I would like my baby to have a certain eye color, can I select a donor that makes that more likely?

1 min. readlast update: 02.01.2024

Yes, you can select a donor to make it more likely, but it is not guaranteed. Eye color does not follow a strict pattern of inheritance. A general rule is that the color brown is dominant while the color blue is recessive. It appears that two genes determine eye color. One gene comes from each parent. A parent can have brown eyes and have one brown gene and one blue gene (brown is dominant and 'masks' the blue gene) or two brown genes. A person with blue eyes often has two blue genes. 

We don't always know what the genes are just by looking at the eye color in an individual. A person with hazel or green eyes may be any combination of brown and blue genes. Also, eye color can also change as a child grows older as some with light colors become darker with age. It is not uncommon to see a blue eyed child when both parent have brown eyes. It is less common to see a dark eyed child from parents who both have blue eyes but it is possible.

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