What are my odds of having a blue/hazel eyed baby?

[Pika...]

{Scrubbed}

[THAC0]

I have FINALLY found a co-parent to have myself a little one (crosses fingers for a girl!!!).

...

And how long have you known this "co-parent" for? And you do realize that eye color is about the least important factor in deciding to have a child, right?

[Pika...]

...

And how long have you known this "co-parent" for? And you do realize that eye color is about the least important factor in deciding to have a child, right?

Over two months. We are comfortable with each other, and I feel safe with her now. This is something we are both after, so I am happy we found each other.

Basically it is at the point where I am not worried. This is not a factor why I picked her, but it is just a perk I am hoping for. Been dreaming of my baby since I was thirteen years old, so now I am just asking this for fun/hoping this little trait will pop up.


ps.
I would ask what are the chances of the baby being fair-skinned, but I am pretty certain that has no chance of happening.

[Iruka]

Every thread you make is even stranger than the one before.

I hope your daughter grows up to live a happy live with loving parents, no matter the colour of her eyes.

[Destro_Yersul]

Well then! This is going to be highly simplified, and probably use the wrong terminology, but let's give it a shot. Blue eyes are a recessive trait, and you and her both have brown/hazel. That's two parts of the square filled. However, she has a blue-eyed child already, which fills another quarter. The last quarter is trickier.

Since all you've provided is that your grandparents on your father's side are fair, and had a blue-eyed daughter, that tells me both of them have at least one blue-eyed gene. Without knowing what their eye colour is, though, it's impossible to say if they each have only one or two. If one of them has blue eyes, your father would have gotten a blue-eye gene. If neither of them do, he might not have one at all. Brings us to your mother. You say you're hispanic, so for the sake of simplicity let's assume she had two brown-eyed genes. Means that, depending on your father's and grandparent's eye colour, you could have one or zero blue-eyed genes. If you have zero, you're out of luck. All your children will have brown eyes, or variants thereof.

If you have one, that fills in the last square, and we move on to step two: probability. Each parent provides one half of the information, here. What needs to happen for a blue-eyed child is both of the blue-eye results to pop up on the genetic roulette. You have a 50/50 chance, roughly, of either half coming up. MATH TIME.

fortunately, it's easy math. The odds of one half are 50%. The odds of the other half are 50%. 50% x 50% = 25%.

So, to answer your original question, anywhere between 0 and 25% based on variables unknown to myself. Next topic, is this plan a good idea? Probably depends on the answers to THAC0's questions.

EDIT, because you are all ninja: Fair-skin is based on the same principles, but isn't a dominant or recessive trait so much. I believe children usually wind up with skin somewhere between the colour of both parents. Sort of like what happens if you mix two colours of paint together. Light + Dark = Mid tone.

[Pika...]

Every thread you make is even stranger than the one before.

I hope your daughter grows up to live a happy live with loving parents, no matter the colour of her eyes.

She will. There is no doubt about that.

I don't see the problem really. It is just a simple question about genetic chances. I am sure all future parents wonder what the kid will look like.

[ForzaFiori]

I would ask what are the chances of the baby being fair-skinned, but I am pretty certain that has no chance of happening.

Having an Italian dad and a pasty white mom, I'm can say from experience that the darker skin tones usually win out genetically. Though your kid could be lighter than you are, just not like... able to pass for Swedish. Maybe pass for a really tan white kid (though in winter it's harder to claim your tan. lol)

Blue eyes, however, might be possible. My sister has blue eyes (they were almost purple when she was born), but me, my mom, and my dad are all brown eyed (The closest blue eyed relative is my great grandmother, I believe). So recessive genes like blue eyes can pop up unexpectedly, just maybe not very often.

[Pika...]

Well then! This is going to be highly simplified, and probably use the wrong terminology, but let's give it a shot. Blue eyes are a recessive trait, and you and her both have brown/hazel. That's two parts of the square filled. However, she has a blue-eyed child already, which fills another quarter. The last quarter is trickier.

Since all you've provided is that your grandparents on your father's side are fair, and had a blue-eyed daughter, that tells me both of them have at least one blue-eyed gene. Without knowing what their eye colour is, though, it's impossible to say if they each have only one or two. If one of them has blue eyes, your father would have gotten a blue-eye gene. If neither of them do, he might not have one at all. Brings us to your mother. You say you're hispanic, so for the sake of simplicity let's assume she had two brown-eyed genes. Means that, depending on your father's and grandparent's eye colour, you could have one or zero blue-eyed genes. If you have zero, you're out of luck. All your children will have brown eyes, or variants thereof.

If you have one, that fills in the last square, and we move on to step two: probability. Each parent provides one half of the information, here. What needs to happen for a blue-eyed child is both of the blue-eye results to pop up on the genetic roulette. You have a 50/50 chance, roughly, of either half coming up. MATH TIME.

fortunately, it's easy math. The odds of one half are 50%. The odds of the other half are 50%. 50% x 50% = 25%.

So, to answer your original question, anywhere between 0 and 25% based on variables unknown to myself. Next topic, is this plan a good idea? Probably depends on the answers to THAC0's questions.

EDIT, because you are all ninja: Fair-skin is based on the same principles, but isn't a dominant or recessive trait so much. I believe children usually wind up with skin somewhere between the colour of both parents. Sort of like what happens if you mix two colours of paint together. Light + Dark = Mid tone.

Thank you so much!

If it helps, I actually contacted some family and got some pictures of the eyes I might have in my genes:

My aunt with the eyes:

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After all these years I must have remembered it wrong. It turns out her eyes are green it seems?

She seems pretty proud of them...


Grandparents (poor photo):

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Working on a better image of of my grandparents from that side, but apparently my grandmother has brown eyes I believe, and my grandfather has eyes like my aunt's but "lighter". My mother on the phone said "greyis" a few times.


So, I guess this means no blue/hazel baby for me since they are green/greenish/greyish?

[Destro_Yersul]

Well, green eyes are another recessive deal, so there's that. Grey eyes too, I believe, but that could be an age thing. Your grandmother having brown eyes means your father got at least one brown-eyed gene. Your aunt having green eyes means your grandmother has one recessive gene.

It improves your odds slightly of the child not having brown eyes, but it's not gonna get any better than 25% chance. I think it's possible to end up with green/blue eyes, though. Still. Odds are against you.

[Pika...]

Well, green eyes are another recessive deal, so there's that. Grey eyes too, I believe, but that could be an age thing. Your grandmother having brown eyes means your father got at least one brown-eyed gene. Your aunt having green eyes means your grandmother has one recessive gene.

It improves your odds slightly of the child not having brown eyes, but it's not gonna get any better than 25% chance. I think it's possible to end up with green/blue eyes, though. Still. Odds are against you.

So I still have a chance of blue/hazel?

You are the awesome sauce Destro! Just made my day and then some.

for you!


And if it has them or not it's fine. I'll still be happy as long as they work for her/him. It's just so fun to think about!

[Aedilred]

Having an Italian dad and a pasty white mom, I'm can say from experience that the darker skin tones usually win out genetically. Though your kid could be lighter than you are, just not like... able to pass for Swedish. Maybe pass for a really tan white kid (though in winter it's harder to claim your tan. lol)

I believe that darker skin tones are generally more evolutionarily advantageous. Really fair skin is something of a liability. It's one of the reasons that (natural!) redheads are mostly confined to a couple of fringe areas of Europe.

But then you never know.

[Iruka]

She will. There is no doubt about that.

I don't see the problem really. It is just a simple question about genetic chances. I am sure all future parents wonder what the kid will look like.

I'm not concerned about your question about eye colour. (Though I can't relly relate to that. All I hope for my hypothetical kids is that they won't be born with any traits that will make their life harder.)

What worries me is that you plan to have a kid with a woman you've only known fot two months and while your "comfortable with each other" you seem mostly connected by your wish to have a baby.

[Pika...]

I believe that darker skin tones are generally more evolutionarily advantageous. Really fair skin is something of a liability. It's one of the reasons that (natural!) redheads are mostly confined to a couple of fringe areas of Europe.

But then you never know.

Isn't fair skin advantageous in colder climates?

[Pika...]

I'm not concerned about your question about eye colour. (Though I can't relly relate to that. All I hope for my hypothetical kids is that they won't be born with any traits that will make their life harder.)

What worries me is that you plan to have a kid with a woman you've only known fot two months and while your "comfortable with each other" you seem mostly connected by your wish to have a baby.

That's true. I can see why people would worry, but you'd be surprised at how relatively common this is. We both have wanted this bad for years, and we have proven to each other that we'd be good to the child and love it unconditionally. I guess it works in a basic natural/instinctive sense, as lesser creatures just find mates with good genes and breed we pretty much did the same thing plus making sure we both will be there for the kid. We get along well so far, so hopefully that will continue. If it sadly doesn't we have paperwork for the good of the child so there won't be a custody issue or such.

[Aedilred]

It's not so detrimental in colder climates but the advantages (marginally better production of Vitamin D) are fairly minor in comparison to the overall disadvantages. The evolution is uncertain, but from what I understand, it seems to have developed in northern regions because dark skin wasn't essential, so fair-skinned humans could survive, and was perpetuated through sexual selection.

In general, when given a choice between fair and dark-skinned parents, the genetic code seems to go for the middle ground to avoid getting burned to a crisp, which is probably a good idea, given the state of the ozone layer.

[THAC0]

I'm not concerned about your question about eye colour. (Though I can't relly relate to that. All I hope for my hypothetical kids is that they won't be born with any traits that will make their life harder.)

What worries me is that you plan to have a kid with a woman you've only known fot two months and while your "comfortable with each other" you seem mostly connected by your wish to have a baby.

In addition to all of Pika's previous posts on these matters. Yeah. It paints an extremely odd picture.

[Iruka]

Oh well, let's hope for the best ...

By the way, I seem to have almost the same eye colour as your aunt. Check if her eyes also look more yellow/blueish when in bright sun light.

[Pika...]

By the way, I seem to have almost the same eye clolur as your aunt. Check if her eyes also look more yellow/blueish when in bright sun light.

LoL.

I have actually never met the woman. I have no ties to that family, minus my grandfather who I should really visit soon.

[Spiryt]

It's not so detrimental in colder climates but the advantages (marginally better production of Vitamin D) are fairly minor in comparison to the overall disadvantages. The evolution is uncertain, but from what I understand, it seems to have developed in northern regions because dark skin wasn't essential, so fair-skinned humans could survive, and was perpetuated through sexual selection.

I don't think advantages are marginal, really, I'm pretty sure that osteoporosis and other vitamin D deficiencies are very common in actually 'black' people of African descent.


http://www.glutathionediseasecure.co...-symptoms.html

no better sources now though.

Really fair skin tones are probably recessive because leaving in very cold, sunless climates is rather unnatural for humans in the first place. We have to wear furs, clothes and stuff.

It's one of the reasons that (natural!) redheads are mostly confined to a couple of fringe areas of Europe

Probably needed every little bit of sun during Shetland winter.

[Morph Bark]

From what a friend majoring in Biology told me yesterday, stuff such as eye colour can be weird. There are just so many genes that help decide it. Hence why I am the only green-eyed person in the family, for example.

[Andre]

and after helping numerous lesbian couples have children of their own

Well wouldn't that be a fine job. Technology always steals workplaces from men unfortunately, it sure would beat working 8.30 to 18 with an hour and a half pause in the middle for a living.

[TheFallenOne]

fortunately, it's easy math. The odds of one half are 50%. The odds of the other half are 50%. 50% x 50% = 25%.

So, to answer your original question, anywhere between 0 and 25% based on variables unknown to myself.

Those variables can't really be known though. Recessive genes can stay hidden for generations; someone can have a blue gene even if noone in their family three generations back had blue eyes. And then by pure chance you get things like a mongol girl with natural blond hair and blue eyes.

Also, set your timers to 9 months + X guys. Gonna be another interesting Pika thread in here.

[Serpentine]

Oh Pika.
*headshake*
Good luck, I suppose.

[Asta Kask]

Your aunt is a beautiful woman.

...

Any chance of a date?

[Inglenook]

Like others have said, eye color is a pretty complex affair, not easily reduced to Punnett squares. Given what you described, the baby's eye color could be pretty much anything under the sun.

Good luck with your peanut!

[sktarq]

A few things eye colour is influenced by several genes. Having to do with if the iris is pigmented or not being primary. If it is it will be some form of brown. All other colours come from a white iris refracting light than a pigment relecting it. Which brings me to the next part; Iris fibers. You can produce these in varible densities. Which shifts the colour of the eye through the green, blue, and grey range. To make matters more complex there are several forms of each of the controlling genes for both the blue and brown family which have differing strength. Normally a single copy of the "produce pigment" will win over a strong "pigment the eyes I don't know what you are talking about" type gene which produces most blue eyes however if a strong "blue" matches a weak "brown" you can get a spotty or patterned pigmentation that is the basis for many but not all hazel eyes. To make matters more complex many of these genes are linked.
As for the whole skin tone thing. Light skin seems to not actually be related to latitude. It was thought to be for many years and still has some followers. It is one of those easy ideas that isn't true. If light skin was a significant help in high latitudes then the native americans of Alaska and Tierra del Fuego would be as light as Sweedes since they have been there longer than the Sweedes have been in Scandinavia. To the same idea the Tropical maya and Columbian/Venuzuelan natives would have gotten darker. Also didn't happen on a genetic basis (some variation due to sun exposure does occur but is enviromental not genetic). Also the Pygmies of the Congo basin get some of the least exposure to UV radiation of anyone but they are dark. Heck in Africa the Darker groups came from forested areas and drove out the lighter skined Khosians of the more open Eastern and Southern part of the continent approx. 2000-2500 years ago.
Lots of things like red hair, light eyes, skin tone etc are the from sexual selection instead of natural selection. Also red hair does show up beyong the Celtic parts of Europe but is rare. The ancient Egyptians had a thing for it-dying their hair in some cases as a result. Holy to some god or another. Pale skin seems to have come from the Altai mts. (There are where Russia, Mongolia, Kazakstan and China come together and many if not most Northern ethnic groups of the Eastern Hemisphere seems to have developed there for unknown reasons but has evidence to include Celts, Germans, Slavs, Turks, Manchu, The ancestor of Koreans, and the Tibetan/Burmese group. It is a wierd place I'd love to visit.

[ForzaFiori]

I believe that darker skin tones are generally more evolutionarily advantageous. Really fair skin is something of a liability. It's one of the reasons that (natural!) redheads are mostly confined to a couple of fringe areas of Europe.

I think it's a pretty good advantage. Never worn sunscreen in my life, and I've never even burned before. Not to mention the ladies love tan men


I'm pretty sure the main advantage of whiter skin is quicker natural production of vitamin D. I remember my doctor telling me that while people with really white skin might only need (not certain on these numbers, but they should be in the ballpark) 10-15 minutes of sun exposure per day, I could probably use something like 45 minutes to an hour, and black people even more. It probably comes in really handy in northern Europe, where daylight can get pretty scarce in winter. I've also always thought (though I've never seen a study about it or anything) that this might be why so many less Europeans are lactose intolerant than other ethnicity. When you don't get full sunlight year round, it might be nice to have a Vitamin D supplement.

[Asta Kask]

And evrything just became a whole lot more complicated.

[Juggling Goth]

Over two months. We are comfortable with each other, and I feel safe with her now. This is something we are both after, so I am happy we found each other.

I may regret asking, but what happened to the woman from the names thread five months ago? Or the lesbian couple from July 2011? To me this suggests you might want to wait longer than two months.

[katilkatrina]

And how long have you known this "co-parent" for? And you do realize that eye color is about the least important factor in deciding to have a child, right?