needs to be included and mention that the eye color percentages are only a *general* guide, being that each persons genetical makeup is different. Brown eye color is dominant so if a child receives the gene for brown eyes from either mom or dad, they will have brown eyes regardless of the other gene (being recessive or dominant). The confusing part is that not everyone knows what two genes they received, particularly genes received from brown eyed parents (Having children can help to reveal this). A person’s eye color that is displayed only reveals one of the two genes. This post seems very anecdotal and I think the scientific part of this conversation needs to be mentioned, especially if people are interested in learning more on the subject.

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    • My daughter has a very light green/blue/brown mix. They would be considered light blue if you were just looking at her from a normal distance.

      Her dad and I both have brown eyes. Mine are more of a darker hazel but her dads are a solid brown.

      Reply

  8. I have dark brown eyes, my husband has bright blue eyes. All 4 of our children were born with black eyes. Now we have 1 hazel eyed child, 1 green eyed child, 1 blue and our 4 month old currently has blue eyes too. I was hoping for at least one of my children too look like me but I’m thinking I’m out of luck.

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    • I have hazel, my husband has dark brown eyes and my 26 day old baby has blueish gray eyes. My mom has blue eyes, my dad has brown eyes my sister has brown eyes. My husband’s mom has green eyes and his dad has hazel eyes. So who knows what my little ones eyes are going to be.

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    • How old are your children when their eyes turned from black to blue?

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  9. Eye color can lighten as you get older.

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  10. My son has dark blue eyes like I have. My mom’s and dads where baby blue. My son’s father has baby blues too. I have dark blue that sometimes turn a gray marble color. My son is 9 months old now his hasn’t changed like mine when I was growing up. Can anyone explain this?

    Reply

    • Eye color can lighten as you get older.

      Reply

  11. I have brown eyes and my daughter’s father has dark brown eyes as well. However, my daughter was born with blue eyes that got lighter. She’s now 1year 7months and her eyes are blueish gray with the flecks of gold when looking from the side (as pointed out in the article).
    My mom has beautiful hazel eyes and I have great-uncles and cousins with blue eyes, so no idea if my daughter’s eyes will remain blue/gray or change color. Any ideas?

    Reply

  12. What is the latest age your little ones eye color changed? For instance one lady stated her child was 2 and their eye color changed, has anyone else experienced this?

    Reply

    • Not yet but I’m also curious to find out.

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    • My eyes were vibrant blue until I was about 8 or 9 YEARS old… Then some days they started looking a bit green, while other days they still looked blue… Eventually they just stayed green and have been that way for decades

      Reply

      • My eyes went from blue to hazel my first year. But as I got older, the color got lighter and more and more blue. By 4th grade you would look at them and say they were certainly green and not hazel. Then the green started turning more blue. Now in my 30’s, they’ve turned a light sea green/blue. However I still have the original gold ring around the pupil from when they were hazel. My brothers eyes are the exact same as mine except a little more blue.

        Reply

      • My daughters eyes were blue until 8 years old and turned green

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        • This! Mine changed to blue green in elementary and now a solid green in adulthood. My oldest child is following the same pattern. So I’m not convinced when I read that eye color changes in the first year. ❤️

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    • My daughters eyes started to change from very blue to green at age 4.

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    • My eyes stayed blue until I was 2 years old, but they were a darker blue. My 4 month old girl however has brighter blue eyes so I am curious to see if she keeps them. Her paternal grandmother has blue eyes and my husband and I have greenish/hazel eyes. My mothers siblings also have bright blue eyes. We shall see!

      Reply

    • My daughter was almost and a half when her eyes changed from blue to green. I have blue eyes, and her father had green. My sons eyes changed to green when he was about a year old.

      Reply

    • My son’s eyes went from dark to light blue after few weeks of birth. They stayed bright blue for years, then around 3-4 turned green and have gold flecks in them.

      Reply

    • My mother told me that my eyes didn’t change until right before I turned 3. I had blue as a baby, and then one morning I woke up with aqua colored eyes, and the next morning, they were green. As an adult they’re now an olive green color.

      Reply

    • My son was born with dark blue eyes, which turned into a really pretty light blue/gray color before he was 1. Then at around age 5, his eyes turned to a pretty green color. He is now 25, eyes still green. His dad and I both have hazel (brown/green) eyes. His Dad said his eyes were blue, too, until age 5 when they turned hazel (brown/green). And my Mom’s eyes were blue and changed to green, also, at age 5. My 2nd son is 11 days old, and has dark blue eyes, also. Wondering what color they will end up, & when. Fascinating.

      Reply

  13. My bf is black however his mom is mixed race and dad is black and has brown eyes and im white and have grey eyes however we have a daughter and her eyes were really dark when she was born, she’s 6 months with blue eyes and they have only got lighter since, can they still turn brown ?

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    • Yes they can change up until 3 or 4 years of age but will more likely be the color they are going to be by 1 year of age

      Reply

  14. I was born with baby blues (mum has blue, dad has hazel) but during primary school my eyes would change colour each day (blue, to green to hazel) each day was a different eye colour until they stopped. I now have hazel eyes with more yellow than usual and a dark blue ring around the outside. My fiancé also has hazel eyes but his sometimes look light brown.

    We’ve just welcomed our daughter into the world and she had dark blue eyes at birth but now at almost 3 weeks she has bluey/green eyes but they look more towards green, which means she’s going to have a similar colour to my fiancé.

    Reply

    • My son has your exact color you described. He was born light blue and then they changed to Chrystal blue and now they are yellow with a dark blue ring around the outside. Very rare color. Meanwhile my daughter is blueish grey like me and my husband.

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  15. My husband had blue eyes and I have green eyes we have three boys ages 4,2 and 14 weeks all three have blue eyes like their daddy.

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  16. Me and my boyfriend have 4 kids together 2 boys and 2 girls… my boyfriend is black and has dark brown eyes and I have hazel/green eyes… our first born son has brown eyes… our 2nd/ daughter had the bluest of eyes when born now she is 1 and a half and has bluish green hazel eyes that change color like mine… then I had boy girl twins who are now almost 4 months old… my baby boy has dark brown eyes and my baby girl has the lightest blue eyes again… all of my kids are beautiful I love em all

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  17. I have blue eyes and my husband has brown eyes. Our 2 year old daughter has beautiful blue eyes and our 3 almost 4 month old son has gray blue eyes, I’m thinking they are gonna turn brown.

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  18. My children were both born with bluish gray eyes. Every day they became more and more gray. From the time they were 2 months until they were almost 2 years, they had gray eyes. Then they got brown speckles in their eyes and by the time they were 2, they had brown eyes. My grandchildren had dark brown eyes as soon as they were born.

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  19. Me and my husband’s baby boy is mixed I have brown eyes and my husband have green eyes and are son have bluish green eyes

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  20. My parents both have brown eyes and they have one kid with brown eyes, one with hazel, one with blue, and one with green. So cool!

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    • But you have grandparents or close relatives like cousins with blue eyes, right?

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  21. My husband and I are both blue eyed and our firstborn has brown eyes… And since everyone’s ‘knows’ that blue+blue = blue, some snide comments have been made by some judgmental people…. But after further digging, I have discovered that scientists now believe that it is possible for blue +blue = brown because there is more than one gene that determines so eye color (so the traditional Punnet’s square we learned doesn’t quite work in this situation)… I was thrilled to learn this and to inform a particularly rude family member…. And I love my childs beautiful brown eyes.

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    • Me and my husband have brown eyes our 18month old daughter has blue eyes I’ve also been asked how she has blue eyes and the answer is simple 90%of my family are blue eyed

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  22. My husband and I both have brown eyes and our baby is daughter is 6 months old with blue eyes.

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  23. my husband has light bluish green eyes and I have hazel oldest was born with light blue eyes now is like husbands eyes second one was born with sapphire blue eyes and became light blue third one was born with dark grey eyes and turned brown pretty quickly with a hint of green in them

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  24. Both my parents and I have dark brown eyes. My husband mom has brown his dad has baby blue and my husband has green. Our son has dark brown. Son’s wife has hazel. Her mom with brown and her dad with blue eyes. Their daughter just born with blue-gray eyes. NOW WE WAIT. Your guess is as good as ours ?

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  25. Always fun to guess. Husband has hazel eyes and mine are light brown. Oldest son came out with the most beautiful piercing dark brown eyes, so brown they almost look like black, our second one is 6 months and has pale blue / grayish eyes that look aquamarine when outside… So who knows … I guess we will have to keep waiting 🙂

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  26. Mama Natural,
    Thanks for all the wonderful resources you bring. I read your story on Faith from this 3 Things for Friday. Beautiful.
    I was checking this out, and on the image the blue + blue eyes are supposed to show 99% blue and 1% green right? I think it got switched around but the text in the article is correct.

    Reply

  27. I have blue eyes and my husband has dark brown eyes and we have three children together. Our firstborn had dark gray eyes at birth and now has very brown eyes and brown hair. Our second child had red hair at birth and light gray eyes. Now eyes are light blue and hair is strawberry blonde. And our third had grayish blue eyes at birth and blonde hair but when he turned one his eye color seemed to still be changing. One day i’ll say yepp they’re blue but the next they’ll look tan and gray. I’ve also seen green. Not sure what’s up with those eyes!

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  28. The chart isn’t correct for 2 blue eyed parents. The green and blue should be reversed.

    My mom has brown eyes, my dad has green and so do I. My brother and sister have brown. All of my kids have blue eyes, like their dad. Hopefully at least one grandchild will have green. lol

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  29. Interesting post! You mention a pair of blue eyed parents being most likely to have blue eyed babies. But the graphic indicates almost certainly green eyed babies from a pair of blue eyed parents? I think there is a “typo” here?

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    • Both of my parents have blue, all three of my sisters and I ended up with blue. However, the middle of us, she has blue, but green freckles in her blue eyes. I can see where that 1% may indicate green eyes from a pair of blue eyed parents in this case.

      Reply

  30. My husband and I both have hazel eyes. Definitely more green than brown and our son has brown eyes

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  31. The eye color chart is incorrect. Blue plus blue should be 99% blue not 99% green.

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  32. You might want to double check the image at the top. Two blue eyed parents aren’t 99% likely to produce a green eyed child…

    Reply

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