Expert: Walter Hintz - 11/6/2008

Question
Hello Dr. Hintz,
I know that you probably get a lot of mails about this subject, but I also as a new becoming mom would like to know if you could help me find the probabilities of eye color of my child.
I have normal clear brown eyes, but as i was a child, i had green-blue eyes
My mom has green eyes,
my grandma has green eyes(the mom from my grandma had brown eyes and the dad green)
my grandpa blue eyes(and both his parents too)
My dad has brown eyes and both his parents and grandparents, with exception of the father of his mom (he had green eyes)
My husband has really clear blue eyes and so does all his familie until great-grandparents.
Can you please give me some clue about it??
I will really appreciate it,
thankfully,
Natalia Pfeiffer.

Answer
You are correct Natalia.  I get questions like this a lot and all I can do is make predictions based upon what we know. The guiding factor is chance.  Which sperm has fertilized which egg.
What we know is this.  Dark pigments like brown dominate over light pigments like blue and green and the are more then a single pair of genes for eye color.  That is why there can different shades. From what you have told me you should be carrying genes for light eyes and you husband definitely does.  At this point what all parents and grandparents have is no longer a factor.  There is probably a 3 out of 4 chance your baby will have blue eyes